Seventy

Years of
Radio Science,
Technology,
Standards,and
Measurement at the $
National Bureau of Standards

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 NBS
RESEARCH
INFORMATION
CENTER

Achievement

Seventy
Years of
Radio Science,
Technology,
Standards, and
Measurement at the
National Bureau of Standards

Wilbert F. Snyder
Charles L. Bragaw

National Bureau of Standards

Boulder, CO 80303
October, 1986

U.S.Department of Commerce
Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary
National Bureau of Standards
Ernest Ambler, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington. DC 20402
Library of Congress
Catalog Card Number: 85-600619
National Bureau of Standards
Special Publication 555
Natl. Bur. Stand. (US.),
Spec. Publ. 555,
863 pages (Oct. 1986)
CODEN: XNBSAV

U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington: 1986

For sale by
The Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402
 EPIGRAPH

No subject can possibly be as interesting as its own history.

— Opera News, August 1981

DEDICATION

To the fellow workers associated with our many years at NBS, we dedicate this historical
account of the Bureau's work in radio.

111
 FOREWORD
Radio has proved to be one of man's greatest boons — for communication, for newscasting,
and for entertainment. In 1911 the National Bureau made its first measurement
of Standards
at radio frequencies — the calibration World War I the Radio Section
of a wavemeter. After
began a study of radio propagation, learning that it is a very complex phenomenon. In the
mid-1950's, the NBS radio laboratories were moved from Washington, D.C., to a new labora-
tory center in Boulder, Colorado. With the passing years the Bureau engaged in many areas of
research and engineering during the rapid development of radio technology. Indeed, we of NBS
can be justifiably proud of our achievements as we met the challenges brought to us by
Government and by industry in the use of radio as a medium of communication that is
earthborne and that spans space. We, too, were pioneers.
This historical account of our achievement in radio is a semipopular presentation, yet
gives extensive treatment of the technical features of 70 years of radio science, technology,
standards, and measurement at NBS, both in Washington and in Boulder.

Ernest Ambler, Director

v
 PREFACE

The Heritage Of The Past Is The Seed That

Brings Forth The Harvest Of The Future
Inscription at south entrance,
National Archives, Washington, D.C.

This aphorism applies significantly to the unparalleled development of radio and

electronics during the 20th century. Yet its import is not always heeded, as was astutely

stated by the editor (F. Hamburger, Jr.) in the February 1961 issue of the Proceedings of the
Institute of Radio Engineers (Proc. IRE) when he said:

. .The older an art becomes the more difficult it is for those who are
.

entering the field to become familiar with the past and the lessons that it
teaches. This has already happened in radio and in electronics despite their
comparative youthfulness. There is significance associated with history and
danger associated with its neglect.

The import of the history of a science or a technology was well expressed by Lynn
White in his essay on "Engineers and the Making of a New Humanism," published in 1968,
when he wrote: "One mark of a mature profession is consciousness of its own history."
The roots associated with the desire to prepare this history of the radio work of the
National Bureau of Standards go back more than a half century to the earliest years of
broadcasting, at a time when the author (WFS) took an early interest in the history of radio.
Even then he developed a bit of writing on the subject and later desired to extend that
writing.
It —
was upon perusing the pages of Cochrane's Measures for Progress A History of the
National Bureau of Standards (1966) given over to the Bureau's radio work that there came
the urge to write a more comprehensive and detailed account of this facet of the Bureau's
operations that was so laden with scientific and technical achievements. Here, indeed, was
an extensive story worthy of telling in printed form!
A direct approach to the director, Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb, in the spring of 1971,
resulted in the authorization of a project for a written history of the Bureau's work in radio.
Although not intentionally adhered to, the author's (WFS) viewpoint of this historical
account is similar to that expressed by Robert Oppenheimer in his address at the dedication
(September 26, 1962) of the Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics:

... I do not believe that any preconceptions about the practical value of
the history of science should blur the basic and central value that it is nice
to know what men thought, how they were led to think it, how men acted,
how they conceived of their actions, and to know those things as near the
truth as possible. The canons of truth in history are not identical with those
in science, but there is a historiographical tradition almost as helpful in the
study of history as is ours in the study of physics.

Radio work by the National Bureau of Standards can be dated as beginning in 1911
when the first measurement of a wavemeter was made by J. Howard Dellinger. About 1915,
use of thermionic (vacuum) tubes began to free the Radio Section of equipment limitations,
including those associated with measurements at radio frequencies. In 1920, broadcasting
fever struck the Radio Section, leaving behind the spark-and-crystal days. Thereafter, the
radio engineer's life at NBS would never be the same.

vii
 Andrew Gray, in his biography of Lord Kelvin, his mentor and in whose footsteps he
followed as a professor of natural philosophy, wrote:

The discoveries of the experimentalist who finds a new element of hitherto

undreamed-of properties attract world-wide attention, and the glory of the
achievement is deservedly great. But the patient, plodding work which
gives a universal system of units and related standards, and which enables
a great physical subject like electricity and magnetism to rise from a mere
enumeration of qualitative results to a science of the most delicate and
exact measurement, and to find its practical applications in all the affairs
of daily life and commerce, is equally deserving of the admiration and
gratitude of mankind. Yet it receives little or no recognition.

Yet ithas been in this profession of the measurement art that NBS has gained wide
recognition —
for its development of standards and precision measurement techniques at
radio frequencies. As an example, the course of frequency measurements extends from the
calibration of a wavemeter in 1911 to the latest developments in atomic frequency
standards, with an increase in measurement accuracy of more than 100-billionfold!
Two events less than a year apart, and both external to the NBS, had a marked
influence upon future programs of the Radio Section.
The first was the initial experiment on July 28, 1925, by Breit (formerly of the Radio
Section) and Tuve of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, whereby the ionosphere was
"sounded" by a new and more direct method, later further developed in the Radio Section
by Theodore Gilliland. The result was the ionosonde. In the Radio Section and the Central
Radio Propagation Laboratory the ionosonde proved to be an observational technique for
very extensive studies of the ionosphere. Forecasting of radio transmission via the
ionosphere resulted from these studies.
The second event was the signing of the Air Commerce Act by President Coolidge on
May 20, 1926. At the time, it was called the "legislative cornerstone for the development of
commercial aviation in America." The Act led to the creation of the Aeronautics Branch of
the Department of Commerce and, in turn, to the revitalization of the NBS air beacon
system developed by Francis Dunmore, and then to the blind landing system mainly
developed by Harry Diamond. A complete air navigation system by use of radio was
demonstrated by the Radio Section, first on September 5, 1931, and then, over a long
distance under adverse weather conditions, on March 20, 1933.
The phenomenal growths of radio and its handmaiden, electronics, left their stamp
upon the growth of NBS. The Radio Section largely spawned the ordnance development
program (radio proximity fuze) at NBS during the World War II period which, in turn,
spawned the electronic computer program and the electronics programs at NBS. In 1946 the
Radio Section was reorganized to form the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (Radio
Division) which eventually developed into seven technical divisions of NBS.
In other documents it has been noted that four Bureau programs have been associated
with Nobel Prize work on the outside. However, little attention has been called to three
persons, one a former member of the Radio Section and two who were long-term consultants
to the Microwave Standards Section, who later became Nobel Prize winners in physics. It is
noteworthy that all three were associated with frequency standards projects. Walter H.
Brattain, a member of the Radio Section, aided in the development of a portable quartz
frequency standard in 1930. Charles H. Townes and Polykarp Kusch provided expertise to
the atomic frequency standards projects during the early years of development at NBS. (One
other NBS worker, Robert Hofstader, became a Nobel Prize winner after his association
with NBS during World War II.)
In viewing the 70 years of radio science, technology, standards, and measurement at NBS,
the achievements, and especially the achievements that have added to the total sum of sci-
entific knowledge, can be ascertained from a viewpoint expressed by Ernest F. W.
Alexanderson, a well-known radio engineer of former years. Writing on "Central Stations for
Radio Communication" in the April 1921 issue of the Proc. IRE, he stated:

Radio achievements are often referred to as belonging in the realm of

mystery, and it is indeed wonderful that we are now able to speak with a

viii
 voice that carries thruempty space across the oceans. Whenever knowledge
conquers a new force of nature for the use of humanity, it ceases to be a
mystery, but the pursuit of this knowledge makes an even greater appeal to
the imagination.

Thus, we believe that the title of this historical account, ACHIEVEMENT IN RADIO, is a
good choice, although it did not stem directly from the statement of Alexanderson, and the
subtitle, Seventy Years of Radio Science, Technology, Standards, and Measurement at the
National Bureau of Standards, could be just the shortest summary of our story. Interesting,
however, is the fact that the word "radio" has all but disappeared in usage by NBS and by the
groups that separated from NBS in 1965. Although the term "radio science" remains, today's
language is much that of electromagnetics, electronics, telecommunications, wave propaga-
tion, and related terminology. Such is the trend of a science and technology and, indeed, of a
language itself.
Lastly, one might quote Alistair Cooke's view of the historian: "A wise historian stops
20 or 30 years before his own time because, like the rest of us, he can't see the wood for the
trees." The authors did not heed this admonition, rightly, we think, for thus the present
generation of fellow workers will be able to read of their own achievements in radio.

ix
 THE AUTHORS' INTRODUCTION

As noted in the PREFACE, the incentive for writing this historical account of the radio
work of the National Bureau of Standards stems much from Cochrane's definitive history of
NBS, Measures for Progress. Little if any material has been lifted from Cochrane's history.
However, references are made occasionally to his book because of his more general
treatment and, again, to specific treatments that need not be repeated in this account.
There is a "uniqueness" in the situation of the authors who have written this historical
account. Although we entered NBS in the same year (1927), one (WFS) entered the Sound
Section as a physicist, the other (CLB) entered the Detergent, Cement, and Corrosion Section
as a chemist.
During World War II Snyder transferred to the Radio Section and Bragaw to the
Information Section. Later, both of us became staff members of the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory (CRPL), Snyder at the time of organization in 1946, Bragaw in 1955
at Boulder, Colo.
Except for Kolster, Snyder was personally acquainted with the early workers of the
former Radio Section and, of course, with many of those of the CRPL. Bragaw, in his
Information Section activities, had a wide acquaintance with the CRPL staff. It can be said
that "we were on the scene" and "experienced" the past. Although the project was initiated
and largely written by Snyder (see PREFACE), Bragaw was, from the beginning, much
occupied in researches and editorial reading. Later he took on the writing of chapters XII,
XV, XX, and Appendix E, areas where he was well acquainted with the subject matter.
In a sense, the writing of Achievement in Radio was a matter of "putting it all
together," yet the material had to be searched for, sifted out, organized, and then written
down. Our sources of information are listed in appendix F; the individual items totaling in
the thousands (30,000 photographs, for example). The published writings of the radio work of
NBS comprise approximately 3680 papers plus hundreds of papers that are not listed in the
open literature.
We have taken the stance in our subject treatments to stress "firsts" or "beginnings" in
the matter of looking back, back, back to the origin of a theory, the original concept of an
instrument or a technique, or an event that "triggered" a series of events or a project.
Whole books have been written on "firsts" (e.g., Kane: Famous First Facts). We could class a
sizeable portion of our writings to be in the area of incunabula.
As much as possible, the occurrences of events and actions are given to the date of the
month as well as the year. However, not all records were dated in this detail; also, some
events extend over a period of time and cannot be pin-pointed to a specific day. Duration of
projects is usually given by calendar years, but sometimes by fiscal years because of annual
reports having been prepared to cover periods extending from July 1 through June 30.
Completion times for various chapters have spanned a period of several years. Thus,
programs that have extended to recent times (and to the present) have had different cutoff
times of their writing. For example, chapter VIII was terminated at the close of 1976,
whereas chapter XV was terminated in 1978.
The detailed information given in Monthly Reports of the Radio Section (until the
formation of the CRPL in 1946) allowed for the inclusion of personnel information (entrance,
transfer, and departure dates; also institutional affiliations prior or subsequent to
association with NBS) to be stated, usually in footnotes. This was our practice until the
writings encountered the period beginning with World War II, after which there was a great
influx of entrants that continued into the early 1960's. The biographical accounts of several
staff members have been treated extensively, particularly that of Dellinger in appendix D
and of Austin in chapter II. Austin's "sojourn" of 28 years at NBS was so unusual (and
misunderstood) that it bore treatment of considerable length.

x
 )

As much as possible our writing has been in a narrative style, except in the
introductory chapter (ch. I), in the WWV portion of chapter VIII, and in most of the
appendices. Possibly to the consternation of some readers, our account is loaded with
hundreds of footnotes, plus lists of literature references. But these lend themselves for
documentation of the history. (Cochrane's Measures for Progress contains 1252 footnotes!
The footnotes serve as explanatory material or material of somewhat less importance than
—
the text. However, we do invite the reader to peruse all of the footnotes they contain many
items of interesting or clarifying material.
Use of "NBS" and "Bureau" are resorted to many times for sake of brevity. The full
name, "National Bureau of Standards," may be correctly used for the period 1901-1903 and,
again, for the period 1934 to the present. The shorter name, "Bureau of Standards," is
properly confined to the period of 1903-1934 (see Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 47,
541).
In the early years of radio communication the reciprocal relation of wavelength and
frequency was usually expressed in wavelength only and by the metric unit "meter." It was
not until the early days of broadcasting that, in 1923, after recommendation by the Second
National Radio Conference (Washington, D.C.), the Department of Commerce introduced the
term "kilocycles per second" for frequency and dissuaded the use of wavelength. This
deteriorated to "kilocycles," and even the Radio Section was not immune to this improper
usage. In the spring of 1964 NBS adopted the policy of using the International System of
Units (SI) in all publications. Some individuals and small groups were reluctant to adopt
some of the new terminology, particularly that of replacing "cycles per second" with
"hertz." For a time a consoling message on one of the Boulder Laboratories' bulletin boards
read, "It only hertz for a little while."
During the planning stages of this history, a "miscellany" chapter was included in the
outline. Had we developed it, subjects covered would have included NBS and Boulder
Laboratories anniversaries, open houses, Science Fairs, employee associations, and the shops
and plant operations. For several reasons, their coverage was dropped. Most of the subjects
were associated with activities and operations after the move to Boulder in 1954 and were
well covered in issues of The Bureau Drawer, and later, in the NBS Standard.
For complete listings of publications by NBS personnel relating to radio subjects one
must refer to the many listings that have appeared in various formats since 1922. All papers
that have appeared in NBS publications are listed in the many volumes of Publications of
NBS. The number of items in these listings is so extensive (3680 publications, see app. F,
footnote 4) that the cost of inclusion herein would have been prohibitive.
The authors were given complete freedom in the format for literature citations.
Hopefully, we have selected well. Our choice was to use italics for citations of referenceable
materials (open literature), including periodicals, the NBS non-periodical series, and books.
However, specific titles in the NBS non-periodical series are given in roman type and
enclosed in quotes. Roman type is also used for citations of non-referenceable materials
(including internal documents and items of restricted circulation).
We have included complete coverage of Department of Commerce awards for scientific
achievements. Coverage of many other awards and honors that have come to NBS personnel
for achievements in radio science and measurements was not attempted, and, except for the
biography of Dellinger, in appendix D, no biographical sketches, per se, appear in this
account. Such can be read in the American Men and Women of Science and in the various
publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (formerly the IRE and
the AIEE). Portraits are included in the latter sources.
Many persons have made valuable contributions to this project and we take this
opportunity of acknowledging the sharing of their knowledge and experience and their
assistance in locating and obtaining information. The diversity of their contributions is
matched by the project itself. During the first 3 years of research and writing, Violet F.
Immel of the Library staff (Department of Commerce, Boulder) gave inestimable assistance
to the project after retiring and living in Alexandria, Va. She diligently searched records in
the National Archives and the Library of Congress and at NBS Gaithersburg, Md. All was
—
done without remuneration of any kind she loved the task. "Vi" died on New Year's Eve
1974. We then depended upon Walter W. Weinstein (deceased), historical information special-

xi
ist at NBS Gaithersburg. He too, diligently searched for materials in the Washington area at
our beck and call, and often turned up the unexpected.
For information contained in the records of the Boulder Laboratories, including those
on organization and administration actions, we depended upon the services of Yvonne C.
Stahnke and, later, of John W. Camenga, both of the Records Management Office. Their
services were very helpful.
We heartily commend the staff of the Department of Commerce Library (Boulder) for
the searching of fragmented information, books and other publications on a nationwide
scale in order to furnish us with a cross section of the "grist" and documentation that we
required for our project. And especially do we thank Shirley A. Alldredge (deceased) of the
library staff for the efforts of many hours that she gave to the project, and, also, Jane L.
Watterson for the aids that she furnished for methods of indexing.
In the preparation of chapter XIX, the "scrapbooks" on the Boulder Laboratories
assembled by Francis ("Franny") W. Reich, longtime secretary of the Boulder Chamber of
Commerce, were most valuable. We are indebted to the local Chamber for the loan of these
items that overflow with information.
Editorial review, a required process in the publication of a paper or book by NBS staff
members, was a twofold process in preparing this history for publication. The first step was
approval for publication by BERB (Boulder Editorial Review Board), the second step,
approval by the Institute for Basic Standards (previous to March 1978). Our gratitude goes
to Dr. Stephen Jarvis, Jr., chairman of BERB, who read and steered our writings through
BERB processing. Our gratitude extends to each of the BERB editorial reviewers who
carefully read a certain portion of our writings with regard to acceptability for publication.
Each reviewer was selected on the basis of a superior knowledge of the subject matter and,
or, having "lived" the events and contributed to the achievements of the period covered. Dr.
Chester H. Page was selected as the editorial reviewer at the Institute level. Page was
formerly chief of the Electricity Division, and, later, coordinator of International
Standardization Activities of the Institute.
The BERB reviewers are listed below, with notations of the portion of the account that
each reviewed: chapter I, L. Yardley Beers; chapters II and III, Percival D. Lowell; chapter IV,
Elizabeth M. Zandonini; chapter V, C. McKay Allred; chapter VI, Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr.;
chapter VII, Newbern Smith; chapter VIII, Byron E. Blair (deceased); chapter IX, Charles L.
Bragaw (previous to being coauthor); chapter X, Roy E. Larson; chapter XI, Thomas N. Gautier;
chapter XII, Jack W. Herbstreit; chapter XIII, Robert S. Kirby; chapter XIV, C. Gordon Little;
chapter XV, L. Yardley Beers; chapter XVI and appendix A, John L. Dalke; chapter XVII and
appendix B, Ernest K. Smith; chapter XVIII, Eldred C. Wolzien; chapter XIX, Paul S. Ballif;
chapter XX, Jack A. Kemper; appendix C, Arthur R. Hauler; appendix D, Alan H. Shapley;
appendix E, E. J. Pawlikowski; appendix F, Joan M. Maier; appendix G, Richard Silberstein;
Preface and Authors' Introduction, L. Kenneth Armstrong.
The authors wish to acknowledge the suggestions made by Francis P. Phelps (deceased)
upon careful reading of the first 10 chapters.
To Wilbur J. Anson, chief of the former Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center,
goes the credit for steering a course through the project-handling procedures during the first
5 years; then to Ralph F. Desch (deceased), Program Information Office and to Charles K. S.
Miller, Chief of the Electromagnetic Fields Division, during the later years.
During the final years of writing, Shirley G. Deeg of the Program Information Office gave
valuable assistance in preparation of the manuscript for publication. For this service the
authors are especially grateful.
In addition to the many thousands of photographs (and hundreds of negatives) obtained
from Government repositories (see app. F), credits for the use of photographs from other
collections are extended to Mary Ellen Johnson and to Russell B. Stoner of the Institute for
Telecommunication Sciences, and to the Boulder Daily Camera; also the services performed
by personnel of the Boulder Laboratories Photographic Laboratory, especially by Mary E.
Henneke for searching out negatives, and by Raymond C. Lawson for being helpful in
processing the many requests for photographic searches and services. Credit is extended to
the International Telecommunication Union for furnishing copies of the portraits used in
chapter I; also to Frank Reggia (formerly of NBS) of the Harry Diamond Laboratories for
furnishing a photograph (see p. 320) of the bronze plaque in memory of Harry Diamond.

xii
Credit is also extended to Edward R. Schiffmacher of NOAA who supplied us with a
collection of photographs on the series of NBS
Model C ionosondes.
The "mechanics" of preparation for the printing of so large a volume and so many photo-
graphs become quite involved. The typing of the voluminous draft was no small task, and all
the more so when extended over a period of 7 years. The authors acknowledge with gratitude
the typing services of Shir Lee Brubaker (called back to NBS years later after having served
as secretary to the chief of the former Microwave Circuit Standards Section) for the laborious
task of "deciphering" the material on thousands of none too legible handwritten sheets that
made up the original manuscript. We are very grateful to W. Reeves Tilley, former chief of the
Technical Information and Publications Division (Gaithersburg), to Patricia W. Berger, chief
of the Information Resources and Services Division (Gaithersburg), and especially to her
Electronic Typesetting staff, directed by Rebecca J. Morehouse, for their generous assistance
in editing, layout and design, retyping and coding the manuscript for typesetting via photo-
composition, and finally merging all the pieces into a complete package for printing.
No historical account worth its salt should be without an adequate index. Hopefully, we
have provided such, and coming to our assistance in making up the indexing trio was Doris
Schaffner. By means of a word processing technique, she was able to assemble the "indexing
cards" in alphabetical sequence at an exceptionally fast pace.
To obtain the drawing that adorns the cover of our book we enticed Rudolph Townsend
of the Boulder Laboratories toward applying his skilled artistry. For the pleasing result we
thank "Rudy."
There existed among recent staff members at the Boulder Laboratories and among a
few retirees a large fund of knowledge that was tapped for general or specific information
relating to various subjects of our historical account. Although our amalgamated listing
(found below) of those who contributed may lack completeness, our gratitude goes to those
who made solid contributions as well as those who supplied only fragmentary information
and are not listed. Contributors: David W. Allan, Vaughn L. Agy, Dana K. Bailey, Paul S.
Ballif,Ross Bateman, Robert W. Beatty, L. Yardley Beers, Byron E. Blair (deceased), Edwin
F. Florman, Roy Garstang (JILA, University of Colorado), William Hakkarinen, Donald
Halford, Jack W. Herbstreit, James L. Jesperson, Robert S. Kirby, J. Virginia Lincoln,
Percival D. Lowell, John B. Milton, Staff Office of the NBS Patent Advisor, Francis P.
Phelps (deceased), Edward R. Schiffmacher, Harry G. Sellery, John H. Shoaf, Ernest K.
Smith, Newbern Smith, Stephen J. Smith, Arthur D. Spaulding, George R. Sugar, John J.
Tary, Lowell H. Tveten, Peter P. Viezbicke, Clark C. Watterson, and Elizabeth Zandonini.
During the course of preparing this historical account we now and then encountered
incorrectness of statements, inconsistencies in records, and the like. Such will be the
experience of a researcher when he encounters the records of human endeavor. If errors
were suspected, they were subjected to careful analysis and multichecked for correction. In
—
this we hope that we have generally succeeded for "writing maketh an exact man."
Although the history has been the subject of considerable editorial review and other
"exposures," its correctness for factual information must finally be the responsibility of the
authors.

xiii
 CONTENTS
Page

FOREWORD v
PREFACE vii
THE AUTHORS' INTRODUCTION x

Chapter I

MAN'S QUEST TO COMMUNICATE THROUGH SPACE 1

Radio— Its sphere of influence 1

Communications — And beyond 1

A chronology of events and landmarks in the development of radio, 1819-1976 2

In retrospect 25
References 26

Chapter II

THE EARLY YEARS OF RADIO AT NBS 29

Introduction 29
Events that became prologue 29
1. Louis W. Austin comes to the Bureau, 1904 29
2. —
Louis Cohen enters the Bureau, 1905 And stays awhile 32
3. —
The Navy ensconced at NBS Some pioneering efforts in radio 33
—
Radio A new science and technology enters the Bureau of Standards 38
1. Dellinger comes to the Bureau, 1907— Then Kolster, 1911 38
2. Early instruments and measurements 41
3. Accepting "Radio" into the vocabulary, 1911 42
4. Encountering the radio-frequency ammeter 43
5. —
Organizing and planning to serve the Government With progress on many
fronts 43
6. The problems of laboratory space 45
7. A slow growth — But growing 48
References 48

Chapter III

FIGHTING A WAR WITH HERTZIAN WAVES 49

The World War I period— 1917-1918 49
1. The Radio Laboratory enters a war phase 49
2. France sends a delegation to the U.S.A.— And to the Radio Laboratory 52
3. Relation of the Radio Laboratory to the military services 52
4. —
Technical information for instruction The Radio Laboratory embarks on
a writing program 52
a) Circular 74 52
b) The Principles Underlying Radio Communication 53
c) Vacuum Tubes, Theory and Use 56
5. Radio systems applied to military uses 57
a) Coil aerials (antennas) 57
b) Direction finders 57
c) Antennas for underwater reception and transmission of radio signals 58
d) Pioneering in air navigation by radio 59

xv
 Page

6. Special projects for the military 60

a) The electron tube becomes essential to radio communication 60
b) To make more permanent crystal detectors 62
c) Insulating materials at radio frequencies 63
d) Experimenting with cathode-ray oscillographs 63
e) Shielding against unwanted signals 64
7. A burgeoning section reorganizes 65
8. From whence came the Technical News Bulletin (TNBJ? 65
9. "... And they shall beat their swords into plowshares. . .
." 66
References 67

Chapter IV
THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS LENDS A HAND 69
The Postwar and Early Broadcast Period 69
Introduction 69
Continuation of World War I projects 71
Organizing for the postwar period 71
1. Toward a stabilized organization and unified name 71
2. World War I brings "Women's Lib" to the Radio Laboratory 72
3. The radio boom versus low Government pay 73
4. The Dellinger "Credo" of administering the Radio Section 75
5. Cooperative research with universities 75
The broadcasting fever strikes the Radio Section 76
1. WWV broadcasts music 76
2. WWV broadcasts market reports 78
3. Aiding the broadcast listening public 80
a) The Letter Circulars on radio receiving sets 80
b) Spreading the information via NBS Circulars 81
c) A miscellany of tasks in the broadcasting boom 81
Remote control by radio 84
AC operation of electron tubes 85
1. Early use of ac operation of electron tubes 85
2. The "Better Mousetrap" 85
3. AC operation an accomplished fact 86
4. The meshes of "The Mousetrap" 87
Radio telephony becomes established 88
Promulgation of the written and spoken word 88
1. Radio information in multitudinous channels 88
a) The "Radio Information Clearing House" 88
b) The Dewey Decimal Classification of documents and files 89
c) The Radio Service Bulletin 89
d) Information on information 89
e) A bibliography on Aircraft Radio 89
2. Letting the public know 90
3. Books for the radio set fan 91
Services by conferees and committeemen to Government, industry, and to
technical organizations 91
Bureau programs with roots in the 1920's 92
1. The propagation and ionosphere programs 92
2. Standards of frequency and WWV 93
3. Radio navigation and landing of airplanes 93
Radio brings its problems 94
1. Problems imposed by radio broadcasting 94
2. Problems of the limited frequency spectrum and of interference 95
3. The problems of radio patents 96

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The first Radio Advisory Committee

References 97

Chapter V
APPLYING THE MEASURING STICK 99
Radio Standards and Measurements, Pre-CRPL Period 99
An Inheritance from the Electrical Division 99
1. Early measurements 99
2. Capacitance 100
3. Inductance 101
4. Resistance 102
5. RF current 103
The many-faceted period 104
1. The Kolster decremeter 104
2. Measurement of the properties of insulating materials 106
3. The Radio Section measures the properties of electron tubes 107
4. Measurement by the headphone receiver 109
5. Modulation measurement 110
6. An improvement on RF measurements 110
7. Antenna measurements 110
The doldrums period 110
1. Field intensity measurements Ill
2. Measurements up to 200 MHz 112
References 112

Chapter VI
ANTENNAS, INSTRUMENTS, AND SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPMENT 115
Antennas 115
1. Radio antennas become a part of the Bureau scene 115
2. The coil antenna adapted to many uses 115
3. The small condenser antenna 117
4. Experimenting with a directive antenna at 10-meter wavelength 118
a) Toward shorter wavelengths 118
b) The transmitter and a parabolic reflector antenna 118
c) The receiver 120
5. Dunmore designs an antenna for 100 meters 120
6. The submarine antenna of World War 1 122
7. A theoretical study of antennas 122
Radiosondes 122
1. Early work in radio meteorographs (radiosondes) 122
2. An early NBS radiosonde 122
3. The Radio Section takes up radiosonde development 122
4. A technical breakthrough 126
5. A method of determining upper-air wind conditions 126
6. Further progress on the radiosonde 126
7. Flight testing and a serviceable product 128
8. The radiosonde attains technical stature 131
9. Further developments 131
Radio determination of upper-air wind velocity by phase-variation method 132
Automatic weather stations 136
1. Instrumentation and control 136
2. "Grasshopper" 137
3. Buoy weather station 138
4. —
Low-level sounding system A wired sonde 138

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Radio navigation systems 139

1. Safety at sea 139
a) The coil antenna adapted to shipboard use 139
b) The radio compass evolves 140
c) The radio compass becomes a manufactured product 144
d) Spinoffs from the radio compass program 145
Locating airplanes by radio 145
1. Kolster suggests a triangulation method (April 1917) 145
2. The U.S. Coast Artillery becomes interested in locating airplanes 146
3. Dunmore's "universal" direction finder 146
4. Dunmore adds to the ideas on locating airplanes 146
—
Radio The aviator's guiding hand 147
1. The Bureau's early systems for airplane landing 148
a) Induction signaling 148
b) Landing on a "radiation cone" 149
c) A try at an electrical altimeter for aircraft 149
2. A directive radio beacon is developed for the U.S. Army Air Service 150
3. Developing an air navigation system 151
a) The early stage 151
b) Out of the laboratory and into field operations 153
1 ) The field site at College Park, Md 153
2) The "night effect" on the radio beacon system 155
3) Radio receivers for the airways 155
4) Wrestling with ignition noise 156
5) The marker beacons 156
c) Improving the air navigation system 157
4. The Bureau's instrument landing system 159
a) A mission to Europe 159
b) Assisting in a fog landing system 159
c) The Bureau's radio system of blind landing 159
1) The runway localizing beacon 160
2) Boundary marker beacon 161
3) The landing beam 161
4) Proving the radio system of landing aids 161
5) Postlude to the radio system of landing aids 166
d) The aftermath of patents in abundance 166
1) Collision prevention 166
2) Automatic control for landing of aircraft 167
3) The many patents on radio beacons and blind landing system 167
References 168

Chapter VII
PROBING THE IONOSPHERE 171
Pioneer probes of the ionosphere 171
1. Early conceptions 171
2. Early evidence 171
3. Experiments of 1925 that revealed the ionosphere 173
4. From the simple to the complex 174
The Bureau's early interest in radio propagation 175
1. How it began 175
2. Fading tests as a cooperative program 180
a) The initial fading tests 180
b) Fading tests on a quarterly schedule 181
c) Writing about the ionosphere 181
d) A study of conditions affecting distance range 182

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e) Playing a role in an Arctic expedition — 1923-1924

f) The cooperative fading program of 1925 183
1) Radio waves and a solar eclipse 186
2) A
potpourri of fading tests during 1925, 1926 186
Studying the transmission of radio waves 187
1. Equipping for transmission measurements 188
a) —
Field stations One, two, three, four, five, six 188
b) Receiving equipment 191
2. Enter S. S. Kirby 192
3. The Radio Section initiates its own measurement program 193
4. A point of view in 1927 193
5. —
Learning of fading at broadcast frequencies Separating directional
components, planes of polarization 194
6. Shuffling combinations of observations 195
7. The Bureau's first worker to the Antarctic 196
8. The Bureau informs the radio public on distance ranges 197
9. Data in abundance from transmission recordings , 200
10. Searching out a geographic anomaly 200
11- Scads of data for a variety of purposes 201
Studying the ionosphere 202
1. Sounding the ionosphere 202
a) Gilliland pioneers the Bureau's ionosphere measurements 202
b) Gilliland gets a scheduled ionosphere measurement program under way .. 204
c) An early cooperative program on the ionosphere 206
d) The Bureau acquires its own system for ionosphere measurements 207
e) —
Improving the ionosphere recorder The continuous recorder 208
f) The multifrequency automatic ionosphere recorder 209
g) The portable ionosphere recorder that became the CRPL Model A
ionosonde 212
2. The ionosphere begins to yield its secrets 215
a) Widening the frequency range of observation 215
b) Progress in the making 215
c) Solar eclipses and the ionosphere 216
d) Taking part in the Second International Polar Year 220
e) A new cosmic phenomenon 221
1) The early months
of observation by Dellinger and others 221
Relating the radio fadeout to Sun activity
2) 223
3) A further study of radio fadeouts 223
f) Probing the ionosphere from the Arctic 225
g) Ionosphere storms 227
h) An early observation of the D layer
i) Observations of the "G layer"
3. —
Predicting ionospheric behavior The ionosphere a useful medium
of communication 230
a) The problem with a global solution 230
b) Investigating the ionosphere for the FBI 232
c) Enter Newbern Smith 233
d) A service to the radio amateur 233
e) Ionosphere information to the Nation 234
1) URSIgrams 234
2) Letter Circulars 235
3) Broadcasts by WWV 235
4) The IRE posts the Bureau's ionospheric information — Initiation
of a service 236

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f) Predicting the maximum usable frequency 237

1 A team reports on correlation between ionosphere and radio
)

transmission 237
2) Relating the useful frequencies of transmission to
vertical-incidence measurements 237
3) Toward a more exact relationship 238
4) Smith writes for readers of "Proc. IRE" 239
5) Smith and the "Lorentz polarization term" 239
6) "Application of graphs of maximum usable frequency to
communication problems" 240
References 241

Chapter VIII
IN THE DOMAINS OF TIME AND FREQUENCY 243
From LC Wavemeters to Atomic Frequency Standards 243
Introduction 243
The early frequency standards 243
1. Dellinger calibrates the first wavemeter at NBS 243
2. The Radio Laboratory develops its first standard wavemeters 244
3. The Bureau's RF standards of frequency in the 1920s 245
a) An improved LC circuit wavemeter 245
b) A
frequency standard by use of the cathode-ray oscillograph 246
c) A
frequency standard by use of a harmonic amplifier 246
d) Frequency measurement by standing waves on parallel wires 247
4. The Bureau's standard of radio frequencies until 1929 248
—
The quartz crystal program Quartz, radio's useful servant 248
1. The Radio Section is introduced to quartz crystals 248
'2. Learning and applying quartz crystal technology 249
3. Attainment of a national standard of frequency 253
a) The National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency 254
b) Early improvements to the primary standard 256
4. Refining the national standard of frequency 257
5. The NBS microwave frequency standard 258
6. Toward perfecting the adaptation of quartz crystals to frequency
standards 260
The WWV and
story of its scion stations 260
Sequel to the WWV story 289
1. The synchronization
of time and frequency signals 289
a)Synchronization via satellites 289
b) Synchronization via TV transmission 290
2. On duty with WWV 292
Atomic frequency and time standards 292
1. The world's first atomic clock 293
2. Atomic oscillators and microwave frequency dividers 298
3. Studies in microwave spectroscopy 298
4. Developing a cesium beam atomic frequency standard 298
5. An atomic frequency standard program gets underway in Boulder 300
6. In quest of an ultimate in atomic frequency and time standards Cesium —
atomic beam frequency standard 301
7. Thallium atomic beam frequency standard 305
8. The hydrogen maser at NBS 306
9. Lasers as frequency standards 306
10. Engaging in the technology of precision timing 306
a) Development of a portable rubidium clock 306
b) A support project for atomic frequency standards in satellites 306

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11. The atomic second 307

12. NBS
atomic time scale 308
13. Contributors to recent programs 308
14. NBS celebrates 25th anniversary of first atomic clock 309
References 310

Chapter IX
NBS FACES A SECOND WORLD WAR 315
Radio work in World War II 315
The Radio Section in relation to NDRC of OSRD 316
The Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory 317
High-frequency direction-finder research 317
Correlation of direction-finding errors with ionosphere measurements 318
The radio proximity fuze 319
Air-launched automatic weather station 321
Wind velocity measurement by radar method 323
1. Pulse repeaters 323
2. Reflectors of radar signals 326
Radar countermeasures 327
1. Project CXFD — "Moonshine," radar deception equipment 328
2. Project OBV — Test equipment and monitor for CXFD 330
3. Project CXJX — A "False Fleet" of ships consisting of radar
reflectors and jammers, and simulated microwave search radar 331
4. Other radar countermeasures projects 333
Early development of microwave standards 334
—
Project Flapper Vortex generator 335
—
Project Phantom Vapors and aerosols as radar reflectors 336
Quartz crystal research during World War II 339
A miscellany of events 339
1. Mica — A strategic material 339
2. Space, and a new field site 340
3. Visitors on war missions 340
References 340

Chapter X
A NEW WORLD OF STANDARDS AND MEASUREMENTS 342
The introduction to microwaves 342
1. "Romance of Measurement" 342
2. The doldrums period 342
3. A flush of activity 343
4.The microwave frequency standard 346
5. A microwave standards program is set into motion 347
Meeting a Nation's measurement need 347
1. Funding that set the wheels into motion 347
2. Progress on a broad measurement front 347
3. A measurement conference sets a trend 348
4. A measurement need 348
a) The Air Force takes the lead 348
b) NBS faces new problems 348
5. The move to Boulder 349
6. NBS and the Radio Standards Division face a new challenge 349
7. The Electronic Calibration Center 351
a) A new facility and a new organization in the making 351
b) The Electronic Calibration Center is dedicated 352

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c) Growth and meeting a need 353

d) Metamorphose 355
8. A viewpoint, and then change 355
9. Computerization and the trend toward automated measurement systems 356
10. The media of learning 358
a) U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. exchange program 358
b) From workshops to measurement seminars 358
c) Multiplying the effectiveness of NBS through the printed word 358
11. Information as a valuable resource 359
a) Technical documents by the thousands 360
b) The Electromagnetic Metrology Current Awareness Service 360
c) The role of literature searches 360
d) —
A Bureau innovation Metrology Guides 360
National RF standards in development 360
1. The development program begins 361
2. —
Attenuation A starting point for standards 361
a) Getting started with waveguide below-cutoff attenuators 362
b) The waveguide below-cutoff attenuator becomes a reference
standard 363
c) A study of attenuators pays off 366
d) In pursuit of other methods of measuring attenuation 366
3. —
Impedance Its measurement the essential ingredient to radio
metrology 367
a) The reflectometer in development 368
b) Impedance standards of lumped parameters (below 300 MHz) 369
c) The in-between frequency region of impedance standards 371
4. Power — Its precision measurement became a long and difficult study 371
a) Early planning and getting started 372
b) Two roads to success with power standards at microwave
frequencies 373
1) The impedance measurement approach 373
2) Development of the microwave microcalorimeter 374
c) Many facets enter into the measurement of microwave power at NBS 375
d) Measurement of power at the lower radio frequencies 377
1) The early developments in power standards 377
2) Calorimeters in development 377
5. —
Voltage The useful measurement at the lower radio frequencies 378
a) A beginning on voltage standards 378
b) —
Micropotentiometers A new approach to known RF voltages at
microvolt levels 378
c) The AT voltmeter 379
d) Adapting a measurement technique to line production calibration 380
e) TheBolovac 380
6. Other RF standards and measurements advance on a broad front 380
a) The measurement of current 380
b) Noise — An attribution of nature — And its measurement 381
1) Developments at NBS Washington 381
2) Developments at NBS Boulder 381
c) Getting to know electromagnetic fields 384
1) From 1946 — Refinement and adaptation of the two methods of
calibrating field-strength meters 384
2) Further developments in field-strength measurements
below 1 GHz 385
3) Antenna measurements above 1 GHz 386
d) The pulse domain 388
e) The measurement of phase shift 388

xxii
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f) Studying the interaction of electromagnetic waves on matter — EM

characteristics of materials 389
1) Probing the dielectric properties at microwave frequencies
—
of many substances In the gaseous, liquid, and solid states 389
2) —
Measurement of dielectric properties of materials From
30 kHz up into the microwave frequencies 391
3) Sallying forth into the magnetic domain at radio frequencies 391
g) A sashay into low-frequency instrumentation and measurements 395
h) Theoretical work as background to standards and measurements 398
i) —
The coaxial connector Problems and solutions 399
References 400

Chapter XI
THE WORLD AS A LABORATORY 403
Introduction 403
The Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) 404
1. An "air disaster" in the European theatre of war 404
2. The predecessor to the IRPL 405
3. Instituting the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory 405
4. The IRPL in operation 407
a) Ionospheric data on a worldwide basis 407
b) Improving the prediction method of maximum usable frequency 409
c) Success in the calculation of field intensity 409
d) Solving the problem of minimum field intensity 409
e) Forecasting ionosphere storms 410
f) "Publications" in limited circulation 410
g) An "international" radio propagation conference 411
h) Research during a war period 411
i) Laboratories associated with the IRPL operation 412
j) Those who directed, and who were important to operation of
the IRPL 412
k)"Conversion of IRPL Projects from War to Peace" 412
The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory 413
1. Extending the need for a centralizing laboratory 413
a) The need is foreseen 413
b) Implementing to fulfill a need 413
2. The CRPL established 415
3. The CRPL through 20 years of growth 416
Studies of the ionospheric regions 420
1. The anomalous characteristics of sporadic E 421
a) The early observations by NBS 421
b) Progress in sporadic-E studies during World War II 422
c) Can "sporadic-E" reflections come from meteor trails? 424
d) Ernest K. Smith conducts a lengthy study of sporadic E 424
2. Observing scatter F 425
3. The D layer — The reflection domain of long radio waves 426
4. The E and F layers 428
5. The case of the "G layer" 428
Improving upon the prediction services 428
Observations with the ionosonde 432
1. A sequence of ionosondes, and observation by vertical-incidence
signals 432
2. The case of oblique-incidence observations of the ionosphere 436

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Page

Remote sensing beyond the ionosphere layers 436

1. A pioneering project at the Long Branch field station 436
2. A specialized radar facility on a grand scale 438
3. A look at Venus 439
4. A continuing program at the Jicamarca Observatory 439
Geographical nonuniformities of the ionosphere 439
1. Mapping the ionosphere on a worldwide scale 439
a) The January 1, 1942, world maps 439
b) The 1943 world maps 440
c) The 1948 world maps 440
d) "World Maps," and the 1962 world maps 441
2. Auroral blackouts and polar cap absorption 441
a) In the Arctic 441
b) In the Antarctic 443
3. Ionospheric observations near the geomagnetic equator 446
a) VHF signals across the geomagnetic equator 446
b) African studies 448
4. "Far East Anomaly" 448
—
The Sun The all-powerful control of the ionosphere 449
1. A long-time study of solar activity 449
a) Taking account of the Sun 449
b) Predicting sunspot numbers 450
c) The Sun in relation to the world 450
2. The Radio Disturbance Warning Service 451
a) —
Reporting on radio reception A prewar service 451
b) The IRPL gives aid toWorld War II communications 452
c) A radio disturbance warning service 453
1) A service to radio communications 453
2) A service to the International Geophysical Year 455
3) A long, long warning service 455
The ionosphere in motion 456
1. Tidal motion 456
a) An early CRPL study of lunar tides 456
b) A theoretical treatment of ionospheric motion 457
c) A
lunar effect at low frequencies 457
2. Ionospheric winds 457
a) Observations at the Sterling field station 458
b) Evidence of ionospheric winds from an analysis of backscatter
observations 458
c) Observing ionospheric winds by a Doppler technique 458
d) Observations with artificial clouds 458
Around-the-world and above-the-earth experiments 459
1. Around the world on an 18-kHz wave 459
2. Observations of artificially ionized clouds in the ionosphere
Project Firefly 459
3. Observation of a nuclear explosion at the Jicamarca Radar
Observatory 460
4. HANDS, across land and sea 461
—
Meteors Fleeting visitors to the ionosphere 461
1. —
Viewing the Draconids by radar October 9, 1946 462
2. Early CRPL experiments with meteor-burst communication 464
3. A meteor-burst communication system in successful operation 464
4. Further study of meteor-burst communication 465
Theoretical studies of the ionosphere 465

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Observing the night sky 466

1. An airglow program moves to Boulder 466
2. Roach and an international photometric unit for airglow 468
3. Taking a major role in the IGY airglow program 468
4. Observations from Fritz Peak 469
5. Refining the measurement techniques 469
From 300 kHz down, down, down 470
1. —
Low-frequency electromagnetic waves A recurring interest 470
2. The CRPL initiates an observational study of LF propagation — At the
Sterling field station 471
3. Ionospheric observations at the Sunset field station 473
4. Theoretical approaches toward the understanding of radio propagation
at low frequencies 474
5. The Boulder Laboratories hosts VLF, ELF, and ULF symposiums 475
6. A proliferation of low-frequency papers 476
7. Field strength vs. distance —
Contributions by the CRPL 476
8. An experimental study at LF 477
9. Experimental studies at VLF and ELF 477
a) Attenuation rates 477
b) Phase characteristics 478
c) A study in VLF fading 478
10. Theoretical studies in the 1960's 478
11. Writing for the sake of "general interest" 478
The "sounds" of radio waves at very low frequencies 479
1. Early observations of the "sounds" of radio waves 479
2. The CRPL studies sferics 480
3. Observing VLF emissions 480
4. The CRPL reports to the 1957 NBS Symposium on Propagation of VLF
Radio Waves 480
5. Taking part in the IGY whistler program 481
6. Further investigations 482
CRPL participation in the IGY Program 482
1. Probing the ionosphere by vertical sounding 482
2. Radio noise data on a worldwide scale 483
3. Geophysical correlation of sporadic-E and F-scatter studies 483
4. VHF forward scatter experiments near the geomagnetic equator — And in
the Antarctic 483
5. Observing airglow 484
6. Observing Sputnik 1 484
7. The IGY World Warning Agency 484
8. International Geophysical Calendars
9. The CRPL contributes to IGY publications 484
NBS pioneers in radio communication by ionospheric forward scatter 485
1. Some evidence of ionospheric scatter 485
2. The initial experiment by NBS 486
3. Learning about ionospheric forward scatter as a means of radio
communication 488
a) Observations at the Sterling field station 488
b) Some distance experiments 489
c) Another try at long distance 4S9
d) Variation of experimental conditions 489
e) Studies of ionospheric forward scatter at high latitudes 489
4. NBS leads the way toward a successful ionospheric forward scatter
communication system 491
5. The unexpected occurs— On February 23, 1956 493
6. A new discovery, but problems of publication 494

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7. Forward-scatter observations along the geomagnetic equator and in

the Antarctic 498
8. Denouement? 498
Probing the ionosphere from above 498
1. Early probing of the upper ionosphere 498
2. CRPL observes Sputniks 499
a) Observing the Earth's first artificial satellite — Sputnik 1 499
b) Observing Sputnik III and NASA satellites 500
3. Electron-density data for the Space Age 501
4. CRPL joins a NASA satellite program 502
a) Testing the Topside sounding system with rockets 503
b) CRPL observes the upper ionosphere with the Canadian Alouette I

Topside Sounder satellite 503

c) CRPL directs the program for Explorer XX 504
d) The OGO's 507
References 507

Chapter XII
RADIO WAVES IN THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE 511
Introduction 511
Research on tropospheric propagation gets underway 512
1. Early projects 512
2. Valuable meteorological and climatological data come from the U.S.
Weather Bureau and other agencies 513
3. Suppression of microwaves by zonal screens 514
4. Survey of research in tropospheric propagation, 1948-1956 514
Transmission loss 515
1. Definitions 515
a) Transmission loss 515
b) Basic transmission loss 515
c) System loss 515
d) Hourly median transmission loss 515
2. Formulas and graphs 515
3. Extensive transmission loss data summarized and published 515
4. Transmission loss predictions ; 516
Angular distance 517
Radio meteorology 517
1. Introduction 517
2. The radio refractive index 517
a) Its importance 517
b) Devices for simplifying solution of the equation for radio
refractive index 518
c) The microwave refractometer 518
d) Refractive index inhomogeneities 519
3. Atmospheric bending of radio waves 520
a) Atmospheric ducts 520
b) Radio Refractive Index Data Center 521
c) CRPL exponential reference atmosphere 521
d) Refraction of radio waves at low angles within various air masses 522
e) Refraction in an exponential atmosphere 522
f) Graphical determination of radio ray bending 522
g) Correlation of monthly median transmission loss and refractive
index profiles 523

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4. Climatology 523
a) Climatic variation of absolute humidity 523
b) Studies of a continental polar air mass 523
c) Worldwide climatology 523
The Cheyenne Mountain Experiments 525
1. Background and preliminary preparations 525
2. Transmitter locations 528
3. Receiving locations 530
4. Facilities and equipment 532
a) General 532
b) Transmission 532
1) UHF transmitter— 1046 MHz 532
2) VHF transmitters 533
c) Reception 533
1) UHF receivers 533
2) VHF receivers 533
3) Special receiving equipment 533
d) Recording devices 533
Terrain effects 533
1. Reflection coefficient at grazing angles 534
2. VHF measurements in the Rocky Mountain area 534
3. Pikes Peak in obstacle-gain experiments 535
a) The obstacle 535
b) From the north 535
c) Fromthe south: Beulah-Pikes Peak-Table Mountain path 536
4. Over-water paths in the California coast region 537
a) San Nicolas Island — California coast 537
5. Fading phenomena 538
a) Prolonged space wave fadeouts 538
b) Measurements at 418 MHz well beyond the radio horizon 538
c) Within-the-hour fading 539
Problems of phase stability in tropospheric propagation 539
1. Introduction 539
2. Phase measurements over paths of varying length 540
3. Phase stability over low-level tropospheric paths 542
4. Path-length stability of ground-to-ground links 542
5. Hawaii experiment 543
6. Tracking missiles through the wild blue yonder 545
a) Theoretical considerations 545
b) Meteorological effects 545
c) Simulated tracking system 545
d) Over-water measurements of phase and amplitude 546
e) Simulated earth-to-space links 546
Space communications 547
1. Interference between surface and space communication systems 547
Tropospheric foward scatter 549
1. Introduction 549
2. Special issue of IRE Proceedings 549
3. CRPL research on tropospheric forward scatter 550
a) It gets started 550
b) Mathematical studies 551
4. Scatter measurements near the radio horizon 552
References 552

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Page

Chapter XIII
ENGINEERING FOR RADIO PROPAGATION 555
Introduction 555
Noise — The limiting factor to radio reception 555
1. The IRPL studies the effect of atmospheric noise 555
2. The CRPL initiates a noise measurement program 557
3. NBS supervises the IGY noise program 559
4. Improving the techniques of noise measurement 562
5. Cooperating with the CCIR and with URSI 562
6. Some noteworthy observations 562
Antenna research 563
1. Antennas for vertical-incidence ionosondes 563
2. Corner-reflector antenna measurements 563
a) Studies at the Sterling field station 563
b) Studies at Boulder 565
3. Similitude with scaled-down antennas 566
4. —
Yagis on parade Electronically-scanned antenna arrays 567
5. A miscellany of antenna projects 570
6. Theoretical approaches to antenna designs 571
Modulation research 57
1. The CRPL initiates modulation research 571
2. Progress in modulation research 57
3. Studies in advanced modulation techniques 572
Radio navigation 572
1. Involvement in Loran 573
a) Early Loran studies 573
b) Involvement in Cytac 573
c) Development of the Loran-C clock 574
2. Investigations of air navigation systems Tacan — 576
A measurement of the speed of EM waves 576
1. Discovering a source of error in phase measurements 576
2. Preparations for measurement of the speed of EM waves 577
3. A radio interferometer measurement of the speed of EM waves 577
Spectrum engineering 573
1. Introduction 578
2. The indispensable field-strength meter 579
3. —
Gauging transmission utilization Service area 579
a) Early work by NBS 579
b) The rising tide of FM and TV broadcasting— CRPL efforts to keep
pace 579
c) A new approach to service areas 581
d) The service area of a flying TV transmitter 582
4. Exploring frequency bands for communications services — Air-to-ground,
air-to-air 583
5. —
The matter of frequency allocation Contributions by the CRPL 584
a) The CRPL aids in matters of frequency allocation 584
b) A contribution to TASO 585
c) Writings on space communication 585
d) A
writing on efficient use of the radio spectrum 585
Application of computer techniques
e) 586
f) An epilogue to the many writings 586
Data processing 586
1. Introduction 586
2. Automatic data analysis 587
3. Expansion of computer program 587

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4. Data reduction for tropospheric propagation research 587

a) Computation of refractive index of the atmosphere 588
b) Instrumenting for data reduction 588
5. Selection of optimum frequencies by electronic computer 588
A diversity of projects 589
1.Consideration of conductivity in ground wave propagation 589
2.A bout with color television 590
3. A radio system for investigating sferics Ephi — 592
References 593

Chapter XIV
BEYOND THE IONOSPHERE 595
Cosmic radio noise 595
1. From earthborn static to the stars 595
2. Grote Reber joins the CRPL 595
3. The CRPL studies cosmic radio noise 596
4. An engineering viewpoint 598
Solar radio noise 598
1. Preparations for a study program 598
2. Observing the 1950 total eclipse of the Sun 600
3. A theory of solar noise bursts 600
4. A long series of solar observations 601
5. Matters of publication 602
"Twinkling" stars 603
1. Early observations of star scintillations 603
2. A method of observation 603
3. Interruptions by Sputniks 604
4. An observational program by the CRPL 605
"Signals" from Jupiter 605
1. Early observations 605
2. Observations of emissions at 8.9 and 10 MHz 606
Ionospheric absorption in conjugate regions 607
1. Early stages of the program 607
2. A fortuitous start in the conjugate point program 608
3. The conjugate point program in the making 609
4. The conjugate point program on a grander scale 610
The exosphere 611
1. An introduction 611
2. An experimental project at the Sterling station 612
3. Reporting on the exosphere to URSI 612
4. Phenomena associated with the exosphere 612
Space communication 613
1. The matter of frequency selection 613
2. Toward a decision of historical significance 614
3. Radio communication on the Moon 614
4. An international symposium 615
5. A tutorial paper appears 615
Safety in space travel 615
1. Evaluating the hazard of solar cosmic rays 615
2. Safeguarding the orbital flights of Mercury spaceships 616
References 617

xxix
 Page

Chapter XV
EXIT RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS— ENTER QUANTUM AND
PLASMA PHYSICS 619
Introduction 619
1. Microwave spectroscopy for measurement standards 619
a) The ammonia atomic clock 619
b) Spectral lines of deuterated ammonias 619
c) Stark-cell microwave spectroscopy 619
2. Microwave spectral tables 620
a) Circular 518 (1952) 620
b) Monograph 70 (1964-1969) 620
3. Experiments with oxygen line 620
4. Cesium beam atomic clock 620
Millimeter-wave research 621
1. Purpose 621
2. Microwave Michelson interferometer 622
a) Pilot model 622
b) Construction 622
3. Microwave Fabry-Perot interferometer 622
4. Diffraction computations 622
Theoretical astrophysics 622
1. Solar atmosphere studies 622
2. A change of project title — Theoretical Astrophysics 623
a) Expanded objectives 623
b) Research projects 623
3. Technical Note 30: Aerodynamic Phenomena in Stellar Atmospheres 624
4. Physics of the Solar Chromosphere a book — 624
Plasma physics 624
1. Introduction 624
2. A team from Boulder goes to England to use the British thermonuclear
machine ZETA 625
3. Upper atmosphere plasma physics 625
a) Cylindrical shock waves from exploding wires 626
b) Radiation produced from a plasma 626
c) High-speed camera for plasma physics research 626
4. Radio plasma 627
a) Brush-cathode plasma 627
Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics 627
1. Organization 627
2. Research activities 629
3. Atomic Collision Data Center 630
4. Measurements of excitation of mulitply charged ions 630
5. E. U. Condon closes career at JILA 630
Laser research 631
1. Development of laser program at Boulder Laboratories 631
2. Laser intensity stabilizer 631
3. Sensitive seismometer housed in abandoned gold mine 632
4. Laser electron paramagnetic resonance 633
5. Laser power and energy measurements 633
Speed of light by laser 634
1. Speed of light 634
a) Frequency measurements 634
b) Wavelength measurement 636
c) New standards envisioned 637
d) International recognition 637

XXX
 Page

Lunar ranging experiment (LURE) 638

1. Procedure 638
2. The lunar telescope 639
3. The Hawaiian Observatory 640
References 641

Chapter XVI
IN A CONSULTANT CAPACITY 643
In the service of the Government 643
1. Service to the Department of Commerce 643
a) In the early years of the Radio Section 643
b) Broadcasting throttles the Department of Commerce 644
c) Continuing to serve the Department of Commerce 644
2. Service to the Federal Radio Commission 645
3. Interdepartmental relations in radio 646
a) In the early years of wireless telegraphy 646
b) A vignette of IRAC (Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee) 647
4. Service to the Armed Forces 648
a) Trials, with some successes 648
b) The World War II period 648
c) The postwar period 648
5. Service to Government agencies when radio was newly fledged 649
a) The Post Office Department's interest in flying the mail 649
b) Market news by radio interests the Department of Agriculture 649
Expertise for a Federal board
c) 649
d) Service to the State Department 650
A Government —
industry relation Dellinger's role with the Radio Technical
Commission for Aeronautics 650
Relations with industry 651
1. an urgent need
Filling 651
2. Radio "standardization" 651
3. Standards for electron tubes 652
The Radio Section contributes to technical societies 652
1. To the Institute of Radio Engineers 652
2. To the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 652
A medley of committees 653
Increased consultant capacity by proliferation of committees within the CRPL 653
Increased service to professional societies
1. 654
a) An ambitious program to keep abreast of the state-of-the-art 654
b) The scope of committee participation 654
c) Service to science 655
2. Service to the country's defense 655
References 655

Chapter XVII
ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE 657
The international telecommunication conferences 657
1. Early conferences 657
The Washington Conference of 1927
2. 657
3. The later conferences — After Washington 659
The International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) 660
1. The CCIR becomes a functioning organization: The first meeting— At The
Hague, 1929 660

xxxi
 Page

2. Meetings after The Hague — Before World War II 661

3. Meetings after World War II 662
The and Inter- American conferences
expert's role at international 662
1. Taking part in an assortment of international conferences 662
a) To the time of formation of the CRPL 662
b) After formation of the CRPL 664
2. International conferences called for the Americas 665
URSI — Fulfillment in international scientific cooperation 666
1. What is URSI? 666
2. The U.S. joins URSI 667
3. The American Section grows — And matures 668
4. The American Section stages two General Assemblies 668
5. Reaching the international level 671
6. International intercomparison of laboratory standards 673
7. NBS contributes to the International Geophysical Year 674
8. Reflections of URSI 675
9. The proliferation of international committees within the CRPL — Then
divergence 676
References 677

Chapter XVIII
THE PRECURSOR ROLES 679
Taking a professional stance 679
1. The Bureau's early publications on radio 679
2. The Radio Section addresses professional societies and other groups —And
publishes 680
The early roles with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) 681
1. In the wake of the beginning 681
2. Taking leading roles in the IRE 682
3. The Washington Section of the IRE 683
Precursor roles in the evolvement of national conferences 684
1. Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements (CPEM) 684
a) The 1949 Conference on High Frequency Measurements 684
b) The 1951 Conference on High Frequency Measurements 685
c) The Third and Fourth Conferences 686
d) The Conference moves from Washington to Boulder 686
e) A conference spawns another conference 687
f) The 1962 Conference becomes international 687
g) The Conference becomes firmly established 689
h) The Conference goes abroad 689
i) Success breeds success 690
2. —
A new conference meets a need The National Conference of Standards
Laboratories (NCSL) 690
a) A need — And a new conference is organized 690
b) What is NCSL? 691
c) The NCSL becomes a
successful organization 691
—
Exercising the learning process By schooling, by sharing technical knowledge
with others 694
1 A book approach to learning in time of war
. 694
2. A handbook series bogs down 695
3. In-house education at NBS 695
a) The early period of the NBS Graduate School 695
b) In-hours courses in the early CRPL period 696
c) The Graduate School at Boulder Laboratories 696

xxxii
 Page

4. Colloquia, symposia, seminars, conferences —

Or by any other name 698
a) An early CRPL
colloquium 698
b) Conferences, symposia, seminars at Boulder Laboratories 698
5. Professional groups of the region that had their origin within the
Boulder Laboratories 699
a) The Boulder Branch of RESA 699
b) Boulder-related Professional Groups of the IEEE 700
References 701

ChapterXIX
"GO WEST YOUNG MAN" 703
A new site for radio research 703
1. The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory encounters space problems 703
2. Slowly turn the wheels for funding a new facility 704
3. Relocating the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory 706
a) Could the location be Boulder, Colo.? 706
b) Boulder selected for relocating the CRPL 709
c) Boulder meets a challenge 711
4. NBS extends its facilities 712
a) NBS owns the Boulder site 712
b) —
Planning for a building And interim quarters 713
c) Construction proceeds on the Radio Building 715
d) Campus features and peripheral facilities 718
5. The migration to Boulder 723
a) The vanguard 723
b) Preparations for the migration 724
c) The "moving day" of many weeks 725
d) The big "migration" 725
6. Dedication of the Boulder Laboratories 726
a) Preparations for a big event 726
b) Scientific conferences come to the Boulder Laboratories 726
c) President Eisenhower dedicates the Boulder Laboratories 727

Chapter XX
L'ENVOI 733
Introduction 733
The Mission of ESSA 735
1. Functions of constituent organizations 735
a) Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
b) Weather Bureau 735
c) Coast and Geodetic Survey 735
NBS and ESSA share buildings and support functions 735
1. Buildings 735
2. Administrative and support functions 736
Epilogue 736
1. Subsequent changes in ESSA 736
a) ESSA Research Laboratories (ERL) 736
b) ITS separated from ESSA 736
2. NOAA supersedes ESSA 736
Reference 737

xxxiii
 Page

APPENDIX A— To Chapter XVI

Committee Memberships relating to the general subject of radio, in Technical
Groups, Professional Societies, and Government Sponsored Committees from the
time of formation of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, May 1, 1946,
to 1975 739

APPENDIX B— To Chapter XVII

Committee Memberships relating to the general subject of radio, associated
with International Organizations and Conferences from the time of formation
of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, May 1, 1946, to 1975 749

APPENDIX C
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF RADIO SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY,
STANDARDS, AND MEASUREMENT PROGRAMS AT THE NATIONAL BUREAU
OF STANDARDS 757

APPENDIX D
JOHN HOWARD DELLINGER— LONG-TIME PUBLIC SERVANT OF
RADIO IN GOVERNMENT 781
Proem 781
Growing up in Cleveland 782
Washington and the Bureau of Standards 782
Further schooling and the beginning of a career in radio 783
World War I 785
Chief of the Radio Section 786
Encompassed by broadcasting 786
The first, then many trips abroad 787
Radio propagation and the ionosphere 788
Radio and aeronautics 788
IRPL— Then CRPL, and retirement 789
URSI 791
CCIR 792
The IRE 792
In recollection — Bits out of the past 792

APPENDIX E
NBS RADIO PERSONNEL PATENT THEIR INVENTIONS 797

APPENDIX F
SOURCES OF INFORMATION USED IN PREPARATION OF
A CHIE VEMENT IN RA DIO 803

APPENDIX G
COMMENTARY ON A RADIO TRANSMISSION PUBLICATION 807

INDEX 809

xxxiv
 Chapter I

MAN'S QUEST TO COMMUNICATE THROUGH SPACE

Radio— Its sphere of influence

To most people the word "radio" means the broadcasting of speech and music, and to a
lesser extent, communication with or between moving vehicles such as automobiles, ships,
and planes. Yet from the rapid development of radio during the period from the late 1800's
to the present time has come a host of devices and techniques that have had their impact on
the scientific world and upon society. Hertz's interest was primarily that of demonstrating
experimentally in the laboratory the actions of electromagnetic waves predicted
mathematically by Maxwell nearly 20 years earlier. Little did the early investigators dream
that radio would be used some day to probe the heavens into outer space and, again, to
probe the interior of the atom. The driving force in the efforts of Marconi and his
contemporaries was to develop a means of communicating over long distances without
benefit of wires. They called it "wireless."

Communications— And beyond

Probably man's earliest form of communication was by sounds, and most likely they
were animal-like utterances. These sounds gradually developed into the speech of modern
man that uses language as a code. However, man also learned to communicate through the
means of visual signals. At close range he used his hands and arms. For greater distances he
learned to use semaphores, flags, the heliograph, and at night, lights. Smoke signals were
very limited in the message content they could carry.
Over long distances sound and visual signals could be relayed from station to station. If
speed of transmitting the signal was not too important, men could send an oral or written
message over long distances by runners or riders on horseback operating in relays. Postal
systems carried messages over land, sea, and finally through the air.
With the development of electrical technology came the telegraph and then the
telephone, first over land wire then by submarine cable. Although transmission of messages
had not reached the speed of light, the increase in speed was enormous over that of previous
modes of transmission. Not satisfied with the transmission of speech only, the telephone
engineers learned to transmit pictures over their systems, and still later learned to transmit
computer signals at a very high rate.
Near the close of the 19th century men were able to transmit signals over short
distances without the use of wires; then in 1901, Marconi spanned the Atlantic Ocean. Speed
of transmission now reached the speed of light. Messages were first sent by telegraphic code;
then came voice transmission. Facsimile transmission soon followed. Then came the
broadcasting of music for entertainment and of speech to keep us abreast of the world.
Television was not far away. Improved techniques of handling the "flying spot" of light
quickly gave way to television as we experience it today.
But radio was destined to be a powerful tool in the hands of man to probe the secrets of
Nature and to serve a multitude of uses in new technologies. He was to develop a frequency
range of generating and detecting oscillations for communication that would cover
4 n
approximately 25 octaves (10 to 3xlO Hz).

1
 We
have learned to transmit and receive messages in space at distances that now range
in the hundreds of millions of miles. Yet using the techniques of microwave spectroscopy we
can probe the inner realm of the atom. Using a related technique we have developed clocks
13
that have an accuracy in timekeeping of the order of 1 X 10~ Radio techniques permit us to .

probe the Earth's upper atmosphere in order to learn of its locked-up secrets. In return, we
have learned how to use the ionosphere to the maximum advantage in transmitting our
messages from point to point over the entire world. The techniques of radio astronomy
permit us to search the regions of interstellar space for "signal" information that reveals
the character of energy that radiated millions of years ago.
Radio telemetry has given us the means of placing our observation instruments a short
or great distance from the location at which we want to record the observations. By means
of radio we can control mechanical movements and the operation of electrical devices at
distances that are in terms of the Sun's planetary system.
Without radio navigation our air traffic would be limited to almost "hedge-hopping."
Only through the means of radio can we move in three dimensions with safety and with
accurate knowledge of where we are in reference to fixed points on the Earth and to moving
objects above the Earth's surface. Moreover, radio lends a hand in giving us accurate
information on the weather, operational information to the pilot of a plane, or information
for tomorrow's outing.
In this realm of radio, it is rather interesting how we came to use the word that is so
common around the world. The word "radio" appears to have come into existence by a
shortening of the term "radioconductor," used first in 1897 by Branly in naming the device
he had developed, which is better known as a coherer [1]. This device was first developed by
Branly in 1891 as a means of controlling the conduction in an electrical circuit. Marconi was
quick to apply it as a fairly sensitive detector in his early radio experiments. The British
magazine Tid-Bits, in its May 1898 issue, made reference to the word "radioconductor" in
describing some of Marconi's early work [2]. But the British were reluctant in giving up the
word "wireless" in lieu of "radio" which soon came into popular usage in the United States.
In 1912 the U.S. Navy directed the use of the term "radio" in lieu of "wireless."

A CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS AND LANDMARKS IN THE

DEVELOPMENT OF RADIO 14
1819-1976

There are observations of electricity and magnetism that go back into antiquity (e.g.,
the curious properties of amber and lodestone, and the phenomena associated with
lightning); however, these are not directly associated with manmade electromagnetic
radiation. The same is true of electric and magnetic observations made previous to 1800. But
beginning with Oersted's observation in 1819 of the magnetic properties of an electric
current, we can trace the development of radio principles more or less directly.

1819 Hans Christian Oersted (Denmark) observed magnetic properties of electric

current.

1
Guidance to material for this chronology came from a number of sources of a general chronological nature, plus
literature references that are specifically indicated [3-8].
2
It is the author's WFS) intent in presenting a chronology of radio in connection with the contents of this book that
(

emphasis be given to the scientific discoveries and technical achievements associated with the development of
radio. However, events associated with the "first" uses of radio in man's affairs are noted because of significant
historical importance.
3
Dates of discovery or recognition of an invention, novel use of a device or system, or of a principle, can vary among
historians, reports, etal. Different criteria can be used, such as: (a) date of filing for patent; (h) date of granting a

patent; (c) publication date; (d) public announcement or demonstration; and (e) concept of idea as indicated in a
notebook or other record. Other sources of confusion are misinterpretation of dates by historians and other writers
and errors in ascribing dates. It will be found in making comparisons of dates of events given in the references
noted in footnote 1 that these dates are not always in agreement among writers of the chronologies, for reasons
stated above. When dates are in disagreement among the various chronologies, the author has traced down the
original material or has cited the specific circumstances of the event involved, or he has given an explanatory note.
4
When a name is first introduced in this chronology, the person's native land is indicated unless he had been
Americanized the greater part of his life. All are Americans where no native land is indicated.

2
 1821 Andre M. Ampere (France) established the relationship between electricity and
magnetism.
1825 Georg Simon Ohm (Germany) propounded the relation R=E/I which came to be
known as Ohm's Law.
1831 Michael Faraday (England) and Joseph Henry engaged simultaneously in the study
of electromagnetic induction. Faraday's publication in November 1831 preceded
Henry's by a few months.
1833 Michael Faraday observed the "extraordinary" increase in current through silver
sulphide with temperature, indicating that the substance had a negative
temperature coefficient of resistance. Faraday was observing a property associated
5
with semiconductors.

1838 Samuel F. B. Morse applied for a U.S. patent on the telegraph.

1842 Alexander Bain's (England) electrochemical recording telegraph established the
basic principles of facsimile recording.

Joseph Henry discovered that condenser discharges from Leyden jars are
6
oscillatory [9-11]. (Note: The effect noted by Henry was probably by induction, with
little or none of the action of electromagnetic radiation.)

1844 Morse transmitted his famous message "What hath God wrought" by telegraph
between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Md. on May 24. 7
1846 Faraday speculated on the electromagnetic theory of light [12].

1849 John Walker Wilkins (England), a pioneer in telegraphy, predicted the possibility of
"wireless" telegraphy.

°M. G. Scroggie, in his Principles of Semiconductors, revised 1961 ed., Illife Books, Ltd., London, states on p. 2 that
"The rectifying properties of certain solid substances were discovered as long ago as 1835, by Munk Af.
Rosenshold." Contact by the author with Scroggie (England) failed to locate the source of this information because
of inaccessibility of the files containing the reference to Rosenshold.
6
Henry also reported the effect of magnetizing needles at considerable distances by the discharge of Leyden jars.
7
Although Morse has received public acclaim for development of or inventing the telegraph, there were others who
pioneered in the development of the telegraph, either before or contemporary with the development work of Morse.
A listing would include Wheatstone of England, Stienheil of the European Continent, Baron Schilling of Russia,
Marshall of Scotland, and Joseph Henry of the United States.

3
 1853 Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, Scotland) published a paper on a mathematical
analysis of transient electric current that explained the oscillatory nature of
8
discharges from Leyden jars (phials) [13].

1857 Heinrich Geissler (Germany) demonstrated the effect of high voltage on gases in a
partial vacuum. 9
1858 First transatlantic cable in operation. This cable failed after several weeks; the first
successful cable was laid in 1866.

1864 James Clerk Maxwell (Scotland) was the first to establish a fundamental concept of
electromagnetic waves by mathematical reasoning, his work resulting in
"Maxwell's equations" which indicated the existence of electromagnetic waves that
10
were later demonstrated by Hertz [14].
11
1872 Mahlon Loomis was issued the first U.S. patent for a wireless system.

1874 Karl Ferdinand Braun (Germany) observed the directional properties of current
flow in galena, copper pyrites, and other crystalline substances that eventually
came to be used for fairly sensitive crystal detectors.

8
From Lord Kelvin's mathematical analysis of the oscillatory nature of a condenser discharge, expressed as the
interval of time between peak currents of the oscillations, can be deduced the now familiar relation of
2 2 1/2
/'=(l/27rVLC), or when resistance of the circuit is considered, /"=(l/27r)[(l/LC)-(R /4L )] for damped oscillations.
It is interesting to note that Kelvin used the term "electrodynamic capacity" for what came to be called
"inductance."
9
In 1838 Faraday had reported observations on luminous discharges created by high voltage in rarefied gases
contained in a glass vessel. He gave some thought to what the conduction might be if he had a perfect vacuum.

'"Maxwell's treatment of electrical units on the basis of the absolute (base) units of mass, length, and time in
relationships of dimensional analysis ("dimensional equations" —
Maxwell) led him to the equation v=(l/Vkji), the
velocity of light. This velocity of approximately 3x10'° cm/s gave the relationship between the electrostatic and
electromagnetic systems of units. In addition, it led Maxwell to the belief that light was a form of electromagnetic
radiation.
Maxwell's lengthy paper on "The Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" was read by him to the
Royal Society of London on December 8, 1864. The paper was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London [14], Vol. CLV, 1865, pp. 459-472. In this paper Maxwell's famous equations appeared in
differential form whereas, today, they usually appear in the more familiar vector algebra form. These equations are
the foundation upon which much of the modern treatment of the propagation of electromagnetic waves is based,
whether in waveguide, open lines, or in free space. Maxwell arrived at the results contained in his 1864 paper on
the basis of work that he read at the Cambridge Philosophical Society as early as 1855. The early work was an
outgrowth of his study of Faraday's experimental research on electromagnetic induction. Maxwell gave a complete
account of these papers in his now famous two-volume Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, first published in
1873, and in two later editions.
11
Beginning in 1864, Dr. Mahlon Loomis, a Washington, D.C. dentist, planned a system of transmitting and
receiving signals by a combination of the Earth as a ground and an antenna elevated at a considerable height above
the Earth.
Loomis was successful in sending and receiving signals between two locations on mountaintops 18 miles apart
in the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Washington, D.C. in October 1866. For an antenna Loomis used a 600-foot
length of copper wire that was elevated by a kite, the wire serving as the kite string. On the kite was a small
square of fine copper wire gauze connected to the copper wire. No doubt it served as a slight additional capacitance
leading to the antenna. Although a spark was obtained without a battery (upon keying the circuit), its strength, or
even its existence, was very dependent upon the conditions of atmospheric electricity and, therefore, was dependent
upon the weather. For a receiver Loomis used a magnetic-needle galvanometer. Had a coherer or crystal detector
been available at the time, his receiver would have been far more sensitive. By using the same length of wire at
each of the two stations, Loomis obtained a degree of tuning (for resonance) between the two systems, either
knowingly or unknowingly. There were no other provisions for tuning the antenna circuits.
Although Loomis had some of the rudiments of a wireless system, it was far from a practical system. It is
possible that he was using a system that combined both the induction principle as well as a system that radiated
true but highly damped electromagnetic waves from spark discharges. The world had to wait until nearly the end
of the 19th century for Marconi to develop a practical system of wireless telegraphy.
Lack of funds, including rejection of pleas to Congress for support, dogged Loomis in his experiments the
remainder of his life.

4
 1876 Alexander Graham Bell was issued a U.S. patent on the telephone. It was
demonstrated publicly at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pa.
A plethora of reports appeared in 1876 describing the transmission and reception
12
of oscillatory spark discharges over short distances.
Li
1878 William Crookes (England) demonstrated the properties of cathode rays.

David E. Hughes, an American experimenting in London, demonstrated the

transmission of signals over short distances in much the same manner as Edison, E.
Thomson, and S. P. Thomson. His detection system, consisting of a steel needle and
carbon block, was a precursor of the coherer.
1880 The Curie brothers, Jacques and Pierre (France), discovered the piezoelectric
property of quartz crystals.
1882 Amos E. Dolbear was granted several U.S. patents for a "wireless" telephone
14
system.

1883 Thomas A. Edison observed the thermionic effect of an electric current passing
across the evacuated space in an incandescent lamp from the hot filament to a cold
The "Edison effect" was destined to give birth
metallic plate. to many types of
thermionic vacuum tubes in the 20th century.
1884 Paul Nipkow (Germany) was granted a German patent for inventing the
mechanical scanning disk which was adapted to many types of television systems to
be developed in the 1920's.

John Henry Poynting (England) published his well-known theorem on the flow of
energy in an electromagnetic wave or in a current passing through a conductor as
being proportional to the vector product of the electric and magnetic fields [15].
1886 Heinrich Hertz (Germany) began his studies of verifying experimentally the
existence of electromagnetic waves, thus confirming the theory set forth by
Maxwell in 1864 [16]. 1516
1890 Edouard Branly (France) developed the coherer, which was to be used extensively
as a detector of radio waves during the first few years of practical radio telegraphy
[17]."

12
Thomas A. Edison, Elihu Thomson, and Silvanus P. Thomson (England) reported on experiments conducted with
spark discharges, with some reports dating back to 1871. These investigations were probably closer to "wireless"
with radiated electromagnetic waves than anyone realized until many years after their experiments were
completed in the early 1870's. See reference [7], Vol. 5, Aug. 1968.
13
The pinkish rays of light produced by Crookes in an evacuated glass tube, fitted with metal electrodes at each
end, was an indication of invisible particles causing the illumination. It was a step beyond what Geissler had first
attained in 1857.
14
This "wireless" system incorporated a condenser-type microphone that served as a telephone transmitter. Dolbear
demonstrated his system in a paper read before the Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Electricians, London, in
1882. This and other demonstrations gave some indication that Dolbear was transmitting telephone messages by
electromagnetic waves; probably there was a combination of both induction and radiation in the transmission.
15
Hertz's papers on electromagnetic waves were published over a period of several years, beginning in 1887. By
means of discharges from Leyden jars on a Holtz machine (type of static machine with one rotating disc), Hertz
observed the reflection and refraction of electromagnetic waves. His "detector" was a wire loop with a small gap,
across which could be observed faint sparks caused by radiation from the nearby source. Such a detector was too
insensitive for practical telegraphy. Hertz died in 1894, and did not see the practical fruition of his experimental
research, but he had confirmed Maxwell's theory.
An interesting account of Hertz's research, including a list of references is found in reference [7], Vol. 5, Dec.
1968.
16
In later years Heinrich Hertz was honored as the pioneer in experimental radio by use of the term "hertz," with
contraction to "Hz," as a means of simplifying the term "cycles per second."
17
Sir Oliver Lodge (England) used the coherer as a detector in demonstrating Hertz's experiments in place of the
spark gap in a loop of wire. It remained for Marconi to use the coherer (with some improvements in sensitivity over
that of Branly's instrument) as a detector which spelled his success in a practical system of radio telegraphy.

5
 James Clerk Maxwell Heinrich Rudolf Hertz
1831-1879 1857-1894

1895 Guglielmo Marconi (Italy) had success in the spring of 1895 in transmitting signals
up to distances of 2.4 km at his father's estate near Bologna, Italy, using a spark
coil as the transmitter and a coherer as a detector.
Alexandr S. Popov (Russia) demonstrated a wireless system to the Russian
Physico-Chemical Society on May 7, 1895, at St. Petersburg, using a source similar
1819
to that used by Hertz, and a coherer modeled after Branly's device.

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (Germany) discovered X rays on November 8, 1895.

1896 Marconi filed for a British patent on June 2 for a system of wireless telegraphy. In
September, Marconi transmitted and received signals over a distance of 2 miles on
the Salisbury Plain in England.
1897 Marconi was granted a U.S. patent on July 13 for his system of wireless telegraphy.
Karl Ferdinand Braun (Germany) constructed the first cathode-ray tube for use
as —
an oscilloscope a forerunner to the modern TV viewing tube.
During the same year, Braun devised a wireless telegraph system using inductive
antenna coupling in a spark transmitter and resonant-circuit tuning in the
receiver. Braun also replaced the coherer with the more efficient crystal type of
detector. In 1909 he was to share the Nobel Prize in Physics with Marconi for the
development of wireless telegraphy.
Adolph K. H. Slaby (Germany) brought out a book describing a wireless
telegraph system that he developed that was capable of carrying signals over a

18
A very interesting and detailed critique of the beginning of radio telegraphy in the roles played by Lodge,
Marconi, and Popov is given in reference [18].
19
Credits and countercredits on priority of invention or discovery are not uncommon in the realm of science and
technology. Such had been the situation of Marconi and Popov with radio telegraphy. So it was in the patents for
the telephone; Gray and Bell applied for patents on the same day (February 14, 1876).
The discovery of electric induction by Henry and by Faraday more or less simultaneously grew out of studies
by these two men over a period of time.
Adams of England first calculated the position of the planet Neptune, but observation of its position was
delayed by the Greenwich Observatory. Although the Frenchman Leverrier calculated the position of Neptune at a
later date than that of Adams, its observed position through the cooperation of the German astronomer Galle came
earlier than the Greenwich observation.

6
 distance of more than 10 miles. Slaby set up a firm to manufacture wireless
equipment.
Joseph John Thomson (England), director of Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
University, identified cathode rays as extremely small charged particles, electrons.
Sir Thomson received the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his theoretical and
experimental investigations into the transmission of electricity through gases."
1898 Michael I. Pupin was granted a U.S. patent for an electrolytic detector.

Oliver Lodge was granted a U.S. patent for a method of tuning radio circuits.
Others who developed tuning circuits at this period were Marconi and Muirhead in
England, Slaby and Braun in Germany, and John S. Stone in the United States.

7
 1899 Marconi communicated by wireless telegraphy across the English Channel on
March 27, a first time for the mode of communication.
The first distress signal by wireless was sent by the East Goodwin Sands
lightship off the English coast after being struck by the steamship R. F. Mathews.
The first American radio company was incorporated, the American Wireless
Telephone and Telegraph Co.
The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America was organized on November 22.

1900 John S. Stone applied for a U.S. patent on a radio tuning device, February 8.

Marconi was granted a British patent for tuned circuits incorporating

inductively coupled resonant circuits with capacitative tuning. The famous patent,
bearing No. 7777, was granted on April 26. The tuned circuitry was the forebear of
most tuning circuits to follow.

William D. Duddell (England) discovered that the electric arc could be made to
generate high-frequency oscillations.
Nikola Tesla was granted a U.S. patent on control at a distance by radio.
Reginald A. Fessenden was first to be successful in the transmission and
reception of speech, using a spark transmitter. The experiments were conducted in
December at Cobb Island, Md. [19].

1901 On September 27 Fessenden filed for a U.S. patent on a system of wireless

20
telephony. On the following day, September 28, Fessenden filed for a U.S. patent
on a method of receiving undamped waves (CW) which became known as the
heterodyne method. This method was destined to become almost universally used
21
for the reception of radio signals.

Marconi succeeded in receiving the letter "S" in Morse code across the Atlantic
Ocean on December 12. The signal was transmitted from Poldhu, in southwest
England and was received at St. Johns, Newfoundland.
1902 On February 10 Cornelius D. Ehret of Philadelphia, Pa. filed for two U.S. patents
on a method of modulation by varying the resistance or reactance of an oscillator,
probably the first to state that it was a frequency-modulation method of controlling
a carrier frequency.

20
Up to the time of Fessenden's experiments on Cobb Island, Md., and his later filing of patents relating to wireless
telephony, the development of radio was in the direction of using the "whiplash" effect of highly damped
oscillations, whereas Fessenden saw the future was in the use of continuous oscillations (CW), especially for
communication by voice and other sounds.
In his patent, filed on September 17, 1901, for "Wireless Telephony," Fessenden made the claim, "In a system
for transmission of speech by electromagnetic waves, the combination at the sending station of means for the
practically continuous generation of electromagnetic waves, a telephone transmitter for modifying the character of
—
the waves or impulses ("modulation" author), and a telephone receiver at the receiving station responsive to
currents generated by the electromagnetic waves" [20].
Fessenden developed spark transmitters (operating at high spark frequencies) and, later, high-frequency
him to use voice modulation on the carrier wave. For these
alternators (rotating generators) that permitted
attainments he was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1921 by the Institute of Radio Engineers for his developments
in continuous wave telegraphy and telephony.
21
Fessenden's U.S. patent for the heterodyne method of receiving radio signals was titled "Localization by
generation and receiving two sets of waves of different periodicities." One of the several claims was, "In a system of
signalling by electromagnetic waves, the combination of a source of waves of different periodicities and two or more
receivers responsive respectively to the differing waves or impulses, and a wave-responsive device operative when
the waves or impulses attain a certain predetermined phase relation" [21].
This patent was applied for on September 28, 1901, and granted on August 13, 1902, as No. 706,740. For years
afterward the patent was subject to legal investigation.
It is interesting to note that Fessenden began calling it the "heterodyne" method of reception, taking the term

"hetero" from the Greek for the "difference" frequency produced by beats between two frequencies, one the
transmitted frequency, the other being generated locally at the receiving station by a small arc transmitter
(oscillator). In later years the local oscillation was generated by a vacuum tube. It was the ease by which the

difference frequency or beat note (intermediate frequency) could be amplified (accompanied by high selectivity and
high signal-to-noise ratio in the circuitry) that gave rise to the great popularity of the superheterodyne receiver in
later years.

8
 Marconi was granted four U.S. patents on the magnetic detector.
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany proposed holding an international radio conference.
Marconi discovered that radio signals can be received over much longer distances
at night than during the day. Observations were made while voyaging on the SS
Philadelphia.
Arthur E. Kennelly and Oliver Heaviside (England) independently suggested
that Marconi's success with long distance wireless reception could be explained by
reflection from an electrically conducting layer in the Earth's upper atmosphere
[22,23]. These suggestions were to open up a vast field in radio science in future
years.

Captain Henry B. Jackson of the British Navy (later Admiral Sir and First Sea
Lord of the Admiralty) published the first extensive quantitative propagation
measurements over land and sea (Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Vol. 70,
1902). His observations formed a pioneer study of the effect on transmission of
radio waves (approximately 1400 kHz) by atmospheric conditions, by obstacles of
different land formations, and by lightning discharges.

1903 Valdemar Poulson (Denmark) was successful in applying the electric arc as the
oscillator in high-power radio transmitters.
On April 9 Fessenden applied for a U.S. patent on the electrolytic detector,
calling the device a "liquid barretter."

The General Electric Co. at Schenectady, N.Y. constructed the first large-scale,
high-frequency alternator for Fessenden, operating at a frequency of 10,000 Hz. 22
(Preliminary) International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy convened in
Berlin, Germany.

Lee de Forest was granted a U.S. patent on a magnetic detector.

22
The conception of the high-frequency alternator (ac generator) is due to Fessenden, with some of the later
developments contributed by Ernst F. W. Alexanderson of the General Electric Co., also by Rudolph Goldschmidt.
Fessenden built the earliest models as generators for his wireless telephone equipment. Alternators were built to
operate as high as 100,000 Hz, and at power ratings up to several hundred kilowatts, but fell into disuse with the
advent of vacuum tubes that could serve in high-power transmitters. However, the abandonment of high-frequency
alternators was a slow process, some of the machines being used as late as the World War II period.

9
 O. W. Richardson (England) showed that thermionic emission at saturation
current in highly evacuated vacuum tubes was from free electrons emitted by the
hot filament and was dependent upon the absolute temperature and work function
of the filament.

1904 John Ambrose Fleming (England) applied for a British patent on the two-element
vacuum tube for use as a detector [24,25].

1905 A U.S. patent was granted to Fleming on the two-element thermionic vacuum tube,
23
known popularly as the "Fleming valve."

1906 In January the first two-way transmission of messages by wireless telegraphy

across the Atlantic Ocean was carried on by Fessenden. The stations were located
at Brant Rock, Mass. and at Machrihanish in southwestern Scotland.

Ettore Bellini and Alessandro Tosi (Italy) pioneered in the development of radio
direction finders [26].

First radio conference, known as the (First) International Radiotelegraph

Conference, was held in Berlin. (A preceding conference, held in 1903, is known as
the (Preliminary) International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy.)
H. C. Dunwoody discovered rectifying properties of carborundum crystals;
Greenleaf W. Pickard discovered the rectifying properties of silicon. 24
Lee de Forest invented the three-electrode thermionic vacuum tube, one of
25
radio's greatest contributions [27, 28].

Fessenden transmitted music and speech with an 80-kHz alternator from Brant
Rock, Mass.; the transmission was received by ships off the Virginia coast. This
event is usually referred to as the first broadcast for entertainment.
1908 A. A. Campbell-Swinton (England) published a paper in Nature (London) that was
remarkable in its prediction of television technology as we know it today [30,31]. 26
1909 On January 23 the SS Republic collided with the SS Florida off Nantucket Island
near New York. Distress calls sent out by the radio operator of the Republic
resulted in the saving of all but six lives in the disaster. The world acclaimed the
use of radio at sea.
Marconi (Italy) and Braun (Germany) were awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in
Physics "for their development of wireless telegraphy."
1910 On January 10 Lee de Forest used a transmitter incorporating an arc oscillator to
broadcast the voices of Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destin from backstage of the
Metropolitan Opera House. De Forest had used this system of radio telephony
several years earlier but not until 1910 had he engaged the services of such
illustrious performers in his broadcasts.
Distance observations of radiotelegraphic signals from Brant Rock, Mass., to two
U.S. Navy ships in the Atlantic Ocean resulted in the well-known Austin-Cohen
transmission formula. See chapter II, pp. 34-35.
23
The "Fleming valve" became a popular detector until the more sensitive three-element tube, developed by de
Forest, came into existence a few years later.
'''These crystals, used as detectors, usually were operated in solid contact with a metal electrode, unlike the "cat
whisker" used on galena crystals. These crystal detectors were the forerunner of some of the semiconductor devices
to come in later years.
25
Several years of experimenting with the Fleming-type vacuum tube resulted in de Forest introducing a third
electrode (grid) between the filament and plate. of a "B battery" to obtain a high potential on the
With the adding
plate, de Forest much greater sensitivity than that of other detectors in use at the time.
had a radio detector of
De Forest applied on his three-electrode thermionic vacuum tube as a detector of wireless
for a patent
telegraphy on October 25, 1906. The patent was granted January 15, 1907, as No. 841,387. He applied for a second
patent on January 29, 1907, for use of the vacuum tube as a telephone repeater and relay. This patent was granted
on February 18, 1908, as No. 879,532. The name "audion" became very popular for the three-electrode vacuum tube,
whether used as a detector or as an amplifier. The name is attributed to one of de Forest's assistants, and was
adopted by his engineers because "it had a pleasant, swinging sound" [29].
26
Campbell-Swinton clearly indicated the fundamental limitations of mechanical systems of transmitting pictures
at a distance,and proposed an all-electric system incorporating a scanning cathode-ray tube and photocells at the
transmitting end, and a scanned cathode-ray tube at the receiving end, with synchronization of the signals.

10
 27
The Radio Ship Act of 1910 was enacted (U.S. Public Law 262, Frye Bill).

Oscillations in galena-crystal detectors were first observed by W. H. Eccles

(England). Demonstrated before Physical Society of London in May 1910 [32J. 28

1912 Frederick A. Kolster of the Bureau of Standards developed the direct reading
decremeter and wavemeter [33].

On the night of April 14 radio aided in saving approximately 750 lives in the SS
Titanic disaster.

On May 13 the Institute of Radio Engineers was formed by combining the

Wireless Institute and the Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers [34].

The (Second) International Radiotelegraph Conference (first revisional

conference) was held in London, England during June and July. The role played by
wireless in the Titanic disaster just a few weeks before had a profound effect upon
actions taken by the Conference.

On August 13 the Congress passed a bill that became Public Law 264. It gave the
Government (Secretary of Commerce and Labor) power of the licensing and
considerable control of commercial and amateur radio stations, and the licensing of
operators. The act became effective on December 13.

Irving Langmuir developed the first highly evacuated thermionic vacuum

29
tubes.

Harold D. Arnold initiated development of oxide-coated filaments for thermionic

30
vacuum tubes for greater tube life and more stable performance.

In October, de Forest demonstrated the first cascaded amplifiers by using two or

more three-element tubes.

1913 On February the powerful radio station

13 at Arlington, Va. was NAA
commissioned for use by the U.S. Navy. Along with Navy communications and the
time-signal service furnished by the U.S. Naval Observatory, it also had limited use
by other Government departments.
In April, de Forest found that his three-element vacuum tube (audion) could
operate as an oscillator and could be used as a heterodyne detector [36].
Edwin H. Armstrong filed application on October 29 for a patent on a
regenerative or "feedback" circuit. Patent granted October 6, 1914.
1914 De Forest filed application on March 20 for a patent on a regenerative or
"feedback" circuit. Patent granted September 2, 1924, after years of litigation [37].

On May American Radio Relay League (ARRL) of radio amateurs was

18 the
organized through the efforts of Hiram Percy Maxim.
Radio had an important role in communications early in World War I.

27
This law, effective July 1, 1911, made it unlawful for any ship carrying more than 50 passengers and crew, plying
between ports more than 200 miles apart, to leave port in the United States unless equipped with proper wireless
apparatus and having a skilled operator aboard.
The act was extended in 1912 to include cargo vessels, and to require that two or more skilled wireless
operators were to be in charge of the wireless apparatus on certain passenger ships.
28
Fourteen years after Eccles demonstrated the existence of oscillations in crystal detectors, several papers that
included a variety of circuit designs appeared in 1924 in the English periodical Wireless World and Radio Review. It
is interesting to note that these observed oscillations and amplifying properties of crystals preceded later

developments of semiconductor diodes and transistors by several decades.

29
Heretofore all vacuum tubes contained considerable amounts of residual gases because of inadequate evacuation
techniques. These "soft" tubes were soon to be replaced by "hard" tubes that had only extremely small traces of
residual gases and were far more stable in operation. A few types of tubes were purposely made "soft," especially
those used for detection where gaseous ionization made the tube more sensitive to weak signals, e.g., the early
"audions" or later soft tubes such as the type 200 tubes.
30
Although Wehnelt (Germany) observed the copious thermionic emission from oxide-coated filaments in 1904, it
was not until 1912 that Arnold of the Western Electric Co. suggested their use for large-scale production of vacuum
tubes. By 1920 the Western Electric Co. had produced many types of vacuum tubes, including amplifier tubes for
telephone relays, that used the oxide-coated filament for long life and greater stability of operation [35].

11
 1915 Voice communications by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. operating
from NAA, Arlington, Va. were received in Paris, Canal Zone, and Honolulu.
In August, David Sarnoff, then of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of
America, wrote his famous memo to his superiors proposing a "radio music box"
that could be used to bring music into the home by "wireless." Radio broadcasting
in the 1920's brought his proposal to fulfillment.

1916 Radio stations in Highbridge, N.J. and in New Rochelle, N.Y. began voice and
music transmissions received by amateurs at distances up to several hundred miles.
Kolster of the Bureau of Standards applies for patent on Radio Compass, March 31.

1917 Allamateur and commercial radio stations in the United States were either closed
down or taken over by the Navy on April 7, after the United States entered World
War I on April 6. The ban on amateur stations was removed in mid-1919.
Walter Schottky published his investigations on the random fluctuations in
emission of electrons from emitters such as the cathode of vacuum tubes. Usually
referred to as the "shot effect" [38].

1918 Radio telegraphy and telephony proved to be of great importance in warfare as

World War I came to a conclusion at the signing of the armistice on November 11.
1919 The scheduled broadcasts by a noncommercial organization were made by
first
station 9XM (later WHA) operated by the University of Wisconsin at Madison,
beginning in January.
On February 8 Major E. H. Armstrong applied for a patent on the
1
superheterodyne circuit.^ The patent, bearing No. 1,342,885, was granted June 8,
1920 [39].

Radio Corp. of America (RCA) was incorporated on October 17.

1920 On February 29 all commercial stations taken over by the U.S. Navy during World
War I were returned to their owners by Executive order.
The broadcasting of the Harding-Cox election returns by KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
on the night of November 2 is usually regarded as the world's first scheduled
broadcast by a commercial organization."
1921 By 1921 the Radio Corp. of America possessed rights to over 2000 patents relating
to radio.

Initial theory of the magnetron was developed by Albert W. Hull [42].

The Bureau of Standards initiated the development of an aural radiobeacon

system for the Army Air Service for use on fixed airways. This work led to many
developments in air navigation, including a visual-type radiobeacon and a blind
landing system [43].
On November 5 President Harding formally opened the powerful facility "Radio
Central" by sending a radiogram to all nations. The radio communications center,
located at Rocky Point, near River Head, Long Island, was built and operated by
the Radio Corp. of America. In October 1922 it began operation with 20-kW
transmitting tubes.
31
The superheterodyne circuit was a World War I development by Armstrong that grew out of the exigencies of the
war for a very sensitive receiver, with sharp tuning, that would operate below 600 meters (above 500 kHz). The
superheterodyne circuit has proved to be the most useful of all receiver circuits and is the basis of most receiver
designs since the time that regenerative receivers proved to be impractical.
The technical story is traced in two references cited below, plus contained reference to Schottky that gives
some little-known information on the background and development of the superheterodyne circuit [40,41].
32
Dr. Frank Conrad, an engineer Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. of Pittsburgh, had been
for the
operating experimental station 8XK
nearby Wilkinsburg for several years prior to 1920. Enough interest had
in
been created in the Westinghouse Co. that an application had been authorized to set up a station for scheduled
broadcasting. The letters KDKA (transmitter at East Pittsburgh) were assigned to the world's first commercial
broadcasting station, with an operating wavelength of 360 meters (833.3 kHz).
Not to be overlooked, and with claims by other stations of priority in scheduled broadcasting before that of
KDKA, were broadcasts from stations 9XM operated by the University of Wisconsin (see entry under 1919) and
WWJ operated by the Detroit Free Press at Detroit, Mich.

12
 On December complete message on "short waves" (230 meters) across
11 the first
the Atlantic was transmitted by radio amateurs from Greenwich, Conn, and was
received by an amateur at Ardrossan, Scotland.

1922 The First National Radio Conference, relating to broadcasting, convened on

February 27 in Washington, D.C.
Edwin H. Armstrong presented a paper on the superregenerative circuit before
the Institute of Radio Engineers in New York on June 7 [44].

On June Warren G. Harding became the first President to make a radio

14
broadcast by a commercial station. Station WEAR
(later WFBR) in Baltimore, Md.
broadcast Harding's speech at the dedication of the Francis Scott Key Memorial at
Ft. McHenry, Baltimore. Fifteen days earlier, on May 30, President Harding's
speech at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C, had been
broadcast by the U.S. Navy's station NSF operated by the Naval Aircraft Radio
Laboratory.
On June 20, 1922, Marconi pointed out in his address in New York, on the
occasion of receiving the Medal of Honor from the Institute of Radio Engineers, the
importance of short-wave radio (1 to 20 meters) in the future [45]. He particularly
pointed out the recent work in this field by C. S. Franklin of the British Marconi
33
Co.

A. H. Taylor and L. C. Young of the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory observed

sharp changes in signal strength as boats would pass between the transmitter and
receiver located on opposite banks of the Potomac River below Washington.
Changes in signal strength were accounted for by changes of amplitude in the
interference wave pattern caused by boats moving across the transmission path.
These observations are often referred to as the first radar "discovery."

Near the end of 1922 a total of 569 radio broadcasting stations had been licensed.

The British Broadcasting Co. was formed on December 15 (became the British
Broadcasting Corp. January 1, 1927).
Louis A. Hazeltine developed the neutrodyne circuit for radio receivers which
34
became very popular for broadcast receivers for a period of about 5 years [46].

33
At the June 20, 1922, meeting referred to above, Marconi said, in part:

Before I conclude I should like to refer to another possible application of those waves which, if

successful, would be of great value to navigation.

As was first shown by Hertz, electric waves can be completely reflected by conducting bodies. In
some of my tests I have noticed the effects of reflection and deflection of these waves by metallic
objects miles away.

It seems to me should be possible to design apparatus by means of which a ship could

that it

radiate or project a divergent beam of these rays in any desired direction, which rays, if coming
across a metallic object, such as another steamer or ship, would be reflected back to a receiver
screened from the local transmitter on the sending ship and thereby immediately reveal the
presence and bearing of the other ship in fog or thick weather.

One further great advantage of such an arrangement would be that it would be able to give
warning of the presence and bearing of ships, even should these ships be unprovided with any
**
kind of radio.*

*It was not until 1930 that this prophetic statement of Marconi came true in the sense of radio signals being
reflected from a metallic object— in this case reflections from a plane being observed by L. C. Young (and L. A.
Hyland) of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
"Occasionally reference is made to Nikola Tesla as having first described the principle of radar, taking the cue
from an article written by Tesla in the June 1900 issue of the Century magazine. In one instance Tesla states for
electrical waves that:

For instance, by their use we may produce at will, from sending-station, an electrical effect in

any particular region of the globe; we may determine the relative position or course of a moving
object, such as a vessel at sea, the distance traversed by the same, or its speed;...

Whether Tesla envisioned "radar" in the same concept as Marconi in 1922 is a moot question.
34
The neutralization of capacitive coupling in vacuum tubes had its origin with Hazeltine in 1918 when he reported
on work with oscillating vacuum-tube circuits [47].

13
 35
1923 First public demonstration of single-sideband radio telephony on January 5.

C. Francis Jenkins transmitted photographs via radio from Washington to

Philadelphia on March 23.

E. F. Nichols and J. D. Tear reduced the measured fundamental wavelengths of

the electromagnetic spectrum from 7 mm
(43,000 MHz) to 1.8 mm
(167,000 MHz), an
36
interval of 2 octaves [48].

On November 27 the first two-way messages across the Atlantic at 100 meters
were transmitted and received by radio amateurs at Hartford, Conn, and Nice,
France.
Vladimir K. Zworykin filed a patent application on December 29 for an
iconoscope. Patent finally issued December 20, 1938.

1924 First transatlantic transmission of photograph via radio, from New York to
London.
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory designed and constructed the first crystal-
controlled radio transmitter.

1925 Professor Edward V. Appleton (England) and several of his students determined the
height of the Kennelly-Heaviside layer(s) by (1) a vertical triangulation technique,
and (2) a frequency-change method of observing the height by an interference
pattern of direct wave and skywave [49].
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory developed radio transmitting equipment using
pulsed CW. Pulsed transmitters were to prove very useful in ionospheric
observations and later for radar.

35
This demonstration by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and the Radio Corp. of America was used
first
in transatlantic radio telephonybetween Rocky Point, Long Island, and New Southgate, England. Although single-
sideband transmission had been used first some years previously for wire telephony, this was the first application
to a commercial radio telephony system.
36
At the time of this work in 1922, two more octaves
in frequency remained to close the gap between the electrical
wave spectrum and the far Although fairly accurate measurements were made at the fundamental
infrared.
frequencies of the electrical waves by Nichols and Tear, they were generating trains of highly damped oscillatory
spark discharges and not CW radiation. Some years later the gap was closed by measured wavelengths in the far
infrared. However, the gap was not closed with coherent radiation until many years later with the development of
lasers.

14
 Gregory Breit and Merle A. Tuve of the Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C.,
with the cooperation of the Naval Research Laboratory, made the first observations
of the ionosphere by reflection of pulsed radio waves [50].

C. Francis Jenkins demonstrated television on June 13, using a mechanically

rotating scanning disk, by radio transmission between Anacostia Naval Air Station
and his laboratory near Washington, D.C. [51].
1926 RCA established point-to-point radio facsimile service between New York and
London, and transmitted the first commercial picture across the Atlantic on May 1.
Radio broadcast receivers operating from 60-Hz alternating current were
introduced by RCA.
The National Broadcasting Co. was organized on September 9 with 24 stations
comprising the NBC network, and began operations on November 15.
Yagi-Uda high-gain, directional VHF-UHF antenna was invented by Hidetsugu
Yagi and Shintaro Uda (Japan) [52].
Albert W. Hull and N. H. Williams published development work on screen-grid
tubes of improved design and operating characteristics [53,54].'"
1927 Commercial radiotelephone service between New York and London was instituted
on January 7.
Philo Farnsworth filed for a U.S. patent on an electronic television system on
January 7.

John Baird (Scotland) described his television system, incorporating a

L.
mechanical disc with 30 lenses, at Glasgow, Scotland, on February 3.
On February 23 President Coolidge approved the Radio Act of 1927, enacted by
Congress, that established the Federal Radio Commission for a period of 1 year. On
March 2 Rear Admiral W. H. G. Bullard, USN (retired), became the first chairman.
Bell Telephone Laboratories demonstrated wire television between Washington,
D.C. andNew York on April 7 and radio television between Whippany, N.J. and
New York on April 16.
The (Third) International Radiotelegraph Conference (2d revisional conference)
was opened by President Coolidge in Washington, D.C. on October 4; it was
presided over by Secretary of Commerce Hoover.

1928 U.S. Government began installations of radio range stations as navigational aids to
mail-carrying planes.
First practical construction and use of cyclotron type of magnetron by H. Yagi
(Japan) [55].

J. B.Johnson of the Bell Telephone Laboratories determined experimentally the

noise power of the thermal fluctuations in resistors, an effect usually referred to as
"Johnson noise." Concurrently, H. Nyquist succeeded with a theoretical approach
39
to the noise problem.

37
Although thefirst development on screen-grid tubes was carried out by W. Schottky (Germany) as early as 1919,
it was Albert W. Hull's contributions published in 1926, of more complete shielding of the grid, that led to a
manufactured tube (of the 222 type for radio receivers) in 1927. A screen-grid tube suitable for ac heating of the
cathode appeared in 1929 and became quite popular. Tetrodes suitable for transmitters also became available.
It was at this conference that the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) was set up to "study
38

technical and operating questions relating specifically to radio communications and issue recommendations on
them," and that the committee "shall pay due attention to the study of questions directly connected with the
establishment, development, and improvement of telecommunications in new and developing countries, in both the
regional and international fields." This committee would play, and continues to play, a prominent role in the
technical aspects of radio on an international basis.
2
39
The noise power equation E 2 = 4kRT (f2-fi) is a very important relation in electronic circuitry, where E is the
mean square voltage, k is Boltzman's constant, R the resistance component of impedance producing the thermal
voltage, T the temperature in kelvins, and f2 and f the upper and lower limits of the frequency band considered. F.
x

B. Llewellyn of Bell Telephone Laboratories made extensive use of the noise power equation in the study of noise in
the circuits associated with vacuum tubes.

L5
 Color television was demonstrated by John L. Baird (Scotland) on June 3 in
England, using a three-spiral mechanical scanning disc at transmitter and at
receiver.

1929 Application was filed on May 23 for a patent on the Espenshied-Affel coaxial cable
for use as a wide-band, long-distance transmission cable including transmission of
television signals.

Vladimir K. Zworykin demonstrated the kinescope (cathode-ray TV picture tube)

to the Institute of Radio Engineers on November 18.
1930 Two-way wire television demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories on April 9.

First round-the-world broadcast from Schenectady, N.Y. and back to point of

origin (accomplished with several relay stations).

Pentode tubes became available for the power output stage of broadcast
receivers, although such tubeshad been in use in Europe for several years before
1930.

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory made some "accidental" observations on a short-

wave direction-finding system that was an important step toward the development
40
of radar.

1931 Microwave transmission of voice-modulated carrier of 18 cm (1700 MHz) across the

English Channel between Dover, England and Calais, France on March 31.
Experimental television transmitter opened on July 21 by Columbia
Broadcasting System at the top of the Chrysler Building, New York City.
On September 5 two pilots, in the employ of the Department of Commerce, made
the first blind landing at the airport at College Park, Md., using radio equipment
developed by the Bureau of Standards [56]. 41
Experimental television transmitter opened on October 30 by the Radio Corp. of
America on top of the Empire State Building, then the world's tallest building.

During the period 1931-1932 Marconi found that propagation at a wavelength of

60 cm was at least five times the optical distance, in contradiction to theory [57].
1932 The (Fourth) International Radiotelegraph Conference (3d revisional conference)
was held in Madrid, Spain at which time the Telegraph Union and the
Radiotelegraph Union were merged into one organization, named the International
42
Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Karl G. Jansky of Bell Telephone Laboratories published his first paper in
December of work started in August 1931 on directional studies of atmospherics in

40
In using a short-wave direction-finding system, Naval Research Laboratory personnel observed unusual operating
conditions occurred when planes passed between a transmitter and a receiver located at several miles distance.
These "accidental" observations gave impetus to the development of radio methods of detecting distant objects.
Previously, in 1922, personnel of the Naval Research Laboratory had observed unusual reception of signals when
ships passed between a radio transmitter and a receiver located on opposite shores of the Potomac River. The
observed phenomenon of "beat" signals showed promise of a means of detecting ships in a fog or entering a harbor.
41
Many blind landings were made at College Park subsequent to this event by using a hooded cockpit. A similar
radio installation was made at the airport at Newark, N.J. On March 20, 1933, the plane taking off from College
Park for Newark encountered "no-visibility" conditions and continued its flight and landed at the Newark Airport
by means of the instrument-flying radio equipment.
42
From the volume published by the ITU on the occasion of the centenary of the International Telecommunication
Union, entitled From Semaphore to Satellite (Geneva, Switzerland, 1965), we learn that the word
"telecommunication" was first used at the beginning of the 20th century by Edouard Estaunie, at that time
Director of the Ecole Superieure des Postes et Telegraphes de France.
The new term "telecommunication" was defined at the Madrid Conference as "any telegraph or telephone
communication of signs, signals, writings, images, and sound of any nature, by wire, radio, or other system or
processes of electric or visual (semaphore) signalling." Today the ITU defines telecommunication as "any
transmission, emission, or reception of signs, signals, writings, images, and sounds, or intelligence of any nature by
wire, radio, visual, or other electromagnetic systems."

16
 the short-wave region (14.6 meters, 20.5 MHz) that soon led him and others to open
43
up the whole new field of radio astronomy [58, 59].

1933 On March 4 the inauguration ceremonies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt were

broadcast internationally.
1934 C. E. Cleeton and N. H. Williams of the University of Michigan observed the
ammonia inversion transition using a magnetron oscillator. Their investigation was
the first experimental work in microwave spectroscopy and opened a whole new
field in physics [60].

Station WLW, Cincinnati, Ohio, began broadcasting on 500,000 watts on May 1 as

an experimental operation. Authorization for this high output was later
withdrawn, with no licensing of broadcasting transmitters with output above 50,000
watts thereafter.
On June 9 the Communications Act of 1934 was signed by President Roosevelt,
establishing the Federal Communications Commission as the successor to the
Federal Radio Commission.
Successful experiments were performed by Ross Hull in New England during the
summer of 1934 in transmission, at 5 meters, up to several times the calculated
distance based upon the then existing theories. An outstanding achievement by a
radio amateur who was able to explain the type of propagation.

On October 9 the Supreme Court of the United States upheld Dr. Lee de Forest
as the inventor of the regenerative or "feedback" circuit.

During 1934 the Naval Research Laboratory designed and constructed the
world's first pulse-type radar. It was successfully operated in December at 60 MHz,
receiving saturated signals reflected from an airplane at 1 mile distance.
1935 In June a team of British scientists under direction of Robert A. Watson-Watt
demonstrated (secret project) the first use of radar by the English of detecting
echoes from an airplane. By March of 1936 they were able to detect planes at a
44
distance of more than 80 miles.

1936 George C. Southworth of Bell Telephone Laboratories and W. L. Barrow of

Massachusetts Institute of Technology published accounts of developments in
45
waveguide theory and experimental equipment. During the next several years
Southworth presented a number of experimental lectures on the properties of
waveguide before various technical groups.
In May, Edwin H. Armstrong published his very important paper on a complete
frequency-modulation system (transmitter and receiver) for minimizing static [63].
The design, construction, and testing of the equipment covered several years prior
to publication of investigations.

On June 11 the Radio Corp. of America demonstrated the operation of a two-way

radio relay system between New York and Philadelphia, operating above 30 MHz.
The Naval Research Laboratory succeeded in operating a radar with a single
antenna by using a duplexer to control switching of the transmitter and receiver.
In December the coaxial cable installed between New York and Philadelphia by
the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. was placed under test.

Jansky's large rotating antenna was located at Holmdel, N.J., where he performed the early work on radio
43

astronomy. The antenna was dismantled in 1944 but an operating replica is set up at the National Radio
Astronomy Laboratory at Green Bank, W. Va.
44
Robert A. Watson-Watt was knighted in 1942 as Sir Robert, as "a pioneer in radio location, who harnessed radar
as a practical operational science."
45
Propagation of electromagnetic waves in hollow metal pipes was suggested by J. J. Thomson as early as 1893, and
later by Lord Rayleigh in 1897. Southworth gives a short but excellent account of the history of waveguide
development in his treatise on the subject [61]. An interesting account of microwave antennas and waveguide
techniques developed by Hertz, Lodge, Marconi, and others before 1900 is given in a paper by Ramsey [62].

17
 1938 In January RCA engineers demonstrated the use of radar techniques for an
altimeter and as a warning device to indicate the presence of mountains or other
aircraft.

The International Telecommunication Union met for the International

Telecommunication Conference (4th revisional conference) in 1938 in Cairo, Egypt.
A far-reaching result of this conference was the allocation of radio channels for
intercontinental air routes.

First atomic and molecular beam resonance experiments by I. I. Rabi and

students at Columbia University [64]. The method developed is now used as the
basic principle in all cesium (and other) beam frequency standards.

The first operational radar installation on a U.S. Navy vessel was installed on
the U.S.S. New York.

On October 10 the Bell Telephone Laboratories demonstrated a radio altimeter

that gave a dial reading in feet of the distance above the earth's surface.

1939 On January 17 Edwin H. Armstrong demonstrated a frequency-modulation system

operating at 7.5 meters (40 MHz) with a 40-kW transmitter (W2XMN) set up at
Alpine, N.J. across the Hudson River from New York City. It was the forerunner of
many FM broadcasting stations to come.
On February 17 the National Bureau of Standards inaugurated a new science,
the forecasting of radio transmission data, an "ionosphere" reporting service
46
similar to that of weather forecasting [65, 66].

The first practical klystron was developed by the Varian brothers, Russell and
Sigurd [68].

was introduced, with great success, to the public at the New York
Television
World's Fair, by the National Broadcasting Co. At the opening ceremony on April
30, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to be televised.

The National Broadcasting Co. applied for a license on July 13 to operate the
first FM transmitter for regularly scheduled radio broadcasting service.
High-power, pulsed, cavity-type magnetrons were developed by H. A. H. Boot and
J. T. Randall (England) at the University of Birmingham, England [69].
On September 1 the world heard broadcast announcements of the German
invasion and bombing of Poland, initiating World War II.

1940 Color television, using electronic equipment only (no mechanical or rotating
was demonstrated by
devices), RCA to the Federal Communications Commission on
February 6.
Color television, using a mechanical rotating disc in a sequential three-color
system, was demonstrated by the Columbia Broadcasting System on August 28.
Work on the proximity fuze started in the United States in August 1940 under
the auspices of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD).
Radiation Laboratory established under the administration of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.

In November, Alfred L. Loomis suggested an electronic air navigation system

which led to the development of the Loran system by Radiation Laboratory at MIT.
The first Loran system was placed in operation on October 1, 1942, between
Delaware and Nova Scotia.

46
The prediction service inaugurated in 1939 became much more sophisticated in later years as the science of the
ionosphere developed. See [67]. In the early service, prediction could be made for a period 1 month after publication
of a chart(s). The charts indicated the maximum usable frequencies (muf) for skywave transmission (reflection from
ionosphere layers) for the days of an undisturbed ionosphere, in terms of local time at location of reflection
(halfway between transmitter and receiver for one "hop" or single reflection from ionosphere). (See ch. VII, p. 238,

footnote 96, for the term "muf.")

IS
 1941 On January 1, 20 years after the pioneer broadcasting by KDKA, Pittsburgh, there
was a total of 802 broadcasting stations in the United States, and over 51 million
radio receivers.

First broadcasting of color television on February 20 by the National

Broadcasting Co. from transmitter on the Empire State Building in New York City.
In the spring of 1941 the U.S. Navy took responsibility for developing proximity
47
fuzes for rotating projectiles such as antiaircraft and while
artillery projectiles,
the U.S. Army took responsibility for nonrotating projectiles such as bombs,
48
rockets, and mortars [70,7 1].

On December 7 the news was flashed by radio at 2:19 p.m., Eastern Standard
Time, that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. War was declared on Japan on
December 8, and on Germany on December 11.
All U.S. amateur radio stations were closed by order of the Federal
Communications Commission on December 7.
1942 In August the U.S. Navy conducted successful trials with radio proximity fuzes by
firing at radio-controlled target planes.

Development of printed circuits was initiated in 1942 by the National Bureau of

Standards for the Army Ordnance Department for use in radio proximity fuzes.
49
Large-scale production of the printed circuits came early in 1945 [72].

1943 On January 5 first shells equipped with radio proximity fuzes were fired by the
U.S.S. Helena in Pacific combat actions.

On April 27 the U.S. Army and Navy announced the lifting of restriction on the
00
use of the word "radar." Within a month the Navy released the first information
on radar.
1944 In April an electromechanical computing machine, named the IBM Automatic
Sequence Controlled Calculator, and more familiarly as "Mark I," was placed in
operation at Harvard University. Construction of ENIAC, a completely electronic
computer, was started in 1943 and completed in 1946 by the University of
Pennsylvania.
R. Kompfner (England) initiated work in 1942 at the University of Birmingham,
England, on the development of the travelling-wave tube, with completion of an
operating tube in 1944 [73].
On August 5 Alfred N. Goldsmith applied for a U.S. patent on a three-gun tube,
all-electronic color television system. The patent was issued to the Radio Corp. of
America with whom Goldsmith was associated as a consultant.

47
Development of proximity fuzes for rotating projectiles was placed under administration of Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory, Silver Spring, Md.
48
Development of proximity fuzes for nonrotating projectiles was placed under administration of the National
Bureau of Standards, the group later to be known as the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories, and still later as
the Harry Diamond Laboratories, agencies in the Department of the Army. The world's first successful radio
proximity fuze was tested by NBS on February 12, 1941, at the Navy Dahlgren Proving Ground, Va.
49
Subsequent to large-scale production in 1945 of printed circuits on an insulator base (usually a ceramic for small
dimensional units), during the next 25 years there was a remarkable growth in the development of miniaturized
electronic circuitry with accompanying industrial processes of manufacture. It is beyond the scope of this
chronology to trace out the development in detail. Briefly, it took the course of printed wiring, the high density
packaging of components, the development of thin film techniques (virtually a two-dimensional process), and, more
recently, integrated circuits that combine solid-state elements. The field can now come under the general term of
microelectronics. Advances in this technology have, and should continue to be, amazing.
50
The name "radar" was coined by two U.S. Naval officers, F. R. Furth and S. M. Tucker, from the words Radio
Detection And Ranging.

19
 1945 A new weapon known as the "Bat" was the first fully automatic guided missile to
be used in combat. It was used against Japanese ships and land targets in the
51
Pacific area during the last year of the war.

World War II ended on August 14 with the announcement by President Truman

that the Japanese had surrendered.

After nearly 4 years of silence, the Federal Communications Commission lifted

the wartime ban on one amateur band on August 21, and on other bands on
November 15.

On October 22 Western Union opened service on a radio relay system between

New York and Philadelphia — a forerunner of radio relay links that was to bring on
a new method for communications.
On November 21 the Federal Communications Commission announced new rules
and engineering standards upon technological advances made
for television, based
during World War II.
1946 On January 10 the Evans Signal Laboratories of the U.S. Signal Corps at Belmar,
N.J. reflected a radar signal of 111.6 MHz from the Moon's surface. The elapsed
time was 2.4 seconds for the round trip distance of 477,600 miles.
First transmissions of television over coaxial cable from Washington to New
York were made on February 12.

On April 19 the first color television pictures were sent over the coaxial cable
between Washington and New York.
Color television with an all-electronic system was first demonstrated publicly by
the Radio Corp. of America at Princeton, N.J. on October 30.
1947 On January 3 the U.S. Congress was televised for the first time, the occasion being
the opening of the 80th Congress.

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded Edward V. Appleton (England)

to Sir
"for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere, especially for the
02
discovery of the so-called Appleton layer."

The International Telecommunication Conference (Atlantic City Conference) met

in Atlantic City, N.J., for a 4 1/2 months session, beginning May 15. Of chief
concern was the matter of frequency allocations on an international basis, because
of the burgeoning of radio traffic due to World War II.

1948 At the beginning of 1948 there was a total of 1691 AM broadcasting stations and
374 FM broadcasting stations in the United States.
J. Bardeen and W. H. Brattain of the Bell Telephone Laboratories published
their discovery of the transistor, a solid-state electronic device that could be used as
an amplifier, oscillator, and for other purposes for which a vacuum tube could be
used [74]. The date of December 23, 1947, is usually referred to as the time of the
actual discovery of the point-contact transistor.

1949 On January 6 the world's first atomic clock (ammonia cell), developed by Harold
Lyons of the National Bureau of Standards, was announced and demonstrated to
newspaper reporters. It was the forerunner of many types of atomic clocks to be
developed in the following years by research groups in various parts of the world.
President Truman's inauguration was televised on January 20, the first time for
a Presidential inauguration.

The "Bat," which incorporated a complete radar system that set the missile controls to home on an enemy target,
was preceded by two other guided missiles, the "Robin" and the "Pelican." All were designed to be launched from a
"mother" plane and glide to their target. The project was a cooperative effort between nine Government agencies
and industrial laboratories, coordinated by the National Bureau of Standards.
52
In 1924 Appleton and Barnett used a frequency variation method of observing the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. In
1926 they discovered the upper or F! layer, sometimes called the Appleton layer. It was found to be approximately
200 km or more above the Earth's surface.

20
 W. Shockley, G. L. Pearson, and J. R. Haynes of the Bell Telephone Laboratories
published their developments of the theory, physical explanation, and
measurements of the mobility of electrons and movement of holes ("hole injection"]
by emitters in germanium in the operation of transistors [75].
1950 The FCC on October 11 adopted the standards for the field-sequential system of
color television developed by the Columbia Broadcasting System, to be followed
later by the CBS providing a broadcasting service.

1951 On March 25 H. L Ewen and E. M. Purcell of Harvard University first detected the
radiation of galactic hydrogen at 1420 MHz [76]. 53

1952 The first cesium atomic beam frequency standard to be constructed was placed in
operation by the National Bureau of Standards, using a magnetic-resonance
technique. This atomic frequency standard was the forerunner of several types of
cesium beam "clocks" developed by the National Bureau of Standards and by other
54
laboratories [77].

55
1953 Invention of the Mills cross antenna [78].

On December 17 the Federal Communications Commission gave approval for

standards for color television compatible with black-and-white. The decision came
as a result of much viewing and analyzing of several television systems that were
submitted for consideration as far back as 1949.
1954 Charles H. Townes, along with J. P. Gordon and H. J. Zeiger, developed the first
ob
maser, using ammonia gas, whereby energy at microwave frequencies could be
greatly amplified for signal purposes [79].

1955 Construction was begun on the "White Alice" project of the Alaska Air Defense
System, a communication system developed for the U.S. Air Force in Alaska, but
also used as a public phone service. The system operates in the general range of the
UHF-TV band and depends upon tropospheric scatter for extended distance in
transmission beyond the line of sight.
An unexpected discovery was made at the Owens Valley (Calif.) radio
observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington that the planet Jupiter
emits intense bursts of radio noise. The observers found that the periods of strong
emission occurred at intervals equaling Jupiter's rotation period, indicating that
certain localities are responsible. Such areas probably include the Great Red Spot.

1956 H. E. D. Scovil, G. Feher, and S. Seidel of Bell Telephone Laboratories developed

the first solid-state maser using a synthetic ruby crystal.
William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Houser Brattain were awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery
of the transistor effect."

1957 The parametric amplifier and oscillator was developed by Max T. Weiss of the
first
Bell Telephone Laboratories, based on a proposal made a few months earlier by H.
57
Suhl, also of the Bell Telephone Laboratories [80].

53
The existence of the radiation of this spectrum line in space, the ground state of hydrogen, was suggested in 1945,
but eluded observation by radio astronomers until 1951. The frequency of this hyperfine doublet of hydrogen was
measured in the laboratory by Kusch and Prodell in 1950.
54
The use of atomic and molecular beams goes back but it was Professor I. I. Rabi of Columbia University
to 1911
who suggested in 1945 their use as frequency standards. Professor Polykarp Kusch of the Physics Department of
Columbia University served as a consultant on the NBS project and supplied fundamental information for the
design of the frequency standard. In 1955 he shared in the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his
determination of the magnetic moment of the electron."
00
This was the first large-scale antenna to use electronic signal processing for narrow beam-width focusing. The
antenna was designed for operation at 80 MHz, with a beam-width of less than 1 degree and capable of scanning
approximately one-half of the celestial sphere.
56
The maser takes its name from the acronym of Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
07
Weiss used a ferrite as an inductor for the nonlinear reactance. Later, the more successful amplifiers, that
required less pumping power, used a semiconductor p-n junction as a nonlinear capacitor. Parametric amplifiers
are noted for their very low noise contribution to the amplified signal.

21
 Dew Line (Distant Early Warning radar), built and operated jointly by the
United States and Canada, was begun in 1954 and became operational on July 31,
1957. It extended originally from northwestern Alaska to northeastern Canada, and
later was extended from the Aleutian Islands to across Greenland.

The world's largest steerable radio telescope, of 250-foot-diameter antenna,

became operative on August 2 as a facility of the University of Manchester. It is
58
located at the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station near Manchester, England.

The Year of Sputnik! On October 4 the Soviet Union launched the first manmade
satellite to orbit the Earth. This event inaugurated the Space Age.
In October a young Japanese physicist, Leo Esaki, revealed the results of his
research on the tunneling effect in thin semiconductor junctions. This effect was
utilized in the development of tunnel diodes that have taken their place alongside
transistors for many uses in electronic devices [81].

Participation by 67 countries in the International Geophysical Year (IGY) during

1957-1958, in the study of the many physical properties of the Earth and its
atmosphere, including radio propagation physics of the ionosphere.
1958 On January 31 Explorer I, developed by the Army Signal Research and
Development Laboratory, was launched and became the first United States
satellite. On board were instruments that indicated to James A. Van Allen of Iowa
State University the existence of two radiation belts far beyond the Earth's
atmosphere. They are now called the Van Allen Belts.

On March 17 the U.S. Navy's satellite Vanguard I was orbited, the first satellite
equipped with solar cells for conversion of sunlight into electricity.
A. L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes outlined a theory and proposed a device
for a maser that would operate at light frequencies. This optical maser soon became
known as the laser [82].

1960 On January 1 the transition frequency of 9192.631700 MHz in cesium beam

equipment was adopted as the U.S. Frequency Standard, replacing a group of

quartz crystals.
Theodore H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories demonstrated laser
was a
action using a synthetic ruby crystal operating in the visible red region. This
pulse-type laser and did not operate with continuous action [83].

On January 28 the U.S. Navy publicly demonstrated use of the Moon as a

reliable reflector of radio signals for stations at a considerable distance apart on
the Earth's circumference, in this case between stations in Maryland and Hawaii,
5000 miles apart.
The first of the Tiros satellites (Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite) was
orbited on April 1. This weather-information satellite was the first to carry both
radio and television transmitters.

1961 A. Javan, W. R. Bennett, Jr., and D. R. Herriott of Bell Telephone Laboratories

constructed the first laser to produce coherent light continuously, using helium-
neon gas in the infrared region.
In March the Goldstone Tracking Station, operated by NASA in the Mojave
Desert, successfully reflected radar signals from the planet Venus. Much new
information on the planet has been gained by this process.

38
The full descriptive name of this radio telescope is a Steerable Paraboloid Altazimuth Radio Reflector. With
synchronized measurements it is possible to steer the axis of the antenna to nearly the entire expanse of the sky.
Within several months after it became operative, the telescope was used to locate Sputnik I, and has been used to
locate many orbiting manmade devices since that historic event of the orbiting of the Earth's first artificial
satellite.

22
 After the United States launched its first men into space on May 6 (the Soviet
Union made its first launch on April 12), President Kennedy delivered a special
message to Congress for greatly increasing the funds for space research and
exploration.

The Federal Communications Commission approved, effective June 1, the

multiplex operation of FM broadcast transmitters for stereophonic programs.
On June 24 the first topside sounding was made of the ionosphere from above,
this by means of rocket-borne instrumentation. On September 29, 1962, similar
observations were first made from a satellite, Alouette 1 (Canada); and later by
Explorer XX (United States) on August 25, 1964.
BMEWS (Ballistic Missile Early Warning System) became operational in June.
Complementary to the DEW Line, this system detects approaching ballistic missiles
to more than 2000 miles. A chain of three radar installations was set up, the
stations located at Clear, Alaska; Thule, Greenland; and in northern England.

On July 24 President Kennedy announced the administration's policy on private

ownership and operation of satellite systems designed for communications.
1962 The solid-state laser of a junction diode of gallium arsenide was developed by
various investigators almost simultaneously, and has developed into the new field
of light-emitting semiconductors.

On May Moon's surface was illuminated with a very narrow

9 a small area of the
beam from a powerful ruby crystal laser. A team of scientists of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and the Raytheon Co. performed this feat for the first time.

B. D. Josephson (England), a research student in physics at Cambridge

University, announced his theoretical prediction of superconducting tunneling
59
which later became known as the Josephson effect [84].

The world's largest movable radio telescope was installed at the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, W. Va. The transit-type telescope was
constructed with a 300-foot-diameter antenna.
1963 The first Syncom was launched in February
to serve as a fixed-position
communication-system the rotation of the Earth. Several of
satellite, relative to
these in space at selected locations above the Earth serve for a worldwide
communications system.
J. B. Gunn of the IBM Research Center found that very small crystals of gallium
arsenide serve as oscillators for very short microwaves, opening up many uses for a
simple type of microwave generator.
Radar reflections from the planet Jupiter were observed by radio astronomers of
the Soviet Union. The round-trip time required to receive the echo signal was 66
minutes.
The world's largest fixed-type transit radio telescope became operational at the
Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, Puerto Rico in November. The 1000-foot-diameter
antenna is in a fixed position within a huge bowl of the surrounding terrain.
1964 The Nobel Prize in Physics was shared jointly with two Russian scientists by
Charles H. Townes. He was cited "for fundamental work in the field of quantum
electronics which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on
the maser-laser principle."

The ac Josephson effect has many characteristics and applications. Interesting applications are: A very accurate
°9

method of measuring the ratio of 2e/h, an invariant fundamental constant; and a source of precise dc voltages
characterized by irradiation of a Josephson junction with microwaves of specific frequencies.

23
 The year 1964 can be considered the period in which the frequency gap was
closed by breaking through the barrier in the submillimeter range. 60

1965 In February the Army Electronics Command laboratories at Ft. Monmouth, N.J.
demonstrated the use of a laser beam to transmit seven TV channels
simultaneously.
Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson of Bell Telephone Laboratories observed,
by means of radio astronomy, the temperature of the fossil heat that remains from
the "Big Bang" that created the universe (now a widely accepted theory).

The world's largest equatorially mounted (polar axis parallel to Earth's axis)
radio telescope was installed at Green Bank, W. Va. The 140-foot-diameter antenna
can be sighted to very nearly every direction above the Earth's surface.
On May 2 the Intelsat 1 satellite, "Early Bird," was used to demonstrate an
international TV program. It became available for commercial telephone service on
June 28.

1966 On March 1 the Soviet Union's instrumented space vehicle, Venera 3, crash-landed
on the planet Venus after a 100-day flight. 61
On a 3-day space flight in July two spacecraft (Gemini 10 and Agena) were first
used to control the functions of one spacecraft by another by means of radio
signals.

1967 The 13th (International) General Conference on Weights and Measures defined the
"second" as: "the duration of 9192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding
to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the
cesium-133 atom."
No. 35 of the Explorer series of satellites indicated that the Moon is

nonmagnetic, has no radiation belts, and no evidence of a lunar ionosphere.

1969 On a flight to the Moon, beginning May 18, the Apollo 10 made the first live color
TV pictures of the Earth. During orbital circuits around the Moon, color TV
pictures were taken of the Moon's surface.

On July 20 the first lunar landing was made by the U.S. astronauts, Armstrong
and Aldrin, with Collins in the commandship. All the world observed this epoch-
making event via television and radio. Communications technology had reached a
zenith of attainment.

1970 The Effelsberg 100-meter-diameter radio telescope neared completion. Located near
Bonn, West Germany, this telescope of the Max Planck Institute for Radio
Astronomy can continuously track a celestial object in any part of the sky.
1971 On November 11 the National Bureau of Standards measured the frequency of a
helium-neon laser — a frequency of 88,376.245 GHz, the highest ever made by direct
measurement.

m Closing the frequency gap between radio waves and the infrared region had been a long sought quest by a
number of investigators, especially from the time of the work of Nichols and Tear in 1923. In May 1964 Gebbie
(Scotland) and his coworkers at the National Physical Laboratory, England, reported on the generation and
measurement of energy in the infrared region to 0.34 mm [85]. This was accomplished with a stimulated emission
source using hydrogen cyanide. Measurements were made using the Michelson and Fabrj'-Perot interferometer
techniques.
and Gordy of Duke University reported on the generation and measurement of radio waves
In July 1964 Jones
down to 0.43 mm
Later they reduced the measured wavelength to 0.37 mm. This was accomplished with a
[86].
klystron generator and taking the 12th harmonic from a silicon crystal. The frequency measurement was
referenced to WWV.
The process of breaking through the frequency barrier in the submillimeter range is still a matter of operating
at more or less discrete frequencies with pulsed energy. To obtain continuous frequency coverage with coherent
radiation that can be modulated with lower frequencies is a goal still to be achieved.
1,1
On a subsequent flight, the instrumented Venera 4 obtained much information on the characteristics of Venus,
indicating a dense atmosphere almost entirely of carbon dioxide and a temperature much above that of the Earth.
No magnetic field or radiation belts were indicated.

24
 1972 On May 28 President Nixon addressed the people of the Soviet Union via television
from Moscow, the first U.S. president to use this communication medium in Russia.

On November 17 the National Bureau of Standards announced a new

determination of the speed of light with a hundredfold increase in accuracy over
—
previous measurements 299,792.4562 km/s.
62

1973 Spacecraft Pioneer 10 approached to within 81,000 miles of Jupiter on December 3.

1974 Spacecraft Pioneer 11 approached to within 26,600 miles of Jupiter on December 2

without damage to its equipment by Jupiter's intense radiation. Thereafter its
flight would take the spacecraft to the vicinity of Saturn in 1979.

1976 On July 20 America's unmanned Viking I spacecraft landed successfully on Mars to

begin a series of observations, including the detection of possible life forms on the
red planet. Within a matter of moments NASA facilities received pictures of the
Martian landscape via highly sophisticated radio transmitting and receiving
systems.

On September 3 the second spaceship, Viking II, landed successfully at a location

far removed on the planet Mars from the landing spot of Viking I.

Commentary Notes

1. If the reader is familiar with the development of remote control by radio signals
(sometimes called radio guidance) of electrical apparatus, mechanical movements, moving
vehicles, etc., he will observe that this subject is missing from the chronology. Much of the
development in this area has been shrouded in secrecy because of military applications.
Also, the area has had its share of claims and counterclaims for priority of development and
success. Refer, for example, to [87-89]. In the post-World War II period with guided missiles,
and still later in the Space Age, with spacecraft, remote control by radio has reached
fantastic levels of sophistication.

2. This chronology does not cover the developments of antenna types, which have
taken many different forms over nearly a century of use. The radiators or antennas used by
Hertz were reconstructed later by those who developed short-wave techniques. Low-
frequency equipment required long-length antennas and some of the arrays took on
gargantuan proportions. More recently microwave and millimeter wave antennas have
taken on the semblance of optical devices. It is interesting to note that antennas or radiators
were sometimes called "wave-gates" around 1900.
3. The complex radio systems that have been developed for aids to air navigation are
not covered in this chronology except the very earliest and relatively simple systems. Later
systems incorporate operational functions that add much to their complexity.

IN RETROSPECT
How aptly was it stated, as far back as 1910, by George W. Pierce, professor of physics
at Harvard University, when he wrote of the practical result of scientific research:
The history of this development (radio) is a striking example of the manner
in which the labors of scientists in fields of pure research apparently
unrelated to commercial applications may result in discoveries of the
utmost material importance. Maxwell in his search for a rational grasp of
the undulatory theory of light and Hertz in his experimental effort to
establish a relation between electromagnetic force and the dielectric

62
The new determination was accomplished by two separate experiments: (1) with a frequency
of speed of light
stabilized laser measured in terms of the cesium frequency standard; (2) the wavelength of a similar laser measured
in terms of the krypton length standard. The product of frequency and wavelength
gives the speed of light.

25
 polarization were unwittingly laying the foundation for
of insulators
radiotelegraphy, which is, a single development from
in fact, after all only
among a host of other consequences of perhaps even greater significance
that have grown out of the remarkable discoveries of Maxwell and Hertz.

From: Principles of Wireless Telegraphy, George W. Pierce, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New
York, 1910, p. 328.
Even earlier, in 1906, Arthur E. Kennelly, professor of electrical engineering at
Harvard University, as he "dipped into the future, far as human eye could see," stated in
the introduction to the Preface of his book, Wireless Telegraphy:

Wireless Telegraphy is a wonderful fascinating subject. It has come to

abide. It is ubiquitous in range, and there is no corner of the world, above
the level of conductors, which is exempt from the play and passage of its
ethereal waves. The laws obeyed by these waves, when stated without
embellishment, vie with fiction in wonderment and interest. The
possibilities which these waves hold in store for the benefit of man can at
present only be guessed at, but they are probably great, judging from the
importance of the work already done.

From: Wireless Telegraphy, Arthur E. Kennelly; Moffat, Yard and Co., New York, 1906.

References
[1] Charles Siisskind, "On the first use of the term 'radio'," Proc. IRE, Vol. 50, No. .3, Pt. 1, Mar. 1962, pp. 326-327.
[2] F. Hamburger, Jr., "Poles and zero— Radio," Proc. IRE, Vol. 49, No. 9, Sept. 1961, p. 1373.
[3] Orrin E. Dunlap, Radio and Television Almanac, Harper and Bros., New York, 1951.
[4] Orrin E. Dunlap, Communications in Space, Harper and Bros., New York, 1962.
[5] L. S. Howeth, History of Communications —
Electronics in the United States Navy, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C., 1963. Note: App. A contains an extensive chronology of developments in
communications and electronics through 1945, with emphasis on developments by the U.S. Navy.
[6] From Semaphore to Satellite, International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland, 1965.
[7] Charles Siisskind, "The early history of electronics," IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 5, No. 8, Aug. 1968, pp. 90-98; Vol. 5,
No. 12, Dec. 1968, pp. 57-60; Vol. 6, No. 4, Apr. 1969, pp. 69-74; Vol. 6, No. 8, Aug. 1969, pp. 66-70; Vol. 7, No.
4, Apr. 1970, pp. 78-83; Vol. 7, No. 9, Sept. 1970, pp. 76-79.

[8] Fiftieth Anniversary issue of Proc. IRE, Vol. 50, No. 5, May 1962. Note: This special issue contains many
articles relating to the development of radio, particularly in the United States.
[9] Joseph Henry, no recorded title, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, Vol. 2, No. 22, May-June-July 1842, pp. 193-196. Note: A
record of Henry's verbal account of his third of five lectures on Contributions to Electricity and
Magnetism before the American Philosophical Society, June 17, 1842. He spoke of magnetizing needles at
a distance of 30 feet through room construction by discharging Leyden jars. Also see: Joseph Henry's
Scientific Writings, Vol. 1, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1886, pp. 200-203.
[10] W. F. Magie, "Joseph Henry, pioneer in space communication," Proc. IRE, Vol. 30, No. 6, June 1942, pp. 261-
266.
[11] Thomas Coulson, Joseph Henry, His Life and Work, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1950.
[12] Michael Faraday, "Thoughts on ray vibrations," Phil. Mag., Series 3, Vol. XXVIII, May 1846; also see:
Faraday, Experimental Researches in Electricity, Vol. HI, Taylor and Francis, London, 1885, pp. 447-452.
[13] William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), "On transient electric currents," Phil. Mag., Series 4, Vol. 5, June 1853, pp.
393-405; also see: Sir William Thomson, Mathematical and Physical Papers, Vol. 1, Cambridge University
Press, 1882, pp. 540-553.
[14] James Clerk Maxwell, "The dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field," Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London.
Vol. 155, 1865, pp. 459-512; also see: Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Ch. XX,
"Electromagnetic Theory of Light," pp. 431-450, Vol. 2, 3d Ed., Oxford University Press, London, 1892.
[15] John Henry Poynting, "Transfer of energy in the electromagnetic field," Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London, Vol.
175, 1884, pp. 343-361.
[16] Heinrich Hertz, Electric Waves, being researches on the propagation of electrical action with finite velocity
through space. English translation by D. E. Jones, Macmillan and Co., London, 1893.
[17] Edouard Branly, "Variation of conductivity by varying electric power," Compt. Rend., Vol. Ill, 1890, pp. 785-
787; Vol. 112, 1891, pp. 90-93.
[18] Charles Siisskind, "Popov and the beginnings of radiotelephony," Proc. IRE, Vol. 50, No. 10, Oct. 1962, pp. 2036-
2047.
[19] Helen M. Fessenden, Fessenden, Builder of Tomorrows, Coward-McCann, Inc., New York, 1940, p. 81.
[20] Charles Henry Sewall, Wireless Telegraphy, D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1903, p. 118.
[21] Charles Henry Sewall, Wireless Telegraphy, D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1903, pp. 117-118.
[22] Arthur E. Kennelly, "On the elevation of electrically conducting strata of the earth's atmosphere," Electrical
World and Engineering, Vol. 39, No. 11, Mar. 15, 1902, p. 473.
[23] Oliver Heaviside, "Telegraphy," Encyclopedia Britannica, 10th Ed., Vol. 33, 1902, pp. 213-218.

26
[24] British Patent Specification No. 24,850, Nov. 16, 1904.
[25] J. A. Fleming, "On the conversion of electric oscillations into continuous currents by means of a vacuum
valve," Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Vol. 74, No. 505, Mar. 16, 1905, pp. 476-487.
[26] Ettore Bellini and Alessandro Tosi, "A directive system of wireless telegraphy," Electrical Eng. (England), Vol.
2, 1907, pp. 771-775; also: Electrical World (USA), Vol. 50, No. 25, Dec. 21, 1907, pp. 1203-1206.

[27] Lee De Forest, "An Audion, a new receiver for wireless telegraphy," AIEE Proc, Vol. 25, Oct. 1906, pp. 719-747.
[28] Lee De Forest, "The Audion— detector and amplifier," Proc. IRE, Vol. 2, No. 1, Mar. 1914, pp. 15-36 including
discussion.
[29]
—
Georgette Carneal, A Conqueror of Space The Life of Lee de Forest, Horace Liveright, New York, 1930, p. 191.
[30] A. A. Campbell-Swinton, "Distant electric vision," Nature (London), Vol. 78, June 18, 1908, p. 151.
[31] A. A. Campbell-Swinton, "Presidential Address," J. Roentgen Soc, Vol. 8, Jan. 1912, p. 7.
[32] W. H. Eccles, "On an oscillation detector actuated solely by resistance temperature variations," Proc. of Phys.
Soc. (London), Vol. 22, Pt. Ill, Sept. 1910, pp. 360-368.
[33] Frederick A. Kolster, "A direct-reading instrument for measuring the logarithmic decrement and wave length
of electromagnetic waves," Bull. Bur. ofStds., Vol. 11, No. 3, May 1915, pp. 421-455, Scientific Paper 235.
[34] Fiftieth Anniversary issue of the Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, Proc. IRE, Vol. 50, No. 5,
May 1962.
[35] Gerald F. J. Tyne, "The saga of the vacuum tube," Pts.
9, 10, and 11, Radio News, Vol. 30, Dec. 1943, p. 30; Vol.

Mar. 1944, p. 50; and Vol. 31, Apr. 1944, p. 54.

31, Jan. 1944, p. 38; Vol. 31,
[36]
—
Georgette Carneal, A Conqueror of Space The Life of Lee de Forest, Horace Liveright, New York, 1930, p. 250.
[37] Lee De Forest, "The Audion— amplifier and detector," Proc. IRE, Vol. 2, No. 1, Mar. 1914, pp. 15-36 including
discussion.
[38] Walter Schottky, "Spontaneous current fluctuations in various conductors," Ann. d. Phys., Vol. 57, No. 23,
1918, pp. 541-567.
[39] Edwin H. Armstrong, "A new system of short wave amplification," Proc. IRE, Vol. 9, No. 1, Feb. 1921, pp. 3-27
including discussion.
[40] Edwin H. Armstrong, "The super-heterodyne — its origin, development, and some recent improvements," Proc.
IRE, Vol. 12, No. 5, Oct. 1924, pp. 539-552.
[41] Walter Schottky, "On the origin of the super-heterodyne method," Proc. IRE, Vol. 14, No. 5, Oct. 1926, pp. 695-
698.
[42] Albert W. Hull, "The effect of a uniform magnetic field on the motion of electrons between coaxial cylinders,"
Phys. Rev., Vol. 18, No. 1, July 1921, pp. 31-57.
[43] J. H. Dellinger, H. Diamond, F. W. Dunmore, "Development of the visual-type airway radiobeacon system,"
Proc. IRE, Vol. 18, No. 5, May 1930, pp. 796-839.
[44] Edwin H. Armstrong, "Some recent developments of regenerative circuits (super-regeneration)," Proc. IRE,
Vol. 10, No. 4, Aug. 1922, pp. 244-260. Presented before Institute of Radio Engineers, June 7, 1922.
[45] G. Marconi, "Radio telegraphy," Proc. IRE, Vol. 10, Aug. 1922, pp. 215-238, quoting from p. 237.
[46] Louis Hazeltine, "Tuned radio frequency amplification, with neutralization of capacity coupling," Proc. Radio
Club of America, Vol. 2, Mar. 1923.
[47] Louis Hazeltine, "Oscillating audion circuits," Proc. IRE, Vol. 6, No. 2, Apr. 1918, pp. 63-98.
[48] E. F. Nichols and J. D. Tear, "Short electric waves," Phys. Rev., Vol. 21, No. 6, June 1923, pp. 587-610.
[49] E. V. Appleton and M. A. F. Barnett, "Local reflection of wireless waves from the upper atmosphere," Nature,
Vol. 115, Mar. 7, 1925, p. 333.
[50] G. Breit and M. A. Tuve, "A radio method of estimating the height of the conducting layer," Nature, Vol. 116,
Sept. 5, 1925, p. 357.
[51] C. Francis Jenkins, "Radio vision," Proc. IRE, Vol. 15, No. 11, Nov. 1927, pp. 958-964.
[52] Hidetsugu Yagi, "Beam transmission of ultra short waves," Proc. IRE, Vol. 16, No. 6, June 1928, pp. 715-741;
Pt. I, "Beam radiation for 4-meter waves," pp. 715-729.
[53] Albert W. Hull and N. H. Williams, "Characteristics of shielded-grid pliotrons, Phys. Rev., Vol. 27, No. 4, Apr.
1926, pp. 432-438.
[54] Albert W. Hull, "Measurements of high frequency amplification with shielded-grid pliotrons," Phys. Rev., Vol.
27,No. 4, Apr. 1926, pp. 439-454.
[55] Hidetsugu Yagi, "Beam transmission of ultra short waves," Proc IRE, Vol. 16, No. 6, June 1928, pp. 715-741;
Pt. II, "Magnetron oscillators," pp. 729-741.
[56] Frank G. Kear, "Instrument landing at the National Bureau of Standards," IRE Trans. Aeronautical and
Navigational Electronics, Vol. ANE-6, No. 2, June 1959, pp. 61-66.
[57] Guglielmo Marconi, "Radio communications by means of very short waves," original 1933 paper reprinted in
IRE Trans, on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. AP-5, No. 1, Jan. 1957, pp. 90-99.
[58] Karl G. Jansky, "Directional studies of atmospherics at high frequencies, " Proc. IRE, Vol. 20, No. 12, Dec. 1932,

pp. 1920-1932.
[59] Karl G. Jansky, "Electrical disturbances apparently of extraterrestrial origin," Proc. IRE, Vol. 21, No. 10, Oct.

1933, pp. 1387-1398.

[60] C. E. Cleeton and N. H. Williams, "Electromagnetic waves of 1.1 cm wave-length and the absorption spectrum
of ammonia," Phys. Rev., Vol. 45, No. 4, Feb. 15, 1934, pp. 234-237.
[61] George C. Southworth, Principles and Applications of Waveguide Transmission, Ch. I, "Introduction," pp. 8-12,
D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1950.
[62] John F. Ramsey, "Microwave antennas and waveguide techniques before 1900," Proc. IRE. Vol. 46, No. 2, Feb.
1958, pp. 405-415.
[63] Edwin H. Armstrong, "A method of reducing disturbances in radio signalling by a system of frequency
modulation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 24, No. 5, May 1936, pp. 689-740.

27
[64] I. I. Rabi, J. R. Zacharias, S. Millman, and P. Kusch, "A new method of measuring nuclear magnetic moment,"
Phys. Rev. (Letter to the Editor), Vol. 53, No. 4, Feb. 15, 1938, p. 318.
[65] Quality of wireless reception can now be forecast, National Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce,
announces— News release by Department of Commerce, Feb. 17, 1939.
[66] T. R. Gilliland, S. S. Kirby, and N. Smith, "Characteristics of the ionosphere at Washington, D.C., January
1939," Proc. IRE, Vol. 27, No. 3, Mar. 1939, pp. 226-227.
[67] Ionospheric Radio Propagation, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Circ. k62, June 25, 1948.
[68] Russell H. Varian and Sigurd F. Varian, "A high frequency oscillator and amplifier," J. Applied Phys., Vol. 10,
No. 5, May 1939, pp. 321-327.
[69] H. A. H. Boot and J. T. Randall, "The cavity magnetron," Proc. IEE (London), Vol. 39, Pt. 3A, No. 5, 1946, pp.
928-938.
[70] Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 31, No. 1, Jan. 1947, pp. 3-8.

[71] Chester H. Page and Allen V. Astin, "Survey of proximity fuze development," Am. J. Phys., Vol. 15, No. 2,

Mar.-Apr. 1947, pp. 95-110.

[72] Cledo Brunetti and Roger W. Curtis, "Printed-circuit techniques," Proc. IRE, Vol. 30, No. 1, Jan. 1948, pp. 121-
161.
[73] R. Kompfner, "The travelling wave valve," Wireless World, Vol. 52, No. 11, Nov. 1946, pp. 369-372.
[74] J. Bardeen and W. H. Brattain, "The transistor, a semi-conductor triode," Phys. Rev., Vol. 47, No. 2, July 15,
1948, pp. 230-231.
[75] W. Shockley, G. L. Pearson, and J. R. Haynes, "Hole injection in germanium — quantitative studies and
filamentary transistors," Bell System Tech. J., Vol. 28, July 1, 1949, pp. 344-366.
[76] H. I. Ewen and E. M. Purcell, "Observation of a line in the galactic radio spectrum," Nature, Vol. 168, Sept. 1,

1951, p. 356.
[77] J. E. Sherwood, Harold Lyons, R. H. McCracken, and P. Kusch, "High frequency lines in the hfs spectrum of
cesium," (Abstract), Phys. Rev., Vol. 86, May 15, 1952, p. 618.
[78] B. Y. Mills and A. G. Little, "A high-resolution aerial system of a new type," Australian J. Phys., Vol. 6, No. 3,

Sept. 1953, pp. 272-278.

[79] J. P. Gordon, H. J. Zeiger, and C. H. Townes, "Molecular microwave oscillator and new hyperfine structure in
the microwave spectrum of NH 3
," Phys. Rev., Vol. 95, No. 1, July 1, 1954, pp. 282-284.
[80] Max T. Weiss, "A solid-state microwave amplifier and oscillator using ferrite," Phys. Rev., Vol. 107, No. 1, July
1, 1957, p. 317.
[81] Leo Esaki, "New phenomenon in narrow germanium p-n junctions," Phys. Rev., Vol. 109, No. 2, Jan. 15, 1958,

pp. 603-604.
[82] A. L. Schawlow and C. H. Townes, "Infrared and optical masers," Phys. Rev., Vol. 112, No. 6, Dec. 15, 1958, pp.
1940-1949.
[83] T. H. Maiman, "Stimulated optical radiation in ruby," Nature, Vol. 187, Aug. 6, 1960, pp. 493-494.
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1962, pp. 251-253.

[85] H. A. Gebbie, N. W. B. Stone, and F. D. Findlay, "A stimulated emission source at 0.34 millimetre wave-
length," Nature, Vol. 202, May 16, 1964, p. 685.

[86] Gordon Jones and Walter Gordy, "Extension of submillimeter wave spectroscopy below a half-millimeter
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[87] J. H. Hammond, Jr. and E. S. Purlington, "A history of some foundations of modern radio-electronic
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[88] Discussion of "A history of some foundations of modern radio-electronic technology," Proc. IRE, Vol. 47, No. 7,
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Calif., 1964.

2S
 Chapter II

THE EARLY YEARS OF RADIO AT NBS 1

Introduction
Three developments occurred in the scientific and technical world during the latter
part of the 19th century that were to have a profound effect upon man's entire world in the
20th century. These were:

1864 — Clerk Maxwell established a fundamental concept of electromagnetic waves,

resulting in "Maxwell's equations."

—
1886 Heinrich Hertz verified experimentally the existence of electromagnetic waves,
thus confirming Maxwell's theoretical studies.
1895 — Guglielmo Marconi transmitted his first wireless signals near Bologna, Italy.
Marconi's successes led to the first transmission of wireless signals across the Atlantic on
December 12, 1901.

Events that became prologue

It was but 9 months before Marconi transmitted the letter "S" across the Atlantic by
wireless that the Enabling Act to establish the National Bureau of Standards was enacted
on March 3, 1901. During the next several years the Bureau was busying itself to make the
move from its downtown location to a new and remote location far out on Connecticut
Avenue in northwest Washington. There it would be relatively free from the disturbing
effects of noise and vibration of urban activity, and of the effects of electrical and magnetic
disturbances upon sensitive laboratory equipment. Fifty years later, the radio projects of the
Bureau had to "flee" from the metropolitan area of Washington in order to escape the
disturbing effects of radio interference and noise; the flight was to Boulder, Colo.
In another 15 years the remainder of the Bureau was fleeing the city to suburban
Gaithersburg, Md.

2
I. Louis W. Austin comes to the Bureau, 1904
The movement from downtown Washington to the less urban location in northwest
Washington was at a somewhat leisurely pace during 1904. And it was in the late fall of
1904 that a guest worker arrived at the Bureau to begin a new career in the very young
1
Because of the greatly expanded and diversified program of radio projects initiated within NBS after World War
II, and specifically with the organization of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) as Division 14 on
May 1, 1946, chapters II through VII relate to events and developments from the earliest beginnings of radio within
NBS until the formation of the CRPL.
2
Biographical and other accounts of Louis W. Austin have been lacking in certain areas of authenticated
information, particularly in his relation to NBS. Considerable effort has been made by the author (WFS) to search
for, and to record herein, some of the "missing gaps" in order to gain a better understanding of Dr. Austin's work
and possibly to correct some of the misinformation that has crept into accounts of his work. Sources of information
included: (a) The file on Louis W. Austin, National Personnel Records Center, GSA (Civilian Personnel Records), St.
Louis, Mo. Referred to hereafter as "Austin Personnel Record."; (b) Records of John Howard Dellinger, National
Archives, GSA, Washington, D.C.; and (c) Radio File.

29
science of wireless telegraphy (the name "radio" would come later). Dr. Louis W. Austin
came freshly inspired after spending 2 years as an employee of the Physikalisch-Technische
Reichsanstalt (the national standards laboratory of Germany) at Charlottenburg (near
3,4
Berlin), Germany. In the period of 1901-1902 he had engaged in research work at the
University of Berlin. One must believe that an interest in wireless was kindled by Dr.
Austin during his second sojourn in Germany.
3
Louis Winslow Austin was born October 30, 1867, at Orwell, Vt. He received the A.B. degree from Middlebury
College (Vermont) in 1889, and the Doctor of Science degree from the same institution in 1920. After attendance at
the University of Strassburg (Germany), Austin continued graduate studies on a fellowship for 2 years at Clark
University. He received the Ph. D. degree from the University of Strassburg in 1893.
4
Austin's employment with the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt was most unusual. In a letter by John J.
Esch, U.S. Representative of Wisconsin, to George B. Cortelyou, Secretary of Department of Commerce and Labor,
dated May 17, 1904 (Austin Personnel Record), Esch stated in part:

. . . His present duties with the German Government concern the German Bureau of Standards.
Dr. Austin's standing in science and mathematics was of so high a character, that he received
appointment from the German Government and there is but one other instance where an
American has been tendered a civil office in any official capacity in Germany. Dr. Austin is at
present under Prof. Kohlrausch, one of the leading authorities of Germany, and for some time
was associated with Prof. Roentgen, of Munich....

Louis Winslow Austin

The name and work of Louis Winslow Austin were associated closely with the Bureau of Standards for 28 years, yet
he was never a member of the Radio Section nor was his salary paid directly from Bureau funds.
Austin was born at Orwell, Vt., October 30, 1867, and received the A.B. degree from nearby Middlebury College
in 1889. He received the Ph. D. degree from the University of Strassburg (Germany) in 1893. After teaching physics
for 9 years at the University of Wisconsin he returned to Germany and was employed for 2 years at the
Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt. While in Germany Austin became interested in wireless telegraphy. In
1904 he entered the Bureau of Standards as a guest worker and made a study of detectors of electrical oscillations.
From 1908 to 1923 Austin was employed by the Navy Department and headed the United States Naval Wireless
Telegraphic Laboratory, located at the Bureau of Standards. During this period he conducted pioneering studies in
radio wave propagation. These studies led to a 1911 publication of the semi-empirical formula now well known as
the Austin-Cohen equation. Then, in 1923, Austin headed the Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission
Research, located at the Bureau of Standards but financed by outside funds. During this period Austin's research
continued in radio propagation, but with greater attention to the properties of the ionosphere and to the nature of
atmospheric static.
Early in the 1920s Austin became closely identified with the International Scientific Radio Union (URSIK
serving in several capacities, both in the American Section and internationally. He was honored with the
presidency of URSI several months before his death. Austin was the third president of the Institute of Radio
Engineers, and in 1927 was awarded its Medal of Honor. Of his 100 research papers, approximately two-thirds
related to radio transmission and from these he gained world recognition. Many of his earlier papers appeared as
Bureau publications. (For a more detailed account see pp. 29-38.) The accompanying photo was published in the
January 1923 issue of Radio News.

30
 During his 2-year employment in Charlottenburg, Austin was in frequent
correspondence with Dr. Stratton, director of NBS (the records are not clear how Austin
first made his acquaintance with Stratton). Among the various subjects discussed in their
correspondence (Austin Personnel Record) was that of enticing an expert glassblower in the
Berlin area to come to the Bureau in Washington. After much negotiation, no success was
reached in getting either of two candidates to move to America.
Most significant of the subjects of their correspondence was that of Austin's request to
become a member of the Bureau staff at a fairly high level. 5 In a letter to Austin, dated
September 23, 1904 (Austin Personnel Record), Stratton stated, in part:
In regard to the appropriations for the year, I would state that while we
were allowed several new places none of them were over $1600 per year.
Since the total amount of our appropriation was somewhat limited, owing
to the economy of Congress at the session preceding the Presidential
election, we were compelled to add several minor positions which were very
much needed in connection with work which has already been established.
However, we shall be pleased to see you in America, and I hope that some
day we may have you at the Bureau.

Within a short time (1904) Austin would arrive at the Bureau, but for the next 4 years
he would be supporting himself as a guest worker in order to pursue his desire of working in
the growing field of wireless telegraphy. (There is some evidence that he may have received
some remuneration from a wireless telegraph firm.)
It is in an early paper of Dr. Austin, published as Scientific Paper 22 in the Bulletin of
the Bureau of Standards, that we find the first evidence of radio work at the Bureau. The
paper, entitled "Detector for very small alternating currents and electrical waves," was
published November 1905 [1]. This paper describes Austin's investigation of electrolytic
detectors (an effective and popular detector in the early 1900's; much superior to the
coherer) consisting of copper electrodes in a solution of copper sulphate. Austin stated that
he had noticed the rectification property a number of years earlier. At the Bureau he tested
the rectification properties of the device with radio waves.
Austin's interest in radio detectors continued for several years. His investigations
covered a variety of detectors: electrolytic, silicon, tellurium, each with various kinds of
metals to make contact with the material having the rectification properties. This research
was in the field of semiconductors that was to come into such great prominence many years
later in the development of transistors and similar devices. Although his explanations, as
well as those of other investigators, of the rectification properties were slanted largely in the
direction of thermoelectric action, nevertheless Austin was learning the properties of
semiconductors at the early stage of a new field of physics.
In a Bureau paper published in 1908, Austin gives credit (as do the historians) to
Greenleaf W. Pickard for the development of the silicon detector in 1906 [2]. Nevertheless
there is some reason to believe that Austin's investigations of the silicon detector may have
predated those of Pickard. 6
In 1910 Austin published an account of his studies of the sensitiveness of a variety of
radio detectors, including the Fleming vacuum valve and the de Forest audion [3]. By now
Austin's interests were in the direction of the transmission properties of radio waves and he
wrote less thereafter on instruments.

In the early editions of the American Men of Science ratings were taken by fellow scientists for the order of
distinction of workers in the several sciences.The 1903 rating included 150 in the field of physics.* Although Austin
had not yet engaged in research in radio propagation (for which he became world famous), he already was
recognized in physics and received a rating of 102 in the order of distinction. For information on ratings of NBS
scientists, see Cochrane, Measures for Progress, p. 99, footnote 89.
'Published in 1906 and reprinted in the Fifth Edition of American Men of Science (1933), pp. 1269-1271.
6
To pursue further information on this subject, the reader is referred to Fessenden's Letter to the Editor, entitled
'Austin thermo-electric wave detector," in the November 10, 1906, issue of Electrical World, and Pickard's reply,
entitled "Thermo-electric wave detectors," published in the November 24 issue of the same periodical.

31
2. Louis Cohen enters the Bureau, 1905 — And stays awhile
Within a short time after Dr. Austin came to the Bureau, Louis Cohen, with a Ph. D.
degree recently received from Columbia University (1905), entered the Bureau as a Civil
Service employee. He entered as 1 of about 15 laboratory assistants assigned to about an
equal number of employees of scientific professional status. 7 His work assignments were
with Dr. Edward B. Rosa who headed the electricity projects and specialized in the
inductance and capacitance investigations. Dr. Cohen's first Bureau paper was coauthored

7
A folder in the Boutell Collection, dated November 3, 1905, lists Louis Cohen as a laboratory assistant. The folder
lists all scientific and technical personnel.

Unarb of Hisitnn?
Dr. IRA REMSEN, President of Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. HENRY S. PRITCHKTT, President of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Dr. EDWARD L NICHOLS. Professor of Physics, Cornell University.
Dr ELI II U THOMSON, Electrical Engineer, Lynn, Massachusetts.
Mr. ALBERT LADD COLBY, Metallurgical Engineer, New York.
§?rifutitir §>taff
Samuel W. Stratton, Director.
Edward B. Rosa, Physicist.
William A. Noyes, Chemist
Louis A. Fischer, Associate Physicist.
Frank A Wolff, Associate Physicist.
Charles W. Waidner, Associate Physicist.
George K. Burgess, Associate Physicist.
Henry N. Stokes. Associate Chemist
Noah E. Dorsey, Assistant Physicist.
Albert S. Merrill. Assistant Physicist.
Morton G. Lloyd. Assistant Physicist.
PERLEY G. NUTTING, Assistant Physicist.
FREDERICK W. Grover, Assistant Physicist
F.dwaku P. Hyde, Assistant Physicist.
Herbert B. Br<«iks, Vssistant Physicist.
Franklin S. Durston, Assistant Physicist.
Campiiell E Waters, Assistant Chemist
John R Cain, Assistant Chemist.
1

John Blake, Laboratory Assistant.

C.
Houert Dickinson, Laboratory Assistant.
C.
Roy Y. Ff.RNEK. Laboratory Assistant
Nathan S. Osborne, Laboratory Assistant.
George W. Middle kauff, Laboratory Assistant.
Francis E Cady, Laboratory Assistant
William VV. Corlentz, Laboratory Assistant.
Henrv C. P. Weber, Laboratory Assistant.
Claude C. Coffin, Laboratory Assistant.
Eugene I' Mueller, Laboratory Assistant.
Artiiir T. Pienkwysky, Laboratory Assistant.
Louis Cohen, Laboratory Assistant.
J. V. S. Eishlr, Laboratory Assistant

Henry D Hubbard, Secretary

Charles F. Sponsler, Engineer.
Daniel E. Douty, Librarian.

The name of Louis Cohen appears on this very early listing of the Bureau s scientific staff. Cohen engaged in earliest
mathematical work at the Bureau on electrical circuits at radio frequencies. Frederick W. Grover. a college
professor, worked at intermittent periods in later years on radio projects. The listing is a copy taken from an
—
original two-page folder, dated November J. 1.905 a part of the Boutell Collection (see p. 804). The folder probably
served as a directory; the other page listed operational functions in various rooms of the two existing buildings.

32
 with Dr. Rosa on the subject of the mutual inductance of two circular coaxial coils of
rectangular section, published September 1, 1906. They continued to coauthor papers as well
as individually write papers relating to inductance problems. However, Cohen's interest
soon turned toward the properties of coils at frequencies extending toward the radio region
8,9
[4]. His treatment of the problems was both theoretical and experimental.
Cohen left the Bureau in 1908 to pursue the career of a radio engineer. He did have
close associations over many years with the Army Signal Corps Radio Laboratory
10
established at the Bureau in 1908. Cohen also participated in lecture courses at the Bureau
in connection with the educational programs.
During his 4 years on electricity projects, Cohen published a number of the Bureau's
early Scientific Papers in the Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards. These papers were
largely mathematical discussions of inductance and of circuits involving inductors.

3. The Navy ensconced at NBS — Some pioneering efforts in radio

Louis W. Austin came to NBS in 1904 and remained until his death in 1932, first as a
guest worker, then as an employee of the Navy Department, and third as a Civil Service
employee but with salary paid from an outside source. Probably no other person in the
Bureau's 75 years, who was not compensated by Bureau funds, has enjoyed the privileges of
its laboratories and given so much prestige to the institution as did Dr. Austin during his 28

years of relations with NBS. He had a marked influence on the propagation studies of the
Radio Section and the later Central Radio Propagation Laboratory.
With the vast possibilities of wireless telegraphy for communications, yet encountering
perverse problems, the Navy set up a research facility at the Bureau in 1908 to study this
growing field of science and technology. It was the result of the director, Dr. Stratton,
offering the Navy Department the facilities of NBS as an aid in solving their problems with
communications equipment [5]. Dr. Austin came into employment of the Navy and was
selected to head the new facility that was named the United States Naval Wireless
Telegraphic Laboratory. 11 From 1908 until it became a part of the newly established Naval
8
It is a matter of interest that the first reference to
work relating to radio listed in the Bureau's annual reports
was given 1906 Annual Report to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. It stated that: "Condensers and
in the
inductance (sic) have been tested for educational institutions and the Government, including standards of
capacitance and inductance and instruments employed in wireless telegraphic work."
Author's (WFS) note: The rather indiscriminate use of the electrical terms for objects and for properties is quite
evident in early NBS publications. There is interchange of the terms capacitor ("condenser" was the more widely
used term) and capacitance, also inductor and inductance. Today NBS is more careful in the usage of these terms.
9
In the biography by Helen M. Fessenden, entitled Fessenden, Builder of Tomorrows (Coward-McCann, New York,
1940), it states in chapter 15, p. 148, in relation to the development of several types of continuous-wave oscillators

by Fessenden that:

Some of these gave very good results. Bureau of Standards tests on the compressed nitrogen gap
showed one-half kilowatt of pure sine waves at frequencies measuring as high as 2,000,000.
From other information in the chapter these tests would have been performed in the period of 1903-1904. However,
the National Bureau of Standards had no facilities to perform such tests until about 1920 or later. In answer to an
inquiry of the National Archives and Records Service, their letter of July 19, 1972, stated:

A search of NBS Test Folders for the years 1901-1904, now in the custody of our Washington
National Records Center (GSA), failed to disclose any tests performed for Reginald A. Fessenden,
or for other Government agencies or private firms with which he might have been associated,
relating to his research in wireless telegraphy.
10
For a number of years the Army Signal Corps Radio Laboratory at the Bureau was under the guiding hand of
Ernest R. Cram. The Laboratory was gradually phased out during the 1920's.
11
In a letter from the director to the Bureau of Equipment, Navy Department, dated September 28, 1907 (Austin
Personnel Record), Dr. Stratton stated:

During the past two years Dr. L. W. Austin has been working at the Bureau of Standards on
The Bureau has never had any appropriation for this work, hence
wireless telegraph problems.
Dr. Austin has been merely a guest. In the meantime he has had some connection with one of
the commercial wireless telegraph companies.

Ithas occurred to me that Dr. Austin would be an excellent man for the Navy Department in
caseit wishes to take up any experimental work along that line, hence I have asked him to call

upon you and state what his work has been.

In case the Navy Department desires to make any arrangement with Dr. Austin the Bureau of
Standards would be pleased to extend him the same facilities as in the past.

33
Research Laboratory in Bellevue, Anacostia (southeast Washington) in 1923, this facility at
NBS was known by several names, the last being the U.S. Naval Radio Research
12
Laboratory.
During the 15 years of operation on the Bureau grounds, the Navy facility was staffed
with both civilians and Navy personnel. From 1908 to 1920 Austin had the valuable
assistance of George H. Clark, particularly for his wave propagation studies. 13
Beginning with the Navy's wireless communications problems in the late summer of
1908, Austin's investigations for the next 15 years covered a variety of subjects such as:
detectors, antenna characteristics, properties of circuits, and energy losses in condensers.
But it was his propagation studies that were most fruitful and brought lasting fame.
The Navy became interested in determining the range of radio-telegraphic
communication between ships and between ships and shore stations. In his first quantitative
tests, Austin selected the powerful station at Brant Rock (south of Boston, Mass.), operated
by the National Electric Signaling Co. (Fessenden), as the land-based station, leasing the
station for Navy use. Late in 1909 and during 1910, two Navy ships, fitted with transmitters
and receivers, sailed the Atlantic out to distances of more than 1000 miles from Brant
14
Rock. Observations at 1000 and 3750 meters were taken of the RF current in the receiving
antennas under conditions of night and day and at various distances from the several
transmitters (Brant Rock and the two ships). The result led to the well-known Austin-Cohen
equation or transmission formula for expressing the magnitude of the received signal in
terms of the transmitted signal [6]. 15 17 In 1913 measurements were made of NAA, the Navy's
Arlington (Virginia) station (3800 meters) from a ship out to more than 2000 miles distance.

1
During the length of Austin's career at NBS his 100 published papers showed a variety of organizational sources,
"'

yet all were related to NBS. In addition to using the name Bureau of Standards, Austin used the designations of:

U.S. Naval Wireless Laboratory, U.S. Naval Radio-Telegraphic Laboratory, U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory;
plus his position of physicist-in-charge, Director, or Head. After resigning from the Navy Department in 1923 and
becoming associated with the Bureau, he used the designations of: Radio Physical Laboratory, Chief; and
Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission Research, often with the addition of "Bureau of Standards," but then
again without.
1!
George H. Clark was a graduate of MIT. In 1920 he joined the Radio Corp. of America and later became an
historian. His voluminous collection of "Radioana" was deposited in the Engineering Library of MIT. The Clark
Collection is now located in the Division of Electricity and Nuclear Energy, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C., and is a treasure trove for the history of radio and electronics.
14
Dr. Dellinger in an address to the Boulder Laboratories in 1961, stated, in speaking of Austin:

A precursor of the Bureau's own radio work was that W. Austin who conducted the
of Dr. Louis
U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory located at the Bureau from 1905 on.* He was the
"American pioneer" in radio research. He worked on means of generating and detecting radio
waves. He
published studies of detectors of that day, various kinds of crystals, electrolytic
detectors, Fleming valves, and audions. He was famous principally for his semiempirical formula
for long-distance-received field strength at low frequencies, VLF and LF. He started that work in
1909 and it is the mistaken idea that that was part of the Bureau of Standards work which led to
mention of the date (1909) in the printed program of this meeting.
In the "Program for National Bureau of Standards 60th Anniversary, 1901-1961, Boulder Laboratories" it was
stated under the caption of "Central Radio Propagation Laboratory" that, "NBS research in radio propagation
dates back to 1909 with radio work established as a section of the Electricity Division in 1913." It was this
statement in the program that Dellinger wished to correct. In reality, the radio propagation work of NBS did not
begin until the early part of the 1920's. See chapter VII.
'Correctly, 1908.
15
During the 1910 experiments with the Brant Rock station, Louis Cohen assisted Austin in the measurements.
Although Cohen's name did not appear as a coauthor with Austin on the original transmission paper, his name has
become associated with the transmission formula. Because of his mathematical ability, one is inclined to believe
that Cohen had a definite part in developing the semiempirical formula. In fact, Austin stated in his paper, entitled
"Some Quantitative Experiments in Long-Distance Radiotelegraphy" (cited in [6]), that Cohen had observed certain
characteristics of the formula during the course of its development.
16
In its initial form the Austin-Cohen equation indicated the current in the receiving antenna. In the early 1900's
the only reliable radio frequency measurement instrument was the ammeter (weak signals in a receiving antenna
were measured with a variable shunt across a telephone receiver, calibrated in terms of RF current). In later
versions the equation indicated the received signal in microvolts per meter.
The received signal is dependent, of course, upon the radiated power of the transmitter and its distance.Of
particular interest to Austin and other investigators (theoretical approach first by Sommerfeld in 1909) was the
exponential term (or scattering term) in the equation which is dependent upon the attenuation factor, distance, and

34
 In a report to the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI), October 1927,
Chairman of the Commission on Radio Propagation, Austin was somewhat pessimistic of his
formula as indicating the true values of field intensity of the lower frequency radio waves
propagated over long distances. To quote:

Since the discovery of the great variability of the signal intensity at

different times, the general interest in transmission formulas has been
much diminished, as it is evident that any formula laying claim to general
accuracy would be so complicated that it could hardly be of practical value
even if our knowledge of the subject were sufficient to derive it. The most
that can be claimed for any of the formulas thus far suggested is a very
rough approximation to the actual results averaged over very long periods.
Thus far there has been no attempt to produce a formula applicable to the
ultra short waves [7].

Time proved that Austin was overly pessimistic of his formula. He had come to realize,
however, that:

The somewhat confused picture, which we have gained is rather that

masses of ionized gas forming an extremely irregular and shifting lower
surface if we are dealing with reflection and possibly with openings through
which the rays may pass at times to higher levels before being turned back
toward the earth.

Today, we know that the ionosphere is a complex structure and subject to much variation.
Although Marconi had observed the increased strength of low frequency signals at
night over long distances as early as 1902, Austin's studies of the vagaries of long-distance
transmission, beginning in 1909, were exploratory and were to be his chief interest during
the remainder of his life. Both Kennelly and Heaviside had independently suggested in 1902
the existence of an electrically conducting layer above the Earth to explain Marconi's
observations. However, it remained for Austin to explain, by his own observations, that the
vagaries of transmission are caused by changes in the ionized layer.
From 1911 until his death in 1932, Austin wrote nearly 70 papers relating to the
propagation of radio waves (a few of these papers were published concurrently as similar
18
papers in several publications). His first study was propagation over salt water. This was
followed later by observations over land, as well as combinations of land and sea. His early
observations of the vagaries of transmission, due to diurnal and seasonal effects, led him
into many avenues of research. His second propagation paper in 1913 was on the subject of
day and night effects. Then came a paper in 1915 on seasonal effects.
After a decade of observing radio signals at low frequencies, Austin could hardly escape
the deleterious effects of atmospheric disturbances of "static" upon the weaker signals. He
brought out his first paper on this subject in 1921, describing the characteristics of static
and advancing explanations on the sources. During the next 2 years he published a series of
bimonthly reports in the Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers (Proc. IRE) on

wavelength. It was this attenuation factor, that expresses the loss of energy in the ground wave and in the
skywave, that intrigued Austin in later years. He found that the skywave was subject to diurnal and seasonal
variation, also to sunspot cycles.
The Austin-Cohen transmission formula is generally applicable in the frequency range from 20 kHz to the
broadcast range beginning at 550 kHz.
17
In later years other investigatorsbecame interested in the quantitative measurements of radio waves over long
distances, and especially in transatlantic transmissions. These investigations led to various values of the constants
in the exponential term of the Austin-Cohen formula.
18
A listing of Dr. Austin's 100 papers is given in Letter Circular 194, revised July 1, 1964 by Charles L. Bragaw for
internal use at the Boulder Laboratories, Department of Commerce, entitled "List of scientific publications of the
Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission Research, formerly the U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory, by L. W.
Austin." Seventy-five of Austin's publications are gathered into a binder, entitled "Collected Papers of Dr. Louis
Winslow Austin, 1900-1932." The binder has been catalogued in the Department of Commerce Library, Boulder.
Colo.
1 (1913) through Vol. 15 (1927) were given to NBS October 13.
Austin's bound volumes of the Proc. IRE, Vol.
1932, and designated "From the Library of Dr. L. W. Austin." They now form part of the set of the Proceedings in
the Boulder Laboratories, Department of Commerce Library.

35
observations of atmospheric disturbances, as well as signal-strength observations of powerful
radio transmitters.
Austin's observations of radio transmission over long distances, plus his studies of the
relations of atmospheric disturbances to solar activity, eventually led him to an awareness
of the dependence of certain characteristics of long-distance transmission upon changes in
solar activity. His first presentation of such observations was to the American Section of
URSI on April 21, 1927 [8]. 19 20 '

Shortly before the formation of the Naval Research Laboratory at Anacostia on July 1,
1923, Dr. Austin resigned from the Navy Department because of ill health. Although in poor
health, he continued his radio-wave studies for the next 9 years as an employee of the
Bureau of Standards. 21,22 He died on June 27, 1932, after a serious operation.
19
The conclusion to his presentation is of much interest today as we view it in retrospect.

In conclusion, the observations show with considerable certainty that there is a general increase
of signal strength with increasing sunspot numbers. There also appears to be a possible periodic
relationship between the sunspot numbers and daylight signals, in which, in the case of most
stations observed, the signals are nearly in opposite phase to the periodic changes of the
sunspots. This in agreement with the results of Pickard in the broadcasting range. While the
is

work thus must be considered to be in the preliminary stage, it seems probable that the
far
relations of solar activity and radio phenomena will be found to be as worthy of study as those of
solar activity and terrestrial magnetism.

"Later, in 1928, in his address at the time of being inducted as president of the Institute of Radio Engineers,* Dr.
Alfred N. Goldsmith in handing accolades to the former presidents, said of Dr. Austin:

. . . who has literally been a right hand of the Government in radio matters and has shown the
way in orderly measurement of complicated radio transmission phenomena.
*Proc. IRE, Vol. 16, No. 3, Mar. 1928, p. 252.
21
On July
1, 1923, Austin joined the Civil Service employee from the Navy
Bureau of Standards, transferring as a
Department where he had been classed as a Radio Aid at a salary of $4000. In a new position set up at the Bureau,
he was classed as a Scientist (Physicist) in charge of a unit in the Electrical Division (rather than a unit of the
Radio Section) to be known as the Laboratory of Radio Physics, the salary to be $4000 (Austin Personnel Record).
The transfer papers indicate that, initially, Austin's salary was paid from an appropriation titled, "Radio Research,
Bureau of Standards." However, this support was of short duration, as indicated in footnote 22.
The transfer papers stated that:

Dr. Austin is an expert in radio and has been employed by the Navy Department for many years.
He is familiar with the Bureau's work, having been detailed to the Naval Radio Laboratory
located at the Bureau of Standards. The Navy Department is unable to continue Dr. Austin on
their rolls on account of shortage of funds and the proposed transfer has been informally
approved.

Austin's Classification Sheet, dated July 23, 1923, showed that:

The object of the laboratory of which is the investigation of the purely

this employee is the head
study of the propagation of radio
scientific aspect of radio telegraphy. It involves especially the
waves over the surface of the earth and connected phenomena, including the natural radio waves
called atmospheric disturbances. This work has been going on for the past fifteen years under
the Navy Department and will to a considerable extent still be carried on at the stations of the
U.S. Navy and of the commercial companies.

On supervision, the Classification Sheet stated:

On his own responsibility as to the technical and scientific details, under the supervision of the
Chief of the Division and the Director of the Bureau.

Noteworthy, on this last point, is the fact that although Austin was located in the Radio Building with the
Radio Section, he was not a staff member of the Radio Section under Dellinger, but was of a unit of the Division
Office under E. C. Crittenden. Many documents in the Austin Personnel Record indicate this relationship.
22
Two documents among the Dellinger papers at the National Archives (NN365-90, Box 11) appear to clear up the
matter of Dr. Austin's relation to NBS during the period of 1923 to 1932, and the financial arrangement set up to
support the "Radio Research" project. One of these documents, probably prepared jointly by Austin and Dellinger
(but not so indicated), could have served various purposes; it stated:

Work Of The Radio Transmission Research Laboratory

(Conducted jointly by the American Section of the International Union for
Scientific Radiotelegraphy and the Bureau of Standards.)

This laboratory was established in 1908 at the Bureau of Standards by the Navy Department and
since that time has been in charge of Dr. L. W. Austin, being known until 1923 as the U.S. Naval
Radio Research Laboratory. Its work has always been devoted largely to the investigation of the
physics of radio transmission, that is, the passage of the radio waves over the surface of the

36
 Dr. Briggs, then acting director (Dr. Burgess, the director, had died but 5 days after
Austin), stated in an obituary [9]:

His devotion to his work speaks for itself in a last treasured note: "I am
going to the hospital tomorrow, and if things should go wrong, I most
earnestly beg of you to see to it that the Bureau continues my signal
measurement work, at least until such a time as all workers are agreed

earth, including the effects of possible reflecting layers and absorbing media in the earth's
atmosphere, and to the study of the origin and nature of atmospheric disturbances (static).

In 1923 when the Naval research work was concentrated at Bellevue, D.C., the purely scientific
part of the radio work was transferred to the Bureau of Standards. The economy demanded by
Congress made it impossible for the Bureau of Standards to develop the laboratory according to
the original plan and therefore in 1924 it was resolved to seek outside financial assistance for the
work. With the approval of the Director of the Bureau of Standards, the laboratory was then
placed under the joint control of the Bureau of Standards and the International Union for
Scientific Radiotelegraphy which is a part of the National Research Council.

The plans for the future work of the laboratory are in close accord with the program which has
been outlined by the International Union. They include the continuation of the twice daily
observations on a number of long-wave distant stations with the corresponding measurements on
static intensity which are necessary for the eventual comparison of radio phenomena with
meteorological, solar and other natural processes. It is also desired, if a sufficient number of
assistants is obtained, to carry on continuous twenty-four hour observations so as to obtain more
accurate knowledge of the diurnal variations of signal intensity and static. Other subjects of
investigation which have begun in a fragmentary way are the sunrise and sunset effects on
intensity, and the peculiar apparent direction variations both at night and after sunrise and
before sunset. These will probably eventually throw light on the conditions in the upper
atmosphere, far above the regions explorable by meteorological means, which control the
variations and fading in radio transmission that are at present so little understood, especially at
the ultra short wave lengths. Another important subject is the more exact study of static. If we
are ever to learn how to eliminate or avoid this chief difficulty of radio transmission, it will
obviously first be necessary to get a better understanding of its sources and nature.

Radio transmission is in very much the same condition as the electrical engineering of forty
years ago. There has been, of course, large development along practical lines, but it is almost
entirely lacking in a foundation of exact scientific knowledge which must form the basis of a
satisfactory future development.

The present force of the laboratory consists of Dr. Austin and two assistants, one of these being
furnished by the Signal Corps through the new arrangement with the Union. Nearly all of the
apparatus has been loaned by the Navy Department. This force is sufficient only for the carrying
out of routine observations and the necessary computations. The minimum requirements for the
extension of the work as indicated above would be one additional assistant with thorough
scientific training at a salary of approximately three thousand dollars, and an observer who
must be an operator with some training in making scientific observations, at eighteen hundred
or two thousand dollars. The requirements for additional apparatus will amount to from two to
three thousand dollars per year, and if it should become necessary to replace the apparatus
loaned by the Navy Department, about six thousand dollars would be needed.

Of course, must be understood that more support would enable the problems to be solved with
it

Funds for the laboratory will be placed in charge of the National

proportionally greater rapidity.
Research Council and will be disbursed through them.
The second was a memo by E. C. Crittenden, chief of the Electrical Division (who served as Austin's supervisor)
to Dr.Fay C. Brown, technical assistant to the director. The memo of January 20, 1925, stated:
Confirming our conversation of today I wish to submit to the Publication Committee the
following statement regarding the form of Dr. Austin's paper which I handed to you. It is
recognized that the form used does not follow regular Bureau practice in the case of technical
papers in which it is customary to give the author's title on the Bureau rolls. I am quite sure,
however, that Dr. Austin would prefer not to follow the usual form because he wishes to
emphasize the outside connections of his laboratory rather than its dependence on the Bureau.
Furthermore, as was pointed out to you, there is some justification for maintaining his
laboratory as a separate entity since the work of the laboratory has been carried on for many
years and was for a long time quite independent of the Bureau.

In view of this situation we would suggest that the general form used by Dr. Austin be followed
but that in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding, the title be used exactly as transmitted
to the National Research Council last summer. The title then given to the laboratory was
"Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission Research (conducted jointly by the Bureau of
Standards and the American Section of the International Union of Scientific Radio Telegraphy)."
 that other observations, such as those on Kennelly-Heaviside heights, can
take the place of signal intensity measurements for correlation purposes."

23
His work is going on.

And most certainly the Radio Section and the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory carried
on work" in the study of radio propagation.
in the spirit of Austin's "devotion to his
Shortly after the Institute of Radio Engineers was formed, Austin became a member
(January 22, 1913), and served as president in 1914 (third president). He was awarded the
Medal of Honor in 1927 "for his pioneer work in the quantitative measurement of radio
transmission."
Austin became widely known in international radio affairs. He took part in the (Second)
International Radiotelegraph Conference in London, during July and August of 1912, as 1 of
12 delegates representing the United States (Austin was listed as Director of the Radio-
telegraphic Laboratory, Navy Department). Austin was very active in the affairs of the
International Scientific Radio Union (URSI). He was appointed the first chairman of the
Wave Propagation Commission in 1922 and served until the time of his death in 1932. For
many years he was chairman of the American National Committee of URSI. 24 He served as
vice president from 1921 until 1932 (each General Assembly elects an additional vice
president), and was honored with the presidency a few months before his death.

Radio— A new science and technology enters the

Bureau of Standards 25

1. Bellinger comes to the Bureau, 1907 — Then Kolster, 1911

Thereno better source from which to gain a knowledge of the very earliest
is

investigations by the Bureau in the area of radio science and technology than from the
earliest worker, J. Howard Dellinger. Later he became chief of the Radio Section, and then
chief of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory until his retirement in 1948. Let us learn
directly from Dr. Dellinger of the earliest event in radio measurements by the Bureau as he
related the story in his address at a meeting of the Boulder Laboratories staff on March 3,
1961, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the National Bureau of Standards (and the
50th of the Bureau's work in radio). 26

The first radio job of the National Bureau of Standards was the
standardization in 1911 of a wavemeter submitted by a professional radio
23
A is contained in a letter by Miss Sara Ann
very interesting note on an insight into the personality of Dr. Austin
Jones, librarian at NBS Washington to Charles L. Bragaw, NBS
Boulder Laboratories, dated July 8, 1964. The
letter was written as an aid to Bragaw in preparing a biographical sketch on Austin for the Center for History of
Philosophy of Physics, American Institute of Physics. In part, the letter states:

I read your sketch to EMZ (Miss Zandonini)* and she said you had done a beautiful job. I asked if

she could add any personal reminiscences about him and she said that he was a real gentleman
whom everyone liked. She recalled a trip abroad by boat. Dr. Austin went first class and she
third. EMZ spent a lot of time in the radio room of the ship and invited Dr. Austin to meet the
men there. He said he had a lot more fun with the people he met among the third-class
passengers than with those in the first class. She said both Dr. Austin and his wife were very
etc., but that they accepted people on their own worth regardless of their
well educated, wealthy,
position.
'Elizabeth M. Zandonini was associated with the former Radio Section for 33 years, serving in many
capacities.
M At its meeting on April 27, 1933, the American Section of URSI adopted the following resolution:

The American Section of the International Union has lost its beloved leader in the death of Dr.
Louis W. Austin, June 27, 1932. His devotion to science, and to our mutual interests in this
organization, his outstanding contributions to radio research, and his benevolent personality
were assets which we grieve to have taken away. Dr. Austin was not only Chairman of the
American Section but had just been elevated to the presidency of the International Union; the
termination of his distinguished career of service is an irreparable loss.

"'Although established in 1901 as the National Bureau of Standards, the word "National" was dropped in 1903
(with no good reason). The original name was restored in 1934.
26
Referred to as "Dellinger Address, 1961" (Radio File).

38
 ;

engineer.* I was then working in the Inductance and Capacity Section, in

27
part of a room in the South Building.
"The late J. V. L. Hogan, one of the triumvirate that founded the IRE.

I was taking a course in Maxwell and had been intensively studying high-

frequency phenomena. So this job was handed to me. It had to be in the

Inductance and Capacity Section, for how else could you make a frequency
standard at radio frequencies than by setting up a resonating LC circuit? I
had to improvise such a circuit and to devise ways to connect to it the
buzzer circuit which generated the current and the crystal rectifier to
detect resonance, all without vitiating the value of frequency calculated
from the L and the C.

Dellinger had entered the Bureau in 1907 as a student and completed his college work
with a Bachelor of Arts degree at George Washington University in 1908. His first major
assignment in the Electricity Division was the meticulous determination of the temperature
coefficient of resistance of copper, and with F. A. Wolff, the electrical conductivity of
commercial copper wire. The result was the publication of two important papers in the
subject field.

27
Dr. Harvey was chief of the Inductance and Capacity Section from 1907-1946. The section was one of a
L. Curtis
number headed by Dr. Edward B. Rosa who wrote a number of
in the Electricity Division in 1911; the division being
papers relating to inductance and capacitance. Dr. Rosa is best known for his determination in 1907 (with Dr. N. E.
Dorsey) of the ratio of the electromagnetic to the electrostatic units of electricity, which is the numerical value of
the speed of light, and was an important confirmation of Maxwell's theory of light.

Jlrnriram grirnttfir *laff

SAMUEL W STRATTON '' ARTHUR T P1ENKOWSKY

EDWARD B. ROSA CHARLES W. BURROWS
LOUIS A FISCHER HENRY C. P. WEBER
.
FRANK A WOLFF • HARVEY L. CURTIS
CHARLES W. WAIDNER v EUGENE F. MUELLER
1 . Reception in the Library, 3rd floor,
HENRY N STOKES .'
FREDERICK J BATES
8.30 to 9.30 o'clock GEORGE K. BURGESS HARRY C GIBSON
HFNRY D HUBBARD PAUL C. AGNEW
tl ERNEST DORSEY HAROLD D BABCOCK
EDWARD P HYDE FRANK WENNER
CHARLES F SPONSLER BENJAMIN T. BROOKS

2. Exhibit and Experiments in the Lecture . MORTON G LLOYD WALTER S LEWIS

NUTTING
PERLEY G. JOHN M. MILLER
Room, 3rd floor ; room 204, 2nd floor
CAMPBELL E WATERS THEODORE T FITCH
and rooms 101. 102, 104 and 1 12 1st DANIEL E DOUTY JAMES V. S. FISHER

V HERBERT B. BROOKS IRWIN G. PRIEST

floor. Other laboratory rooms are also
, HOBART C. DICKINSON ERNEST C. McKELVY
FRANKLIN S DURSTON GEORGE E. POST
open to those wishing to see the instruments
JOHN R. CAIN ,'
RICHARD F JACKSON
and equipment, 9.30 to 10.30 o'clock. ROY Y FERNER THOMAS B. FORD
EDGAR BUCKINGHAM AUGUST H. SCHAAF
» NATHAN OSBORNE S BAYARD H VEAZEY
'
WILLIAM W. COBLENTZ WALTER HEALD
LOUIS COHEN ERNEST F WENDEROTH
3. Refreshments will be served in the Library
GEORGE W. MIDDLEKAUFF KGRACE C. U McDERMUT
10.30 o'clock FRANCIS E CADY V JOHN H DELLINGER
r— :

List of names of the 52 members of Bureau's scientific staff as they appeared on a two-page folder, dated November
21, 1907,that served for an "open house. " Both Louis Cohen and John H. Dellinger (later his preference was J.
Howard Dellinger) were on the staff. Louis W. Austin was a guest worker during period of 1904-1908 and his
name does not appear on 1905 and 1907 listings. This folder exists as a photostat copy in the Bout ell Collection.
Many of the persons listed became well-known scientists in later years, including John M. Miller who was a
member of the Radio Laboratory (Section) until 1919.

39
 During the year (1911) that Dellinger performed the first calibration of a radio
instrument at NBS, as a service to the public, Dr. Rosa brought in a man to cope with some
of the problems the Bureau was facing in the rapidly expanding technology of wireless
telegraphy. In contrast with the relatively little practical experience Dellinger had with
wireless, Frederick A. Kolster came to the Bureau as a physicist, with several years
28,29
experience in assisting in the development of wireless equipment. After graduating from
Harvard in 1908, Kolster joined up with the firms of John Stone and of Lee de Forest, and

28
Frederick A. Kolster entered the Bureau on December 18, 1911, as a temporary appointee, with the grade of
assistant physicist, "qualified in radio-telegraphy at $1800 per annum," pending a special examination. After an
examination and certification from the register, Kolster took the oath of office on March 1, 1912, to enter duty as
an assistant physicist. A few months later, on July 3, 1912, he was promoted to the grade of associate physicist at
$2000 per annum.
Two advances in salary ($2200 and $2700) within the grade of associate physicist came as a result of letters to
the Secretary of Commerce by Dr. E. B. Rosa, chief of the Electricity Division, but serving as the acting director at
the times of writing to the Secretary. In his letter of August 7, 1914 (increase to $2700), Dr. Rosa stated:

... I would state that Mr. Kolster is in charge of the work in radio-communication. He is a very
competent and trained expert in wireless and has designed a fundamental instrument for
measurement of wireless waves.
Author's (WFS) note: The instrument was the Kolster decremeter.

After Kolster's promotion to the grade of physicist in 1915, Dr. Stratton, the director, wrote to the Secretary of
Commerce on September 23, 1916, recommending a further increase in salary, which Kolster received within 4
days. Sixty years later, Dr. Stratton's letter reveals the importance of the early work in radio at the Bureau and
that of Kolster's contributions. Stratton's letter follows, in full:

I recommend the promotion and appointment of F. A. Kolster from the position of

respectfully
physicist, Bureau of Standards, at $3000 per annum, to the position of physicist, at $3600 per
annum, vice new position, the compensation being payable from the appropriation, "Radio
Research, Bureau of Standards, 1917."

This employee has rendered satisfactory service in this grade, but he has been receiving a lower
rate of pay than others doing the same class of work. The proposed increased salary is not in
excess of that paid for same or similar services elsewhere in the Bureau during the previous
fiscal year.

This recommendation is made in view of the splendid achievements of Mr. Kolster in the field of
radiotelegraphy. He has shown himself to be a specialist of the highest attainments in this very
technical field. Not only has he been the leader of the Bureau's work on this subject and handled
itwith unqualified success, but he has invented apparatus and equipment which shows the gift
of originality and ability of unusual order. His invention of the decremeter for measuring the
rate of decay of wireless impulses would alone entitle him to this distinction, but his system of
fog signaling and his apparatus for direction finding by means of which the sending station can
be accurately located is literally an epoch-making discovery. It is therefore with special
satisfaction that I make this recommendation, which is a moderate recognition of the important
service which he has rendered to the Bureau and the public.

On July 31, 1921, Kolster resigned from the Bureau after having taken 6 months of a year's leave of absence.
For the next three decades he was engaged as a consulting engineer, and was employed by several radio equipment
firms. In the mid-1920's a commercially produced broadcast receiver was named after Kolster. It was a six-tube,
tuned radio-frequency circuit, equipped with ganged capacitors for tuning. He died July 24, 1950.
Author's (WFS) note: Much of the above information was obtained from Kolster's personnel record at the National
Personnel Records Center, GSA, St. Louis, Mo.
In October 1975, James R. Wait of the Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, furnished the author (WFS) with some interesting information relating to steps taken by the
Bureau of Standards to establish a wireless and high-frequency group in 1908, 3 years before Kolster was employed
as a staffmember.
Wait was informed in a letter, dated October 3, 1975, from Professor Robert Kouyoumjian of the
Dr.
Department of Electrical Engineering, Ohio State University, that his father (Harold K. Kouyoumjian) had
received a post card from a George W. Nasniyth, dated September 25, 1908, mailed from Baltimore, Md., relating to
a position at the Bureau. (A reproduced copy of the card was enclosed with the letter of October 3, 1975. Nasniyth
was a classmate of Harold Kouyoumjian at Cornell University, in the class of 1906.) The card stated:

9-25-08

Dear Harold,
.The Bureau of Standards wants a man
. . to take charge of its new division of wireless and
high frequency work; they offered $1200 a year to start. Shall I recommend you? Answer
quick.

G.W.N.

40
later with Fritz Lowenstein. All three of these men had made, and were to continue to
make, contributions to the radio art.
One of Kolster's first assignments was to attend the (Second) International
Radiotelegraph Conference that met in London during June and July of 1912. He served as
a technical advisor to Professor Arthur G. Webster (Clark University) who served as a
consultant to the Bureau of Standards and represented the Bureau as a delegate to the
Conference.
The Radio Ship Act that became effective on July 1, 1911, made it a requirement that
ocean sailing vessels leaving U.S. ports, carrying more than 50 passengers and crew, more
than 200 miles between ports, be fitted with wireless apparatus and have a skilled operator
aboard. In 1912 the act was amended to require two operators instead of one, plus the
30
inclusion of cargo vessels. Inspection of equipment and enforcement of the act came within
the operations of the Bureau of Navigation (Department of Commerce and Labor). This act,
plus Army and Navy requirements, plus the wireless industry's need for aid on Government
controls, brought a new responsibility to the Bureau of Standards. We find this well
expressed in the Bureau's Annual Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913. Referring
to the work of the Electricity Division the report stated:

In wireless telegraphy the Bureau ought to maintain a first class

laboratory, devoted to the determination of the fundamental facts needed
by the various departments of the Government making use of wireless
telegraphy.With the present limited equipment and personnel engaged in
thiswork the Bureau has been assisting the Bureau of Navigation and, to
some extent, other Bureaus of the Government, making use of wireless
telegraphy.

Such was the climate within the Bureau and within the Electricity Division beginning
in 1911. Kolster was to spearhead many of the radio projects during the next 10 years to
meet the needs of various Government departments.

2. Early instruments and measurements

Kolster's first major assignment was the development of an easy-to-use decremeter, plus
the incorporation of a wavemeter into a common assembly. In the early days of wireless
telegraphy, with transmitters emitting highly damped oscillations, it was usually desirable
to minimize the rate of decay of individual bursts of energy in order to reduce interference. !1
Such an instrument was useful to the wireless station, and a needed tool to the Bureau of
Navigation radio inspectors enforcing the U.S. law on maximum permissible decrement of
wireless signals. Note: Refer to chapter V for a more detailed account on the Kolster
decremeter.

This information that has come to the attention of the author, reveals an interesting aspect to the beginnings of the
wireless (radio) program at the Bureau of Standards which probably has been lost in the records these many years.
This fragment of information indicates that recruiting was underway by the Electricity Division 3 years in advance
of the selection of Kolster for the wireless program established at the Bureau in 1911.
30
The Titanic disaster on the night of April 14, 1912 (collision with an iceberg in the Atlantic south of the Grand
Banks of Newfoundland with loss of 1513 lives), brought worldwide attention to the use of wireless on the seas, yet
indicated that its full potential had not been made use of in the disaster. More rigid requirements were in the
offing.Actions taken by the Second International Radiotelegraph Conference in London, plus actions taken by
Congress in August of 1912 brought about amendments to the Radio Ship Act of 1910. One of these new
requirements was that of reducing interference by limiting the (logarithmic) decrement of spark transmitters to a
value not to exceed 0.2.
J1
There were occasions in the early days that an operator would adjust his equipment to obtain a very rapid decay
of the oscillatory discharges in order to "blanket" a considerable width of the frequency spectrum, giving him
greater assurance that his message was getting through.

41
 The importance of the Kolster decremeter in the remaining years of the spark
transmitters can be summed up by quoting from the 1914 Annual Report to the Secretary of
2
Commerce:

The decrement or rate of decay of the train of waves emitted by a

radiotelegraphic antenna is limited by law. The inspectors of this
Department have the duty of enforcing the law and there was heretofore no
instrument by which the measurement of decrement could be made with
speed and accuracy. A decremeter was therefore designed which has proved
itself to be very satisfactory in practice, and which has been adopted by the
War and Navy Departments, and by the Bureau of Navigation of the
Department of Commerce for the use of its inspectors.

3. Accepting "Radio" into the vocabulary, 1911

During the early development of radio the English-speaking participants became
accustomed to using the term "wireless," although the word "radio" is traced back to 1897.
However, in the Radio Ship Act that was approved by the President on June 24, 1910, and
became effective on July 1, 1911, the term "radio-communication" was used. During 1911
preparations were made by the United States to take part in the (Second) International
Radiotelegraph Conference, to be held at London in 1912. Regulations for radio
communications came within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of
Commerce and Labor. The Secretary of the Department had requested of Dr. Stratton that
the Bureau of Standards assist the Department in revising its regulations which, in turn,
would influence proposals made at the London Conference. It was on this occasion that the
director, Dr. Stratton, called upon Dellinger for suggestions. The letter to the Secretary, of
October 24, 1911, prepared by Dellinger, stated, in part (NARG 167, Box 10, General
Correspondence 1901-1922, IET-IG):

In the title of the circular and elsewhere, we believe that "radiotelegraph"

would be a better word than "wireless." It is to be noted that the act of
June 24, 1910, speaks only of "radiocommunication" and does not use the
word "wireless." The latter is not a satisfactory descriptive term, applied
either to the apparatus or to the operators and inspectors. The word
"wireless" will probably continue to be used colloquially but the word
"radiotelegraph" is coming to be more and more the accepted accurately
descriptive term for the apparatus, etc., involved in communication by
electromagnetic waves.

The suggestion made by Dellinger was carried out by the American delegation to the
London Conference for the word "wireless" did not appear in any of the proposals made by
the delegation (as recorded in the Documents of the International Radiotelegraph
Conference). In fact, the term wireless seems to have fallen into disuse at the Conference.
In his address to the Boulder Laboratories, "Fifty years of radio at the National Bureau
of Standards," on March 3, 1961 (Dellinger Address, 1961), Dr. Dellinger modestly referred

32
InMarch of 1913 the Department of Commerce and Labor was separated to become two new departments, those
of Commerce and of Labor.

42
 to his suggested use of the term "radiocommunication," which easily resolved itself into the
33 34
shorter "radio."

4. Encountering the radio-frequency ammeter

Hard on the heels of Dellinger's performing the first calibration of a wavemeter by
NBS, came the need to calibrate radio-frequency (RF) ammeters. The RF ammeter was the
most needed and useful of any electrical indicating instrument associated with a radio
transmitter— small stations often had but this one instrument. With it the operator had the
assurance of knowing approximately how much "power" he was radiating into space even
though he was reading the "energy" as antenna current in amperes. An accurate knowledge
of radiated power and field strength was to come many years later. With time, the
usefulness of the RF ammeter diminished as a means of observing the radiated output from
a transmitter. After a long period of dormancy there has been some renewed interest in the
use of RF current meters as a precision measurement instrument.
Dellinger made the Bureau's first calibrations of RF ammeters and the project proved
to be an intriguing assignment. His interest grew to the extent that a study of RF ammeters
developed into a doctoral dissertation at Princeton University (degree conferred in 1913).
35
The thesis was published as a Bureau Scientific Paper [10].

5. Organizing and planning to serve the Government— With progress

on many fronts
The Radio Laboratory Section was formed in 1913 under the leadership of Frederick A.
36
Kolster. It was designated as Section 6 in the Electricity Division (the familiar symbol, 1-6,
was remain with the section until May 1, 1946). For some years to come the titles of Radio
to
Laboratory, Radio Section, and Section 6 (within Division I) were used interchangeably.
There seemed to have been no fixed pattern of usage until October 1918 when the large
section was organized on a more formal basis. The designation "Radio Section" was now

In his address, Dellinger said:

... I had been asked to criticize a draft of the International Wireless Convention of Regulations
which had been prepared by the U.S. Delegation for the 1912 Conference in London. Among my
proposals was one to change the word "wireless" to "radio". Radio was not in use, but I had read
in a book the idea that radio, connoting radiation would be more realistic than wireless.
Fortunately my proposal was accepted and London came out with a radio instead of a wireless
agreement. The 1912 Radio Communications Law of the United States followed suit and in a few
years the word "radio" was used more than "wireless".

Author's (WFS) note: This statement by Dellinger in his 1961 Address has been a puzzlement to the author
Apparently he accepted credit for recommending the use of the word "radio" in place of "wireless" for the
International Wireless Convention of Regulations of 1912 (known as the London Radiotelegraph Regulations
of 1912), yet in 1906 the words "radio" and "radiotelegraph" had been used extensively in documents of the First
International Radiotelegraph Conference held in Berlin.
34
I, p. 2 for early use of the word "radio."
Refer to chapter
35
The RF ammeters of the early radio transmitters were of three general types, all of them thermal ammeters. For
small currents (10 amperes or less) a thermoelement was used. In larger currents the hot-wire type was used, which
incorporated a single strand of wire. For very large currents up to 300 amperes or more, multiple-wire or strip
construction was used for the hot-wire element. All early types were subject to considerable error with increase in
frequency, and particularly the multi-wire type. Dellinger made a critical study, both theoretical and experimental,
of the causes and magnitude of errors in a variety of RF ammeters. He suggested improvements in design to
minimize frequency effects and to improve accuracy.
:k
The author (WFS) has found considerable variation and discrepancies in the dates, even in terms of years, on the
initiation of radio projects within the Bureau and the initial steps taken to set up an organizational structure
within the Electricity Division to encompass the radio projects. These discrepancies exist in published articles, both
within and outside NBS, also within the Radio Section's own records. Some of these dates are, without doubt, in
error. A publicity note found with the Monthly Report for October 1922, states:

The Radio Laboratory of the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce was established in
1910, and during the past few months, parts of its work have come to the attention of most of the
radio experimenters and radio broadcast listeners throughout the country.

The notation hardly fits the facts. The most acceptable date is to select 1913 as the year when a section was formed
within the Electricity Division to give direction to several radio projects.

43
used, titles were assigned to those responsible for section operations, and a listing was made
of personnel assignments to the various projects. (See app. C.)
After the development of the decremeter by Kolster and the first calibration of a
wavemeter and high-frequency ammeter by Dellinger, there came additional requests for
calibrations. In the 1.914 Annual Report to the Secretary of Commerce the electrical testing
included: "4 wavemeters, 35 decremeters (for the Army and Navy and Bureau of
Navigation), and 2 high-frequency ammeters."
After the initial development of a new type of decremeter, Kolster brought out a series
of designs to meet various needs of the Bureau of Navigation and for the Army and Navy.
Construction of these decremeters was given to several different firms on a bid award basis.
By 1915, with the help of the Inductance and Capacity Section, an assortment of
inductors had been designed and constructed with the distributed capacity and resistance
kept as low as possible. Special types of variable condensers (capacitors) were also designed
and constructed. This laboratory equipment would serve two purposes: (1) standards of
capacitance and inductance at radio frequencies, (2) standards for frequency or wavelength
by the LC technique. The standards provided for wavelength measurements to 20,000 meters
(15 kHz). The technology of the time was given over to long wavelengths.
But it was in the technical areas of field equipment that the section could offer the
greatest service to the Government. The thinking and attitude of Bureau personnel was well
expressed in the 1915 Annual Report relating to proposed work in radiotelegraphy.

This Bureau hopes to be of greater assistance to other civil branches of the

government in the future than it has been able to be heretofore,
particularly to such as are engaged in the protection of life and property at
sea. Such assistance may take the form of information upon the technical
possibilities of radio instruments and equipment, the standardization of
apparatus, and the adaptation of radio equipment to the particular needs of
a given service.

During the period from 1914 to the spring of 1917 when the Bureau entered on war-
related projects, the Radio Laboratory was providing assistance to:

1. Bureau of Navigation, D. of C:
Design and calibration of decremeters
Calibration of wavemeters
Consulting service

2. Bureau of Lighthouses, D. of C:
Design of communication equipment, especially for lighthouse tenders
Development of "fog signalling" equipment (systems to locate ships or
lighthouses under fog conditions, primarily direction finders)
Consulting service

3. Coast and Geodetic Survey, D. of C:

Design of communication equipment

Services for the Post Office Department and the Department of Agriculture would have to
wait until and after World War I. The Navy Department became much interested in the
development of direction finders because of their potential usefulness in naval operations.
Antenna research became a matter of concern, with some study given to this subject.
Coil antennas for direction finders received considerable study and development.
For a period of time, around 1916, Dr. Dellinger was assigned to a project that crossed
all areas and subjects of the Electricity Division. It was a critical study to determine any
advantages in suggested changes to the International System of Electric and Magnetic Units
as set up by the London Electrical Conference of 1908. Dellinger's conclusion was that no
advantages would be gained and only confusion would result from such changes. His lengthy
analysis was published as a Bureau Scientific Paper [11].
He followed this paper with NBS Circular 60, entitled "Electric Units and Standards,"
issued March 12, 1920. Consolidated into this circular was information on the electric and
magnetic units that was scattered through many Bureau publications. It was a useful guide

44
until January 1, 1948, when the "concrete" standards and the units of the former
International System gave way to the "absolute" units of the system. MKSA
Because of his experience and expertise in the radio art, Kolster was called upon
several times to give testimony on patent cases. Radio patents were subjected to much
litigation from the very beginning of wireless telegraphy. Kolster stated in his section's
Semiannual Report of January 1 to July 1, 1916, that, "The need for unbiased reports and
the presentation to the court of true scientific principles and facts are matters which
apparently should receive attention for future consideration."

6. The problems of laboratory space

The requirements by Austin, in 1908, for space to set up the new Navy facility at NBS
were modest indeed. This could also be said of the Army Signal Corps Radio Laboratory set
up at about the same time. Room could be found in the South Building, which served largely
as a laboratory area. With completion of the West Building in 1910, space was provided for
37
these two outside groups. With the entrance of Kolster in 1911, space was provided for him
in the West Building to set up his laboratory. The Electricity Division had a new home for
their laboratories with the construction of the East Building. Beginning in 1914 the radio
projects would be housed on the fourth floor of this building until late in 1918.

37
The Signal Corps Radio Laboratory at the Bureau served as the location of a unique event on September 18, 1910.
It was the occasion of the first demonstration of "wire-wireless" or "line radio," an invention of Major George O.
Squier, who later became Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army. By use of carrier frequencies in the range of 20 to
100 kHz several telephone messages were carried simultaneously over a telephone circuit between the Bureau and
the downtown Signal Corps Laboratory at 1710 Pennsylvania Ave. The method came to be known as multiplex
telephony and is widely used today on a carrier-frequency system. In 1922 the Signal Corps demonstrated the
system for broadcasting but it never came into popular usage. Today's cable TV can be considered an offspring from
this earlier system of more than 50 years ago.

Radio antenna at northwest corner (right) of Engineering, or West Laboratory (West Building) in 1913. The Army-
Signal Corps occupied third-floor rooms in this building for operating spark and arc transmitters and conducting
research on dielectric properties of materials at radio frequencies.

45
Wireless Laboratory, December 1915. located at north end of fourth floor. East Building. Many measurement
instruments appear on the tables, including a standard capacitor and inductor, and Kolster receiver in center
foreground. A two-coil direction finder is on the right.

Antenna mast, buckled by a snowstorm of March 1.914. was located to the east of the recently constructed East

Building that housed the Bureau's radio laboratory. (Original print shows the arrays of guy wires "supporting"
this mast.) It is the only known picture of a radio antenna associated with this laboratory.

46
 In the meantime Kolster and Dr. Rosa were planning for the future.™ In the FY 1913
they had asked for a new building to house the radio laboratories. We find an interesting
and revealing item in the 1914 Annual Report to the Secretary of Commerce which indicates
the expected growth in radio by those charged with the responsibility of this new operation
by the Bureau. In part, we find the following statement:
Radio communication has recently become of extreme importance both in
Government work and to the public. This method of communication is still
largely in the experimental stages. Future progress and improvement in
radio communication will be in direct proportion to the progress that is
made in the knowledge of the underlying scientific principles involved.
Several departments of the Government are deeply interested in
maintaining this method of communication on the best possible basis. To do
this they will each be compelled not only to keep in close touch with the
progress of other countries in this respect, but to undertake such scientific
and technical investigations as may be necessary. It would not only be more
economical, but productive of much more efficient work to concentrate the
laboratory work of the Government at one place in a small laboratory
especially designed for it. It has been agreed by all of the Departments
concerned, namely, War, Navy, Treasury, Post Office, Agriculture, and
Commerce, that the location of the laboratory at the Bureau of Standards
would prove of great benefit both as to the economical performance of the
work and by its close proximity to the scientific work of the Bureau,
especially that of the electrical division. An item of $50,000 for the
construction of a suitable radio laboratory, and another of $10,000 to enable
the Bureau of Standards to carry on that part of radio work which
naturally falls to the Bureau in connection with the radio supervision work
of the Department of Commerce, were included in the estimate for the
current year, but were not appropriated for. It is recommended that they be
again submitted in the estimate for the next fiscal year.

This feeling had already been expressed in an informal report by the Radio Laboratory,
covering the period of July 1913 to January 1914, which stated:

The field for research in high frequency work is very large and inviting but
up to the present the Laboratory has not had the facilities at hand for the
work.It is hoped that sufficient funds will be at our disposal for necessary
equipment and for the addition of at least two assistants.
As happens frequently in requests for scientific facilities by Government agencies, the
Bureau had to wait for nearly 5 years before it would occupy a building that was suitable for
radio investigations. The efforts by those early workers in radio during World War I had to
be carried on under extremely crowded conditions. In early October of 1918, 1 month before
the war ended, they moved into their new quarters in what became known as the Radio
Building.
would appear that the Radio Laboratory (along with the Electrical Division) was
It
uneasy in occupying the new building. For within a few weeks after moving, a preliminary
survey was made for a site on the Bureau grounds to construct another building that would
house all of the branches of the work in electrical communications, those within the
Electrical Division and those of the military that had been set up within the Bureau. By the
end of November 1918 the survey had been made. But this proposed new building died
aborning. Not until 1946, after the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory had come into
—
being, were there serious proposals for a new building to materialize with the new radio
laboratory at Boulder, Colo., in 1954.
Antennas could be a problem, particularly the large-scale outside antennas used for
receiving, research, and later for transmission. A mast was erected on the West Building to
accommodate an antenna, and a tall mast was erected on the lawn to the east of the East

38
A memo prepared by Kolster, dated February 28, 1912, on the subject of a wireless ground for a new radio
building indicates that planning for such a building began no later than early 1912.

47
Building that would serve as a support to an antenna for the fourth-floor radio laboratory.
The new Radio Building was fitted with two 150-foot steel towers during January 1920, to
suspend various forms of antennas. The towers were placed beyond the two ends of the long
building and anchored into the ground.

7. A slow growth — But growing

From Kolster's entrance in 1911 to early 1917 the personnel of the Radio Laboratory
had grown to seven. With Kolster, just preceding the country's entrance into World War I,
39 40
were: R. D. Duncan, M. E. Finn, and Percival D. Lowell; and for part time on radio work
were: Dr. Dellinger, J. A. Willoughby, and Dr. John M. Miller. This small group was
41
destined to grow to 40 people by the end of the war.
Then came war's alarms. . . .

39
During the war Duncan became a 1st Lieutenant in the Army and was assigned to the Signal Corps Radio
Laboratory at the Bureau.
40
Finn became a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Air Service.
41
See Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 167-171 on personnel problems of the Bureau during the war period.

References
[1] L. W. Austin, "Detectorfor very small alternating currents and electrical waves," Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol. 1, No.
Nov. 1905, pp. 435-438, Scientific Paper 22.
3,

[2] L. W. Austin, "Some contact rectifiers of electric currents," Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol. 5, No. 1, Aug. 1908, pp. 133-
147, Scientific Paper 94-
[3] Louis W. Austin, "The comparative sensitiveness of some common detectors of electrical oscillations," Bull.
Bur. Stand., Vol. 6, No. 4, Nov. 1910, pp. 527-542, Scientific Paper 140.
[4] Louis Cohen, "The influence of frequency on the resistance and inductance of solenoid coils," Bull. Bur. Stand.,
Vol. No. 1, Dec. 1907, pp. 161-178, Scientific Paper 76.
4,

[5] L. W. Austin, "The work of the U.S. Naval Radio-Telegraphic Laboratory," J. Am. Soc. Naval Engineers, Vol.
24, No. 1, Feb. 1912, pp. 122-141.
[6] L. W. Austin, "Some quantitative experiments in long distance radiotelegraphy," Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol. 7, No.
3, Oct. 1911, pp. 315-363, Scientific Paper 159.
[7] L. W. Austin, "Report of the chairman of the Commission on Radio Wave Propagation, International Union of
Scientific Radiotelegraphy," reprinted in Proc. IRE, Vol. 16, No. Mar. 1928, pp. 348-358.
3,

[8] L. W. Austin, "Long-wave radio measurements at the Bureau of Standards in 1926, with some comparisons of
solar activity and radio phenomena," Proc. IRE, Vol. 15, No. 10, Oct. 1927, pp. 825-836.
[9] Lyman J. Briggs, "Obituary, Louis Winslow Austin," Science, Vol. 76, Aug. 12, 1932, p. 137.
[10] J. H. Dellinger, "High frequency ammeters," Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol. 10, No. 1, Jan. 1914, pp. 91-159, Scientific
Paper 206.
[11] J. H. Dellinger, "International system of electric and magnetic units," Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol. 13, No. 4, Mar. 6,

1917, pp. 599-631, Scientific Paper 292.

 Chapter III

FIGHTING A WAR WITH HERTZIAN WAVES 1

The World War I period— 1917-1918 2

1. The Radio Laboratory enters a war phase

The declaration of a state of war on April 6, 1917, between the United States and
Germany did not find the Radio Laboratory without capability of applying its some
experience and know-how to wartime problems in radio communication. Yet the laboratory
had very much to learn in the months ahead. The roster of personnel would swell from 7 to
40 by the end of 1918. The swelling numbers would work in crowded quarters until they
could move into the new Radio Building during October 1918, a few weeks before the war's
end with the armistice.
The seven men laid out an ambitious program to meet the exigencies of war, although
3
the planning must have been largely that of Kolster. It was an ambitious program. As the
war work progressed there must have been some feelings of frustration at times. This is
indicated in the Annual Report of the Radio Laboratory to the Electricity Division for the
year ending June 30, 1918. The report stated:

The policy of the military branches to maintain strict secrecy has, in many
instances, made it the Section to effectively assist in war work.
difficult for
Better progress would result if the radio work of the Section were more
intimately connected with that of the military branches of Government, not
temporarily but continually.

Nevertheless, by midyear of 1917 the impact of the war had its effect on the Radio
Laboratory and imbued its personnel with the importance of their war effort. This feeling is

'The total program of the Bureau's work in World War I was well documented by NBS Miscellaneous Publication

46,"War Work of the Bureau of Standards" (299 pages). The material was compiled and edited by Hugh G. Boutell,
who for many years was chief of the Information Section. The material for the portion on Radio Communication (23
pages) was largely compiled and written initially as a Confidential report by Dellinger and Laurens E. Whittemore
Much of the information contained in
(secretary, as well as a physicist in the Radio Section at the time of writing).
this chapter is based upon the War Work document and any direct reference to it will be designated War Work.
2
The climate of a war and the Bureau's total contribution
of world scope to the war effort are well portrayed by
Cochrane in chapter IV, "The War Years," Measures for Progress.
3
To quote from War Work, p. 223:

When country entered the war, the Bureau of Standards was ready with methods,
this
apparatus, and trained personnel for the solution of many of the fundamental problems which
confronted military men. Among the problems which had to be solved, and solved quickly, were:
(1) The establishment of high-power transoceanic radio systems for use in case all the cables

should be cut; (2) the development of low-power radio equipments which should send out just
enough but not too much power for communication in the congested area of any given sector at
the front; (3) a means for the location of enemy radio stations and airplanes, submarines, and
ships; (4) apparatus for communication with and from submarines, particularly when totally

submerged; (5) simple and reliable apparatus for radio telephoning; (6) the production of radio
apparatus which could be easily carried and yet comprise everything necessary to make the most
effective use of radio waves; (7) the training of great numbers of men in a complex and rapidly
changing subject.

49
 ARRANGEMENT 0? ROOMS
HEW RADIO LABORATORY.

101 Storage batteries

103 Naval Radio
103 laral Radio
104 Haval Radio
105 Office, Dr. Austin
106-7 Shop
109 Carpenter shop and shipping roo»
110 Offioe, Cap*. Per not
111 Signal Corps
113 Signal Corps
113 Signal Corps
114 Dynamos and storage shelves
301 Reading and writing room
303 Braun tube, drafting
303 Transmission and reception laboratory
304 Laboratory and stock she Ires
305 Laboratory, F.A.Kolster
306 Offioe, F.A.Kolster and L .E.Whit temore
3 OT Business offioe and files
310 Offioe, J.H.Dellinger
311 Laboratory, J.H.Dellinger
313 Laboratory, J.H.Dellinger and miscellaneous testing.
313 Laboratory, J.M.Miller
316 Offioe and laboratory, J.M.Miller

109

10* 107 110 111

2.05 207

203
4 s 210 Ell
112

I QZ 101 114 113

202 201 Z1A

Page from the Weekly Report of Radio Section, July 1-6, shows arrangement of rooms for the new radio
1918,
laboratory to be occupied in October 1,918. A was added during World War II. These rooms were
third story
familiar surroundings to those who occupied the building until move of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
to Boulder, Colo, in 1954.

50
 WEEKLY REPORTS ON RADIO FORK
1918

List of Researches.

a. Portable radio equipments for field service lolster.

b. Design of airplane radio equipment fKoleter

(Thitte&ore

0. Location of airplanes by radio Kolater

d. Radio direct ion finder Koleter

e. Fog signalling apparatus .Kolater

later
g. Closed-circuit transmission iDellin^er
(Miller
/killer
h . Utilization of electron tubes -i Kolater

(.Bellinger

Cloister
1. Precision radio instruments and measurements -tBellin-ar
filler'

JDellinger
J. Radio instruments and measurements (Circular No. 74). . . . AMiller
(Grover

k. Capaoity, induct anoe, and resistance of antennas Miller

1. Measurement of high-f requenoy current

. Bellinger

a. Preparation of instruction material for Signal Corps

radio ooursea Bellinger

(Dellinger
Sout'n^orta
Preston

0. Characteristics of inductance coils used in radio

circuits \Kolster
(whittemcre

(Bellinger
p. Improvement of orystal reotiflers as radio deteotora . . .<Vinal
\Ould

List of projects and project leaders in Radio Section during summer of 1918, taken from a page of the Weekly Report
of July 1-6, 1918. Many of the projects were associated with the war effort.

indicated in the 1917 Annual Report to the Secretary of Commerce on the subject of Radio
Science to the Government that stated, in part:

. .Additional men and funds will enable the laboratory to expedite the
.

work in military problems and to make the laboratory more efficient in its
cooperation with the military departments of the Government. Radio
signaling is playing an extremely important part in the War, and the radio
laboratory staff is taking an active part in the development and
improvement of radio apparatus for military purposes and is endeavoring
tomake the work of the laboratory as useful as possible.

51
2. France sends a delegation to the U.S.A. — And to the Radio Laboratory
Shortly after the Declaration of War the French government sent a delegation to this
country known as the French Scientific Commission (or Mission). The purpose was to bring
technical information and equipment to this country, and particularly to the Bureau, that
would demonstrate the advances made during the war in scientific military equipment. The
team visiting the Radio Laboratory was headed by Professor Henri Abraham of the
University of Paris who was a leader in applying electrical science to radio apparatus for
war purposes. To quote from Dr. Dellinger's "Address, 1961": 4
We remember especially Professor Henri Abraham, a rosy-cheeked, roly
poly "Santa Claus." He hadcollaborated in Paris with E. H. Armstrong in
adapting the superheterodyne principle to practical use in military
equipment. We passed on the information to the Signal Corps, giving them
further help away from older types of equipment.

Indeed, Professor Abraham proved

to be a real Santa Claus. From out of his sack he pulled
some surprises form of electron tubes, electron-tube amplifiers, and the
in the
superheterodyne circuit, most of which were new to men of the Radio Laboratory and to
others in this country. These surprises, that were left for study and use, proved to be a boon
to later developments by the Radio Laboratory during and after the war.

3. Relation of the Radio Laboratory to the military services

Previous to World War I two military radio laboratories had been established at the
Bureau: the U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory (1908) and the Army Signal Corps Radio
Laboratory (1908). To these were added, during the war: a Naval Aircraft radio
experimental laboratory and a radio laboratory for the Intelligence Division of the Army
Signal Corps. Much mutual assistance was given between these four military laboratories
and the Bureau.
During the war the Radio Laboratory was able to furnish considerable information and
assistance to the National Research Council. However, it was to the Signal Corps of the
Army that the greatest assistance was given and from whom the Bureau received
considerable amounts of supporting funds. For these services the Signal Corps was
appreciative, as indicated by the report made by the Chief Signal Officer to the Secretary of
War in 1919:

The outcome of this research work has been of vital importance to the
Signal Corps, and that every additional facility should be afforded
it is felt

to the Bureau of Standards so that it may continue to collaborate with the

Signal Corps on these special problems.

4. Technical information for instruction — The Radio Laboratory embarks

on a writing program
a) Circular 74
The war with its overtones of technical advances in military equipment and the
supporting equipment brought on a desperate need for technical know-how, instruction, and
specialized training. To meet this need the Radio Laboratory was requested by the Signal
Corps to disseminate its specialized knowledge as widely as possible, and especially in radio
schools conducted in universities. On December 29, 1917 (nearly 8 months after the
Declaration of War), a group of college and university representatives met with personnel of
the Signal Corps and the Radio Laboratory to plan and steer a course for the production of
books and manuals to be used for radio instruction. The outcome was a marked achievement
with the written word.
Almost providentially, the Electricity Division was prepared for one of the tasks.
Among the earliest unpublished writings and the publications of the division were those
relating to mathematical concepts of the electrical quantities of capacitance, inductance,

4
See chapter II, p. 34.

52
and resistance, and their embodiment in physical devices to be used as standards. This
program was largely the concepts of Dr. Edward B. Rosa, but his aides joined in on the
program that would extend over a period of many years. The growing field of wireless
telegraphy caused them to move up in frequency from direct current and power frequencies.
This forced them to alter their concepts and formulas in order to be applicable to radio
frequencies as well. By 1914 or so there was a considerable effort toward consolidating all of
this material into one publication that could have wide use, both within and outside the
Bureau. Such was the circumstance when the conference was held on December 29, 1917.
Although the written material had a somewhat Topsy-like growth, the effort was not too
great to have it "jell" into a usable book within several months. On March 23, 1918, this
manual was published as NBS Circular 74, entitled "Radio Instruments and Measurements."
The book approached tome proportions, with 330 pages. It became an all-time "classic" in
Bureau publications. 5
The Signal Corps was furnished with 2000 copies of NBS Circular 74 and in years to
come it became a "best seller." Sometime later the circular became available in a
clothbound edition, printed by the Wireless Press. Although not noted in the original
edition, the book was prepared under the guiding hand of Dellinger, plus his own
contributions, and by J. M. Miller, F. W. Grover and G. C. Southworth, along with lesser
6
contributions.
A second and revised edition of NBS Circular 74 was published on March 10, 1924, 6
years after the first edition. It was essentially much like the first edition. Again Dellinger
took the leading role in the revision, assisted by L. E. Whittemore and R. S. Ould of the
Radio Section.
The circular was reprinted January 1, 1937, with type corrections and a list of errata,

b) The Principles Underl ying Ra dio Communica tion

NBS Circular 74 was prepared primarily for training of officers at the college level and
in advanced radio courses. But with the very rapid application of radio communication to
the war effort there was dire need for a more practical manual for the operators of radio
equipment. To meet this need the Training Section of the Signal Corps requested the
Bureau in April 1918 to prepare a more elementary text. It was now a year after war had
been declared. To be realistic in getting out a book of this nature in a reasonable time
required a "crash program" approach. It was underway in June. Three months were set for
its preparation —
no one writer could undertake such an assignment and it was turned into a
syndicated operation. Again, Dr. Dellinger was the guiding hand, but most of the writing
was turned over to a team of college professors. 7 9

'Although NBS Circular 74 was rapidly put together as a war effort for instructional purposes, its total concept
was that of stating the basic principles of radio communication. Part I, entitled "Theoretical Basis of Radio
Measurements," delved into the principles of alternating currents, with primary attention to their behavior in
circuits at radio frequencies (up to 2 MHz). Part II was given over to instruments and methods of radio
measurements, mostly based on the Bureau's work. Fortunately, there had been enough experience on the part of
the section's personnel that material could be included on electron tubes and their use in radio circuits. Part III
contained formulas and information on the design of standards of capacitance, inductance, and resistance.
Appendices included a description of radio work at the Bureau and an extensive bibliography.
6
By 1917 Dr. John M. Miller had made contributions on radio circuits and had been pioneering in electron tubes for
the Radio Laboratory. Miller entered the Bureau in 1907 and resigned from the Radio Section on July 31, 1919, to
join the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Co., Philadelphia. He was selected tc be the assistant superintendent of the
Naval Research Laboratory upon its formation in 1923.
Dr. Frederick W. Grover had a number of Bureau publications to his credit on the fundamentals of electrical
circuits and was serving part-time in the Radio Section (from the Electricity Division) in applying these
fundamentals to radio frequencies. Grover served as a consulting physicist to the Bureau, being a professor of
electrical engineering at Union University, Schenectady, N.Y.
George C. Southworth entered the Radio Laboratory on June 30, 1917, and resigned September 13, 1918.
Southworth was to reap fame many years later as the author of the well-known treatise, Principles and
Applications of Waveguide Transmission, while being employed by the Bell Telephone Laboratories (1934-1955).
7
The six-man team of writers included: Dr. F. W. Grover, Assistant Professor of E. E., Union University (at various
times employed by the Bureau as a consulting physicist); Professor C. M. Smith, Associate Professor of Physics.
Purdue University; Professor G. F. Wittig, Assistant Professor of E. E., Yale University; Dr. D. A. Cole, Professor of
Physics, Ohio State University; Dr. L. P. Wheeler, Assistant Professor of Physics, Yale University; and Professor H.
M. Royal, Professor of Math., Clarkson College of Technology.

53
 —

Because of the syndicated writing, this book was not published as a Bureau document
but as Radio Pamphlet 40 by the Signal Corps, U.S. Army, with the title The Principles
Underlying Radio Communication. Although in preparation but 3 months, and ready by
September 1918, the Signal Corps encountered problems and it was not ready for publication
until December 10, 1918 (date of publication). It was finally issued in March 1919 — World
War had ceased 4 months earlier, with an armistice on November 11, 1918. Although
I

50,000 copies were contemplated, only 6000 were printed.

The textbook and training manual used only a scattering of mathematics. Briefly, 355
pages covered the areas of: elementary electricity, dynamo-electric machinery, radio circuits,
electromagnetic waves, radio apparatus, and vacuum tubes. It was profusely illustrated with
line drawings and photographs.
The book became a popular item in schools and elsewhere. Shortly after the war, in a
letter of April 25, 1919, to the director (Stratton), Thomas A. Edison commented on the book,
stating:

. . . This is the greatest book on this subject that I have ever read, and I

want to congratulate you and your Bureau on its production.

Usually, books on radio communication are fairly bristling with

mathematics, and I am at a loss in trying to read them. This book, which
your Bureau has sent me, is simple, and I have enjoyed reading it. I know a
10
great deal more about the subject than I ever did before.

A much and revised edition (619 pages) was published by the Signal Corps in
larger
1922. This edition was prepared under the direction of Dellinger, with much of the work by
R. S. Ould, plus the assistance of E. S. Purington and L. M. Hull, all of the Radio Section.
The material was carefully examined by Dr. H. S. Uhler of Yale University. It became
available in buckram binding to the public at a price of $1, a bargain even in those days.

K
One should not overlook the comment made on this book by Dr. Dellinger in his "Address, 1961," in which he said:

. . . We setthem to writing the "Principles Underlying Radio Communication," commonly

called the "PURC." This was wanted by the Signal Corps for the training of enlisted men. The
professors produced the book and also several poems. Here is one:

(Tune
— "Keep the Home Fires Burning")

They were summoned from O-hi-o,

They were called in from Pur-due;
And the Bu-reau found them rea dy
To rush this war book through.
They were guests of the Field Bat-tal-lion,
They were out at Col lege Park,
And al-though their heads are bursting
Still they treat it as a lark.

There's no sil-ver lining

Through the dark clouds shin-ing
For the lad who reads that book
In the Sig nal Corps.

We were told to write for college

We were told to write for camp
'Twas to be a mass of knowledge
And for every man a lamp.

But alas good intentions

for
When we thought 'twas nearly through
We were told it was too high-brow (but more delicately)
And we had to start anew.
In addition to the rather voluminous training manual, the Radio Laboratory prepared a number of brief
a

instruction pamphlets on radio subjects for the Signal Corps. In turn, training pamphlets prepared by the Signal
Corps were submitted to the Radio Laboratory for editing or revision. This project was largely carried on by
Dellinger.
10
Letter to Stratton by Edison, April 25, 1919 (NN365-25, Box 4).

54
 THE
PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING
RADIO COMMUNICATION

SIGNAL
CORPS
U.S.A.

The two books written during World War I period of 1917-1918 that became "classics" of their kind. NBS Circular
74, "Radio Instruments and Measurements" was written by staff members and brought into print much
information that had been gathering in the Radio Section. The Principles Underlying Radio Communication
published as a textbook at request of Army Signal Corps. Much of it was written by a sextet of electrical
engineering professors under guidance of Dellinger.

;>:>
 8 TREFACE.

of Standards hnvo :Ts~sisted in tin* work of revision by supnes-

tions, and hv preparing new material. The section on batteries
lias been rewritten by Mr. (J. VY. Yinal. Much of the revision
of the chapter on electron tubes lias hern done by Mr. E. S.
Purin^ton ami Mr. L M. Hull. The atithors who prepared the
first edition have offered valuable surest ions for desirable
changes. Mention is made of the work of Professor C. M. Smith
on he index.
t

Acknowledgment is made to the General Electric Co. for

photographs of the Alexanderson alternator, to the Federal
Telegraph Co. for photographs of the arc converter, to the
Western Electric Co. for detailed drawings of a telephone trans-
mitter and receiver, and to the Electric Storage Buttery Co.
•

i
i " a i <
; ( " ''a :.'«' < r !
I

c i . At* H

GU.I

Page from preface to second edition of The Principles Underlying Radio Communication found in Bellinger's copy
deposited in the archival collection of Boulder Laboratories library. Dellinger wrote down names of authors of the
various chapters of the first edition (see p. 53 for a listing of the authors and their professional associations).

c) Va cum Tubes, Theor yand Use

The third book prepared by the Bureau on radio subjects during the war period was
published by the Army Signal Corps during March 1918, with the title Vacuum Tubes,
Theory and Use. Although a clothbound book of 201 pages, it appears to have been a very

56
limited edition as only 200 copies were issued by the Signal Corps. The title page stated t

it was:

For use of officers and authorized civilians engaged in radio development

work.

The purpose and contents of the book can be described best by quoting the short
introduction by the compiler, S. J. Crooker.

In consequence of the universal application of discharge tubes which

depend upon thermionic currents for their operation, it becomes imperative
to study more in detail the underlying physical principles, the theory of the
circuits, and the various ways in which these tubes can be used. To make
possible such a study in a brief time this information has been compiled
with the aid of Dr. F. A. Wolff and Mr. H. H. Beltz, from a number of
scientific and technical papers giving a comprehensive treatment of the
11
subject.

Tube types described in the book included the Fleming valve, the kenotron, audion, pliotron,
dynatron, and pliodynatron. The compilers made use of material from 38 scientific and
technical papers, including papers by Armstrong on audion receivers and heterodyne
receivers using vacuum tubes. (Armstrong had not yet published on the superheterodyne
circuit.)

5. Radio systems applied to military uses

Several projects that were developed after the United States entered the war had their
roots in earlier developments, dating back to 1915. The concepts, as well as the successful
application, of these projects were dependent upon both the theoretical aspects and the
constructional design of antenna systems. Moreover, the increased use of vacuum tubes in
radio apparatus enhanced the success achieved in application of the new antenna systems.

a) Coil aerials (antennas)

Although the concept of a coil aerial was not new, Kolster believed that it had various
applications in radio where its usefulness as an antenna could serve very specific purposes.
Kolster began experimenting with the coil aerial in 1915 and later was joined by Dellinger
and J. M. Miller for study of the properties of such antennas.
Both the Army and the Navy were interested in the use of coil aerials (or loop
antennas) for communication purposes. Coil antennas, which are closed conductive circuit
antenna systems in contrast with the open circuit of the condenser or elevated type of
antennas, have the advantages of compact size, directional characteristics, and a degree of
interference reduction. For communication purposes the coil aerial was found to be good for
reception (particularly with vacuum-tube receiver circuits), but there was disappointment
with coils as transmitting antennas because of low radiation output. As a complete
communication system, the use of coil aerials for both transmission and receiving did not
12
prove as successful as hoped.

b) Directionfinders
Radio direction finders were of much interest to the Navy for use on naval vessels.
During 1916 Kolster had applied some of his ideas on radio direction finders to use by the
Bureau of Lighthouses (Department of Commerce). Either a ship equipped with a direction
finder could locate a lighthouse in a fog or a lighthouse could locate a ship that was
radiating signals. He used the term "fog signalling" for these operations. From this
development came the Kolster radio compass. In 1917 the Navy adopted the radio compass
for its vessels and by the early 1920's approximately 130 ships of commercial lines,

11
Dr. F. A. Wolff was chief of the Telephone Service Standards Section in the Electricity Division, and H. H. Beltz
was a member of that section. However, during the war Beltz was assigned to the Radio Laboratory for a period of
time.
12
A communication system involving the use of coil aerials was called a closed-circuit transmission system by the
Radio Laboratory.

57
Government agencies, and the military had been fitted with the Kolster radio compass (see
ch. VI). To a limited extent the radio compass was adapted to submarines.
The Army also had use for direction finders on or near the battlefields. With portable
field equipment, enemy radio transmitters could be located and subjected to artillery fire or
aerial bombardment.

c) Antennas for underwater reception and transmission of radio signals

Although a submarine could communicate by wireless with ships and shore stations
when its antenna was above the water's surface, the crew found itself cut off from the world
when submerged (communicating underwater with supersonic frequencies had not yet
arrived in World War I). It was with considerable boldness that John A. Willoughby and
Percival D. Lowell of the Radio Laboratory suggested the possibility of receiving and even
13
transmitting wireless signals while a submarine was submerged.
Submarine radio signaling was not among the seven objectives to be pursued by the
Radio Laboratory after war was declared, nor was it among the research projects reported
by Section 6 at the close of 1917. However, beginning early in November of 1917, Willoughby
and Lowell conducted a series of experiments with a waterproofed coil antenna in fresh
water and found some degree of transmission of radio signals from underwater. The original
purpose was to develop apparatus for the detection of enemy submarines. Although their
success with the coil antennas was somewhat limited, they were undaunted in their efforts.
To quote from Bellinger's "Address, 1961" we find:
. . . Among the glamorous successes (of World War I) was the creation of a
single-loop antenna that worked underwater on a submarine, by Percival D.
Lowell after the rest of us told him it couldn't be done.*
"In his editorial review of this chapter Lowell stated that Willoughby was the prime mover on the submarine
antenna and that his name should have appeared also in Dellinger's statement.

Such was the situation in which Willoughby and Lowell found themselves in trying to solve
a problem that seemingly had no solution. But success was not too far away. With some new
ideas the two men found themselves located at the Navy submarine base at New London,
Conn, during the late spring and summer of 1918. For several days J. M. Miller also took
part in the program at New London. The team had marked success with the loop antenna
that finally evolved in this cooperative project with the Navy. Willoughby and Lowell
reported on their success in the following year at the Washington meeting of the American
14
Physical Society on April 26, 1919 [l]. It was at this meeting that several members of the
Radio Section reported on work done for the military during World War I.
The Navy was satisfied with the results of the underwater signaling to the extent that
they began equipping their submarines with this loop antenna beginning in the summer of

"John A. Willoughby entered the Bureau in 1916 and resigned on March 15, 1922, later to join the Naval Research
Laboratory.
Percival D. Lowell joined the Bureau on February 4, 1913, and resigned from the Radio Section on July 15,
1922, to join the Radio Instrument Co., Washington, D.C. He rejoined the Radio Section on March 17, 1941, and
retired from NBS on September 6, 1962.
14
The antenna was a loop formed of two insulated wires grounded at the extreme ends of the
final design of the
submarine then down into the hull to the receiving and transmitting
hull, carried over supports to the bridge,
equipment (a spark transmitter was used in these early experiments). Thus the two ends of the loop fed into the
apparatus, with the metallic hull completing the circuit of the single-turn loop. They found that the loop had
directional properties, both when above and below the water's surface, and could be used as a direction finder. Even
when totally submerged they were able to receive European stations. However, they soon found (as would be
expected) that the ability to receive signals at the threshold of audibility at various maximum depths was a
function of the wavelength. At a wavelength of 10,000 meters (30 kHz) signals could be heard with the top of the
loop submerged to a 21-foot depth in salt water.
With a 1-kW spark transmitter operating at 952 meters (315 kHz) they could transmit signals to a distance of
10 or 12 miles with the loop submerged, and to a lesser distance of 2 or 3 miles with the top of the loop 9 feet below
the surface.

58
Submarine (G-3) atNavy base, New London, Conn, fitted with loop antenna designed in 1918 by Willoughby and
Lowell. A
pair of insulated wires from the bridge, each grounded to an end of the hull, formed loop circuit that
had directional properties. Signals were received from European stations with loop completely submerged. Signals
from spark set on board could be transmitted up to 10 miles with loop submerged.

1918. The Navy's interest in underwater antennas (or any subsurface antenna) extended to
15
other investigations both before and after World War I.
After the war Willoughby and Lowell applied for a patent on the submarine antenna.
This was contested later by J. Harris Rogers. On June 9, 1922, the Examiner of Interference
of the Patent Office handed down a decision on the case, holding that Rogers was entitled to
prior conception of the use of the loop antenna on submarines, but that Willoughby and
Lowell had independently conceived the device and reduced it to practice and were entitled
to the patent. In July, Rogers appealed to the Examiner-in-Chief on the decision made in
June. Defense of the case by the Department of Justice brought a final decision in favor of
Willoughby and Lowell. (Patent No. 1,708,071 was finally issued April 9, 1929, nearly 10
years after the original application, October 31, 1919.)

d) Pioneering in air navigation by radio

It was natural that personnel of the Radio Laboratory, and especially Kolster, would be
considering various applications of direction finding to air navigation as a war effort. As a
result of his development work for the Bureau of Lighthouses in "fog signalling," Kolster
suggested a method of detecting and locating aircraft with direction finders in April 1917 by

15
The Navy's interest in "ground" antennas began in 1909. During World War I the Navy had the services of J.
Harris Rogers of Hyattsville, Md., a man of independent means, who had been experimenting with ground
antennas. An account of his work with the Navy and of other Navy work on ground antennas is given in an
historical account by A. Hoyt Taylor in 1919 (Taylor later became the first superintendent of the Naval Research
Laboratory) [2].

A short account of "ground" antennas is given in the second edition of The Principles Underlying Radio
Communication, pp. 327-330, and the submarine antenna on pp. 338-339.

59
means of a triangulation technique using two or more transmitters. 16 Viewed from the other
side of the coin, an aviator flying a plane fitted with a radio compass could determine a
course to a landing field serviced by a transmitter if he were closed in by weather or
darkness.
These measures were becoming a reality, but another radio navigation device was a
necessity for landing in a fog or in darkness. In the summer of 1918 the Post Office
Department asked the Bureau to assist in developing a method of determining the exact
location of an airfield for its air mail service. After some small-scale experiments, Kolster
came up with an induction field method employing a low-frequency alternating current (500
Hz). To test the method from a plane the director, Dr. Stratton, suggested using the Radio
Building as a "simulated" flying field. It is most interesting, that on November 11, 1918, the
day when the armistice was declared to end World War I and a day when excitement and
celebration ran high in Washington, as well as in the rest of the country, that Kolster and
the Post Office Department conducted their full-scale "landing" of a plane on the Radio
Building by electronic techniques (see ch. VI, p. 148).

6. Special projects for the military

Although projects associated with antenna systems formed a large segment of war work
by the Radio Laboratory, a number of other projects were set up or extended from previous
investigations. Some of these projects were strictly wartime measures, others would be
extended into the postwar period.

a ) The electron tube becomes essential to radio communication

After de Forest introduced the third electrode (grid) into the two-electrode vacuum tube
(Fleming valve) in 1906, there was great potential for many radio developments to come.
However, judging by today's short time-lapse between a scientific discovery or invention and
its practical application, the more than a decade that it required to make wide use of the
three-electrode vacuum tube was slow indeed.
It was the French Scientific Commission (Mission) to this country in the late spring of
1917 that introduced the Signal Corps and the Bureau's Radio Laboratory to the many new
developments in electron tubes and communication equipment that were brought on by the
war in Europe.
Within the Radio Laboratory Dr. John Miller was probably the best informed on
electron tubes, his interest preceding the war period. Thus most of the research,
measurements, testing, and standardization work by the laboratory during the war period
came under his direction and with his participation. The Signal Corps requested the Bureau
to carry out a number of projects that would aid in an intensive effort to adapt the electron
tube to wartime equipment. One of these projects, of a research nature, brought wide
recognition to Miller's study of a puzzling characteristic of the electron tube. The Signal
Corps requested that the explanation be found.
It had been observed by many designers of vacuum-tube amplifiers that the grid-input

circuit to a tube would absorb energy in differing degrees depending upon the nature of the
reactance in the plate circuit, and that the effect was quite dependent upon frequency and
especially at high radio frequencies. Miller tackled the problem, first, from a theoretical
approach, and second, experimentally confirmed his findings [3]. The result was that of an
understanding of the characteristics of what is often called the "Miller effect." 17 In brief,
Miller found that the input impedance of a three-element electron tube is capacitative if the
plate circuit is purely resistive. Otherwise, the input impedance will have a resistive
component, and thus absorb energy, if the plate circuit has a reactive component. Miller
found that, for design purposes, the input impedance could be represented as a series
resistance and a capacitance, the values depending upon the components of the plate circuit
and the capacities between the tube elements, particularly between the grid and plate.
Actually, in some circuitry the Miller effect is taken advantage of, but in most amplifier
16
An unpublished document in the Radio File entitled "A method of determining the location of an airplane by
radio," dated April 1917.
17
The "Miller effect" is the subject of an entire chapter in the treatise, The Radiotron Designer's Handbook, edited
by F. Langford Smith, published by The Wireless Press, Sydney, Australia, 1941.

60
circuits it has a deleterious effect at high radio frequencies. In later tube designs,
incorporating multigrid structures, the Miller effect could be minimized.
Miller's study of the input impedance of three-electrode vacuum tubes was at least a
partial solution to the problem of understanding electron tubes as noted in War Work, to
quote:

. . . When
one considers the extensive applications of these devices
and associated circuitry) which have already been made, it
(electron tubes
seems strange that so little is known regarding the principles of their
operation.

Miller also studied other characteristics of electron tubes, especially as determined by

the structure and spacing of the tube elements [4,5]. He also established standardized tests
by which tubes could be tested and accepted for procurement by the military. This was
especially of benefit to the Signal Corps. During the latter part of the war electron tubes
were being manufactured in the United States at the rate of 25,000 per week for the
military.

Electron tubes of the de Forest type that were available to the Radio Section during the period of World War I.

The rapid adoption of electron tubes to communication systems during the war brought
about many problems to designers of equipment. Among these problems was the efficient
use of the large-size power tubes in transmitters. Loss of power output at the fundamental
frequency in the form of power loss in the harmonics was a sticky problem. One of Miller's
18
associates, Lewis M. Hull, worked on this problem with considerable success. The power
tubes were also incorporated into high-voltage plate supplies, with novel circuitry, in place
of the usual two-electrode rectifier tubes (kenotrons). Hull also made studies of vacuum
tubes for generators and transmitters.
The intensive investigations on electron tubes by Miller and his associates, including
Kolster and Dellinger, during the war period and for a short period thereafter, led to
approximately 40 unpublished papers in the Radio Section Reports (some quite voluminous)
to the Signal Corps, and to no less than 7 published papers. Rapid progress was also made in
radio measurements by adopting electron-tube equipment such as amplifiers, generators,
and detectors to the measurement systems. This resulted in measurement systems of much
greater sensitivity and in use of generators with fairly pure sine-wave content. It was during
this period that the research efforts within the Bureau on electron tubes reached the apogee
of activity. Within recent years there has been considerable research on semiconductors and
solid-state devices by the Electronic Technology Division, NBS.

Hull entered the Radio Laboratory on August 23, 1918, and resigned on July 19, 1922.

63
b) TO MAKE MORE PERMANENT CRYSTAL DETECTORS
Although the three-electrode vacuum tube was rapidly displacing the crystal detector in
radio receivers, nevertheless there was an abundance of communication equipment in the
military that would continue to use crystals for some time to come. In March 1918, the
Signal Corps requested the Radio Laboratory to investigate the possibility of more
permanent forms of crystal detectors, that is, to eliminate the "cat's whisker" in favor of a
fixed point of contact. The accomplishment would mean a more reliable device, particularly
when subject to vibration, either
actual use or in transport. Heretofore, only
in
carborundum and molybdenite showed good characteristics of serving as detectors with a
fixed point of contact. Many types of crystals, including the sensitive galena crystal, were
processed and fitted with fixed contact points, but to no avail. Their sensitivity was
dependent upon the "cat's whisker" and a more permanent contact inhibited this
sensitivity. No success came from the project —
success would have to wait for many years,
with the advent of other types of semiconductor diodes.
Working on the project with R. S. Ould was Dr. Louise S. McDowell of Wellesley
19
College.

19
Miss Louise S. McDowell, a physics professor of Wellesley College, Mass., entered the Radio Laboratory during
the week of August 12-17, 1918. She returned to Wellesley College in January 1919. Dr. McDowell was a guest
worker in the Radio Section on several occasions for short periods of time as late as 1931.

Dr. Louise S. McDowell, Professor of Physics, Wellesley College, one of several college professors who worked in the

Radio Laboratory during World War I (period of August 1.918 to January 1919). She returned to work for short
periods in the Radio Section as late as 1931. This 1925 photograph was taken when she was studying the
properties of insulating materials at radio frequencies. Cochrane states, in Measures for Progress (p. 170), that
Professor McDowell was the first woman with a doctor's degree to work at the Bureau.
c) Insulating materials at radio frequencies
Because of some of the mechanical and thermal shortcomings of hard rubber as an
insulating material in wireless equipment, the relatively new phenol products, such as
bakelite, became popular as electrical insulators by the time of World War I. Yet the
properties of these materials were not well understood, especially the electrical properties at
radio frequencies. These properties were studied by several groups within the Bureau on
various phenol-methylene resins, ranging from the molded pure resins through many types
containing various amounts of fillers or laminations of fibrous substances. Within the Radio
Laboratory studies were made of dielectric or power factor loss, phase-angle change, and
high-voltage breakdown. For a more detailed account of this research program see chapter
V, pp. 106-107.
The insulation program was directed by Dr. Dellinger. Later Dellinger and J. L. Preston
published two Bureau papers on the wartime and postwar program.

d) Experimenting with cathode-ray oscillographs

The first cathode-ray oscilloscope was constructed by Braun (Germany) in 1897 but its
adoption as a laboratory instrument to observe radio frequencies came slowly. Cathode-ray
oscillographs that were available by 1918 were largely of an experimental nature so the
Radio Laboratory set out to build its own. In July 1918, parts consisting of anodes, cathodes,
and screens were obtained from the General Electric Co., from which Braun tubes (cold
cathode) could be constructed. With the aid of a glassblower, several Braun tubes were
assembled and pumped down to a suitable vacuum with a Langmuir condensation pump,
with the tube housed in an oven heated to about 400 °C to aid in evacuation of occluded
gases.Tubes were also borrowed from several universities.
For excitation of the tube, a power supply incorporating a high-voltage transformer, two
kenotron rectifiers, and a low-pass filter gave as high as 20,000 volts between the anode and
cathode. Deflection coils, external to the tube, as well as electrostatic deflection plates
mounted within the tube, were used to deflect the beam for signal observation.
But hot-cathode tubes were far superior for the low voltages and small currents
encountered in studying vacuum-tube characteristics. To this end the laboratory used oxide-
coated platinum for hot cathodes. Voltage sensitivities of about 0.25 cm deflection per volt
were achieved.

Early form of cathode-ray oscillograph used in Radio Section. Their construction began in July 1918 from parts
secured from a variety of sources. The photograph shows two Braun tubes, with a camera at lower left.

63
 Although Lissajous figures could be obtained to observe frequency relations between
two sources of alternating current, it was necessary to provide for a time axis for many of
the observations. By today's standards, the time-axis control was rather crude and
synchronization of the scanning was quite difficult. The time-axis sweeps were obtained
from high-frequency generators, 500-Hz alternators, and by oscillating discharges from a
capacitor that was periodically charged from an alternating current source.
During the war period, and for a short time thereafter, the oscillographs were used for
study of: radio frequency current and voltage wave forms; the behavior of spark
transmitters; the modulation of electron-tube transmitters; the plate-current, grid-voltage
characteristics of vacuum tubes acting as generators; and to synchronize radio frequency
circuits. In the one publication that came from this wartime project, Lewis M. Hull stated:

The usefulness measurements is

of the cathode-ray oscillograph in radio
chiefly qualitative. Except when employed as an aid to frequency
it is

comparison between two circuits, precision measurements cannot be made,

as the deflections cannot be accurately measured when photographed. It is
as an aid to research, permitting visual observations of phenomena hitherto
unseen and furnishing qualitative data for new ideas and new theories, that
the cathode-ray oscillograph performs a service that can be achieved by no
other device [6].

Several years after World War I the oscillograph was put to considerable use for a
period of time as a laboratory tool for the frequency standards program. Today, the cathode-
ray oscillograph serves a multitude of uses within NBS and hundreds of the instruments in
various degrees of sophistication are found in the many laboratories. But these
developments came from outside the Bureau. In 1918 the personnel of the Radio Laboratory
had to design and construct their own oscillographs.

e) Shielding against unwanted signals

In the fall of 1917 the Radio Laboratory encountered its first problems associated with
reduction of unwanted radio signals by use of metallic enclosures or cages (ideally, the
Faraday cage for the electrical component of electromagnetic radiation). The first attempt
was shielding against a transmitter located within the East Building operating at 1000
meters (300 kHz). The wavelength being long, a beginning was made by using chicken wire,
with some degree of success. Grounding of the cage made no difference in its attenuation of
radio waves. Considerable success was attained in shielding receivers against the very
strong signals of NAA at Arlington across the Potomac River. Later, galvanized hardware
cloth was used and still later copper or bronze window screen was used as interest increased
toward working at high frequencies.

An early shielded room or "cage" developed by the Radio Section. The first attempt at shielding was in 1917 with
considerable success in minimizing the strong signals of NAA, the powerful Navy station across the Potomac in

Arlington, Va.
 Not was copper sheeting used for shielding, when the enclosure could be
until 1946
ventilated with air conditioning equipment. The Radio Building of the Boulder Laboratories
was constructed with a total of 18 shielded rooms of large size (some, 24x48 feet) usin<(
paper-backed, electrolytically-formed copper sheeting as the shielding material. Another
room, a specially constructed shielded enclosure of outside manufacture, attenuates radio
signals by as much as 140 dB, a necessary requirement for an environment for noise
measurements.

7. A burgeoning section reorganizes

The Radio Laboratory had grown from 7 members in April 1917 to 40 at the time of the
armistice. In addition, many and military personnel, were detailed by
people, both civilians
the Army and Navy to the section for training and aiding in the development programs.
From the welter of administrative problems that was coming out of this explosive growth, a
definite step was taken about mid-1918 to reorganize the section on a businesslike basis. By
October, at the time of moving into the new building, the reorganizational plan went into
effect.
The Radio Laboratory was now definitely known as the Radio Section, a title it
apparently had never attained fully before, although it had been designated as Section 1-6 as
20
far back as 1914. Briefly, the section took on the following structure. It was clearly
indicated that Kolster was the section chief, with responsibility for the cooperative
programs with the military and other organizations. He was also in charge of a number of
technical projects of an engineering nature such as navigational systems. Dr. Dellinger was
designated as the research assistant, in charge of research programs and the publishing
programs. L. E. Whittemore was designated as the business assistant in charge of the
section office, plus his interests in certain technical projects.

8. From whence came the Technical News Bulletin (TNB)?

Because the Radio Section made many contributions to the Bureau's publication, the
Technical News Bulletin, in its early years, it is a matter of some interest how this
publication had its beginning. For the first 1 1/2 years the publication was known as the
Confidential Bulletin, accompanied by the issue number and the date of publication, and
was printed on letter stationery with a Bureau letterhead. It was circulated as
mimeographed copies. The Confidential Bulletin came about to meet a wartime need of
other Government bureaus, and particularly the military. The No. 1 issue was published
December 15, 1917, approximately 8 months after the Declaration of War. The first issue
21
stated its purpose and gave an outline of the Bureau's work.

20
A chart indicating the entire section structure, personnel, technical projects, and operational functions is shown
in appendix C.
n The first three paragraphs stated the purpose of publishing the Confidential Bulletin, as quoted below:

In accordance with the requests of several military bureaus to be kept informed as to the
scientific and technical activities of the Bureau of Standards, as far as they relate to the military
services, the Bureau has decided to issue periodic confidential statements to those bureaus
regarding the progress of such work.

The Bureau believes that copies of these statements might well be placed in the hands of those
officers and civilian employees having in charge technical and engineering problems of a type
comprised in the appended outline or the applications of the same. To this end, the Bureau will
be glad to receive from each department a list of the names to which it is desired that this
information be sent, or if considered preferable, a statement of the number of copies which each
office will arrange to circulate.

Suggestions regarding the form and scope of these bulletins will be gladly received, as the
Bureau wishes to make them as useful as possible. Inquiries on any of the subjects treated or
mentioned in them will at all times be given full and careful consideration.
There then followed more than three pages outlining the Bureau's work, with a closing statement as follows:

The above are illustrative of the Bureau's fields of activity and the problems which arise in
them. In some of these cases the Bureau undertakes an exhaustive research of the problem as a

65
 It was not until Confidential Bulletin 5 of March 3, 1918, that the Radio Laboratory

appeared with an item, but the item was relating to a project that was of "great
importance" to the military. To quote:

5. Vacuum Tube Data: A large number of important technical papers

relating to vacuum tube amplifiers have been studied. These instruments
have assumed great importance
in the reception of radio signals;
accordingly information has been prepared and
a digest of the
mimeographed for distribution to officers and engineers of the (military)
services concerned.

For many years thereafter there was a steady stream of news items from the Radio Section
being fed into the Confidential Bulletin and its successor.
The Confidential Bulletin continued until the June 20, 1919, issue. Beginning with the
same issue (June 20, 1919) it became known as the Technical News Bulletin and retained the
letter stationery format, with mimeographed copies, through May 1925. Thereafter it took
on several different printed formats, starting with illustrations in 1946, until it reached the
full-fledged format as we have known it in recent years. Yet another change came over the
"TNB." Beginning with the August 1973 issue it was renamed DIMENSIONS/NBS 22

9. "... And they shall beat their swords into plowshares. . .

."

and progress made in the development of radio during World

In appraising the value
War both by the Bureau and by other laboratories, and by industry, some significant
I,

statements were made in the postwar publication War Work. To quote:

The radio work carried out during the war presents a conspicuous example
of scientific advancement of permanent value. It has been estimated that in
two years of war the progress in radio was equal to that in 10 ordinary
years. The work of the Bureau contributed to the progress made upon the
electron tube, the direction finder, control of radio waves, radio
measurements and design, submarine signalling, airplane communication,
and radio instruction.
The progress in these various areas of development are then related in detail. For years
to come the Radio Section would be engaged in further development in these areas. One in
particular would stand out, that of air navigation. Presaging things to come, to quote
further from War Work:

One of the incontestable benefits which has been salvaged from the war is
the application of radio to airplane communication. In the future of aerial
navigation, as in policing the air, radio will play an important part. The
electron tube has made possible conversation between airplanes and the
ground, the direction finder is the compass of the aviator, and radio
methods supply the signals by which a landing may be made in fog or
darkness. Radio supplements the older systems of communication, and
. . .

no spot on earth or in the air is too remote for it to reach.

(Continued)
whole; in others, essential features of the problems are worked out; while in others, the Bureau
furnishes advice along scientific lines needed by the military services in the development of their
own distinctive problems.

Respectfully,
S. W. STRATTON
Director

22
Director Roberts stated in the first issue under the new name:
... So many, and such varied activities are proceeding at the Bureau that it is truly a many
faceted organization. We think the new title, DIMENSIONS/NBS, reflects the multidiscipline
activity. . . .

. . . We attempt to report more broadly on the Bureau's activities, especially those of

will
current interest to the scientific and general public. . . .

66
 References
[1] J. A. Willoughby and P. D. Lowell, "Development of loop aerial for submarine radio communication," Phyt
Rev., Vol. 14, No. 2, Aug. 1919, pp. 193-194 (abstract only).
[2] A. Hoyt Taylor, "Short wave reception and transmission on ground wires (subterranean and submarine)," Proc.
IRE, Vol. 7, Aug. 1919, pp. 337-361.
No. 4,

[3] J. M. Miller, "Dependence of the input impedance of a three-electrode vacuum tube upon the load in the plate
circuit," Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 15, 1919-1920, pp. 367-385. Note: The term Scientific Paper was first
used as a series designation with Vol. 15 to designate a continuation of the Bulletin of the B. of S.
[4] J. M. Miller, "A dynamic method of determining the characteristics of three-electrode vacuum tubes," Proc.
IRE, Vol. 6, No. 3, Mar. 1918, pp. 141-148.
[5] J. M. Miller, "The dependence of the amplification constant and internal plate circuit resistance of a three-

electrode vacuum tube upon the structural dimensions," Proc. IRE, Vol. 8, No. 1, Feb. 1920, pp. 64-73.
[6] Lewis M. Hull, "The cathode-ray oscillograph and its application in radio circuits," Proc. IRE, Vol. 9, No. 2,
Apr. 1921, pp. 130-149.

67
 Chapter IV

THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS LENDS A HAND 1

The Postwar and Early broadcast Period

Introduction
Preceding World War I the interests in radio were directed toward its unique
application to safety at sea and to general communication purposes served by commercial
concerns. There was also a very small segment of the population, that became known as the
radio amateur, that discovered a new outlet for technical curiosity and the thrill of
communicating instantly on the "ether waves" over long distances.
During World War I and for a short period thereafter the imagination and efforts of the
radio engineer were turned to radio as a service medium in war and battle operations. The
French Army in particular made many technical advances in radio equipment and in the
application of the vacuum tube. Near the end of the war the Radio Laboratory was caught
up advancing art.
in the
In the postwar period that extended through the 1920's, many changes came over the
Bureau. In 1921 Herbert Hoover became Secretary of Commerce (and later the 31st
President of the United States) and brought about many changes to increase the scope and
usefulness of the Bureau of Standards during the 1920's. Dr. Stratton, director, left the
Bureau at the close of 1922 and was followed by Dr. George K. Burgess. Eugene C.
Crittenden became chief of the Electricity Division in 1921 after the sudden death of Dr.
Rosa. For the next 25 years Crittenden would be the division chief for the Radio Section,
until the formation of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory on May 1, 1946.
The Radio Section was just beginning to emerge from some of the investigations that
continued after World War I, when broadcasting burst upon the Nation and upon much of
Europe. The Radio Section was caught up in its wake and was faced with many problems
and took on a variety of new projects. Cochrane in his history, Measures for Progress, chose
to entitle his account of the Radio Section during the 1920's as "Policing the Ether." The

lr
rhis chapter heading is the title of a paper by J. H. Dellinger published in the November 1922 issue (Vol.1) of
Radio Broadcast. Dr. Dellinger stated in the introduction to his paper that:

The recent remarkable popularity of radio in the United States has caused the widespread
impression that radio is something very new. While it is true that its use for popular
entertainment is new, the principles have been undergoing development for many years. The
seed of the present extraordinary growth was, in fact, planted sixty years ago by the scientific
research of the English physicist, Maxwell. This article will endeavor to give a glimpse of what
Uncle Sam's radio laboratory is doing to increase the knowledge and extend the usefulness of
this science.

The Changing Appeal of Radio

Radio is now being exploited through its appeal to the play instinct of mankind, but it contains
also the means of satisfying the service instinct; it is one of those extensions of man's powers
which science is ever revealing. It seems certain that the present radio boom will last several
years, and that its present popularity based on its entertainment features will be succeeded by
an era of more substantial progress based on actual service. It is this which justifies whole-
hearted effort and serious scientific radio work by Government and commercial interests alike.
One of the interesting things about radio is that it furnishes perhaps the greatest stimulus to the
—
popular study of science known. Radio puts life into the study of science something which,
possibly through his own fault, the average man has not always observed there.

69
reader is referred to chapter V of Cochrane's history for the Bureau's story during the
1920's.
During this emergence period, with close ties still remaining with the military,
Dellinger prepared a document, dated June 5, 1920, that reveals his viewpoint (and probably
that of the Radio Laboratory as a whole) at the time of the relation of the Bureau's radio
work to the Government. In the opening statement he wrote:
The work of the Bureau of Standards radio laboratory includes research on
fundamental principles, various kinds of measurements and standardiza-
tion of instruments, radio engineering for Government agencies, and the
collection and dissemination of information.

The nature of cooperation with Government agencies was related in some detail by
Dellinger. In part, Dellinger stated:

One of the directions in which this Bureau can be useful is in the

coordination of the radio work of the Government. Certain of the
departments make use of radio apparatus or methods and have found it
convenient to call upon the Navy, Signal Corps, or Bureau of Standards, for
assistance. While the Navy or Signal Corps provides apparatus,
installations, etc., the Bureau of Standards advises on principles and
methods, undertakes the testing of apparatus, and assists in coordinating
the activities of the several radio organizations by making the results and
proposals of each available to the others. The branches of the Government
which have been assisted in the use of radio are the Signal Corps, Navy,
Post Office, Air Service, Board of Vocational Education (instruction
material), the Patent Office, Shipping Board, Committees of Congress
(technical assistance on radio legislation), and the following bureaus of the
Department of Commerce: Coast and Geodetic Survey, Bureau of
Lighthouses, Bureau of Fisheries, and Bureau of Navigation (technical
supervision of radio inspection service). Coordination of the Government's
radio work should be furthered more than in the past by conferences and
technical committees.

The scope of the Bureau's activities relating to the fast growing interest in radio
brought on by broadcasting during the early 1920's was shown by the chart used by
Dellinger in the Radio Broadcast article of November 1922. Relations with the public and
Government agencies were manifold.
Interests served by Radio l^abcratory

jBureau of Standards

Wheel chart prepared by Radio Section showing the varied and extensive interests served by its broadened activities
after World War I.

70
 —

Continuation of World War I projects

Like "old soldiers never die," some of the projects that were born out of the exigencies
of World War I took a number of years to "fade away." This was particularly true of the

project or projects related to vacuum tubes. Much needed to be learned about the vacuum
(or electron) tube itself and about its application in radio circuitry as a detector, amplifier,
oscillator (or generator), and modulator. The Army Signal Corps and, later, the Navy, were
interested in the standardization of methods of testing vacuum tubes for procurement. This
program of development of test methods continued for several years and the Radio Building
became well fitted with test instrumentation. A Letter Circular was published on methods of
measuring the properties of electron tubes. During FY 1924 the section engaged in life tests
of vacuum tubes, finding, in general, that filament emission in most tubes began to
deteriorate after 1000 hours.
A very comprehensive NBS Circular on vacuum tubes was in preparation over a period
of several years but was never completed because of a rapidly changing staff and the
growing availability of books on the subject from other sources.
Of the other projects that were spawned during the war effort, some were soon to be
phased out, others continued for a number of years, and some grew in scope. Among the
projects were: insulation research at radio frequencies, antenna developments,
improvements on the cathode-ray oscilloscope, air navigation by radio techniques, and
2
direction finders. Extensive use of the vacuum tube as an amplifier made many of the new
developments possible. It was the use of vacuum tubes in a radio-controlled relay very early
in the 1920's that helped spark the idea to Lowell and Dunmore in energizing such devices
and amplifiers with 60-Hz alternating current. (See pp. 85-88.)

Organizing for the postwar period

1. Toward a stabilized organization and unified name

When moved into its own building during October 1918 the Radio
the Radio Laboratory
Section was reorganized more efficient operation of the wartime activities and with a
for
much enlarged staff. Kolster was designated as chief, with Dellinger as research assistant
(see ch. Ill, p. 65). But changes came rapidly following the war period and in less than a
year, by August 1919, the section was again reorganized, this time into two subsections. Dr.
Dellinger headed the subsection known as Section 6a — Radio Research and Testing, with L.
E. Whittemore as alternate chief; Kolster headed the subsection known as Section 6b
3
Radio Development, with F. W. Dunmore as alternate chief. An Office and Equipment
Testing group, headed by Whittemore, served both sections.
If there was dissatisfaction with the organizational structure during this period it never
came to the surface in any Monthly Reports of the section(s). Yet, again, this time on
February 1, 1921, the Radio Laboratory was reorganized, this time returning to the one-
section structure and now known as the Radio Communication Section (Division I Section —
4
6). Dellinger became chief of the section and Whittemore alternate chief. By 1925 the title
of Radio Communication Section was set aside and the name became the Radio Section until
May 1, 1946, when the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory was organized. The familiar
and long-used name "Radio Laboratory" began to fade away during the 1920's.

2
Refer to chapters III, V, and VI for detailed accounts of projects that had their beginning during World War I and
that, in many instances, continued for a number of years after the war.
3
Laurens E. Whittemore joined the Bureau in September in 1917 and transferred to the Department of Commerce
on September 14, 1923, to become full-time secretary to the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC).
Less than a year later he transferred to the Bureau of Navigation within the Department. Later he joined the
American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
Francis W. Dunmore entered the Radio Section on January 14, 1918. He was leader or took important roles in
a variety of projects during the 31 years he was associated with the radio work of NBS. He retired January 31,
1949. In February 1950 Dunmore was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service.
4
On January 31, 1921, the day before the reorganization, Kolster took a year's leave of absence and did not return
to the Bureau thereafter. Records that have been preserved (other than Monthly Reports) indicate there was
growing dissatisfaction with Kolster's supervision in 1919 and 1920 among staff members of the Radio Section. No
doubt Kolster sensed the situation and chose not to return to the Bureau after having taken a leave of absence.

71
Early photograph of new Radio Building occupied October 1918 (view to SW). This picture appeared as the frontpiece
"
to March 19, 192k edition o/"NBS Circular 74, "Radio Instruments and Measurements.

Transmitting and receiving laboratory, Room 203, Radio Building, about 1920. The large loop (or coil) antenna was
used to receive signals from European stations.

2. World War I brings "Women's Lib" to the Radio Laboratory

Cochrane, in his Measures for Progress (pp. 169-170), speaks of Dr. Stratton's reluctance
to hirewomen to work at the Bureau, but a change of heart came with World War I and the
manpower shortage. It was then that the Radio Laboratory began taking on women, first as
5
laboratory assistants, then as scientists, to carry on the workload. And ever since women
have been associated with the Bureau's radio projects.

5
See chapter III, p. 62 on the employment, by the Radio Laboratory, of Professor Louise S. McDowell of Wellesley
College during World War I.

12
 After World War I two women entered on the staff of the Radio Laboratory whose
affectionatelyknown cognomens or sobriquets "ANKie" and "EMZie" were to be heard and
seen until CRPL moved to Boulder in 1954. Miss Adeline Noel entered on the staff on
February 11, 1919, as a clerk in the section office. Upon marriage in 1926, Miss Noel's name
became Adeline N. Kincheloe, and thus grew the sobriquet ANKie. Mrs. Kincheloe's duties
were primarily secretarial work over the 35 years she was associated with the Radio Section
and CRPL. Dr. Dellinger's voluminous secretarial load was taken care of very ably by Mrs.
Kincheloe over the years until his retirement in 1948. During this same period, ANKie
directed the operations of the clerical staff of the section. During the CRPL years in
Washington she was the administrative assistant to the Administrative Officer, first with S.
W. J. Welch and later with R. C. Peavy.
Miss Elizabeth M. Zandonini entered the Radio Laboratory on July 28, 1921, as a radio
aide. Her career with the section, and later with CRPL, was to be a long and colorful one. In
the same year that she joined the Bureau, Miss Zandonini became owner and operator of
amateur radio station W3CDQ, a Washington-based station, and one that she continues to
operate. Because of her many activities in the Radio Section, a deserving appellation would
be that of a "factotum excellentia." Among her many duties and special abilities in
association with the Radio Section were: librarian, office clerk, typist, compiler of
bibliographies, searcher of the technical literature, translator (French, German, Italian, and
Spanish), laboratory assistant, radio operator, lecturer, writer, guide, and hostess. EMZie
elected not to follow the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory to Boulder and transferred
to the Bureau's Radioactivity Section (Radiation Physics Division). She retired from the
Bureau on June 30, 1965.

3. The radio boom versus low Government pay

The aftermath of World War I and the rapid rise of the broadcasting industry left a
trail ofpersonnel problems with the Radio Section. In numbers the section peaked out with
40 on the staff at the time of the armistice in November 1918. Because of wartime problems
and of the employing of persons of the teaching profession, there had been many turnovers
of employees during the war period.
By the end of FY 1920 personnel losses began to be serious, particularly at the higher
6
professional level. In his Annual Report Dellinger stated:

On account of the ease of securing higher salaries in other institutions, it is

very difficult to maintain a laboratory staff. Salaries paid elsewhere
average about 50 percent higher than those paid here, as judged both by the
positions secured by those who leave here and by the replies which we
obtain from persons to whom we offer positions...

However, Dellinger was very appreciative of those who remained. He stated in a later
paragraph:

This opportunity is taken of expressing appreciation of the very marked

loyalty and active spirit of the members of the Section; without such a
spirit it would have been impossible to carry on the work with such success
as has been attained, in spite of the numerous difficulties, particularly
those incident to rapid changes of personnel.

Two months wrote in a Monthly Report on "the disintegration of the

later Dellinger
Laboratory work caused by the serious losses of personnel." In his Semiannual Report of
July-December 1920 Dellinger stated:

... has been necessary to abandon more and more of the research
It
projectswhich it was hoped to cover during this period, because of the
continuous diminution of the staff. The branch of the work which has thus

6
Dr. John M. Miller became associated with the Atwater Kent Co. as a radio engineer. In 1923 he joined the newly
formed Naval Research Laboratory at Washington, D.C.
Ellison S. Purington became associated with the Hammond Research Corp. of Gloucester, Mass., as a radio
engineer.

73
 suffered the most is the important field of electron tubes. Not a single

person remains in the Section of those who were working upon electron
7
tubes or the related field of radio telephony.

It was during this period that seven research projects were dropped due to losses in
personnel.
Although 17 persons were added to the section during FY 1921, there were 23
separations leaving a total of 25 on June 30, 1921. The seriousness of the situation was that
experienced people were leaving to join the broadcasting boom with its higher salaries; only
the tyros could be enticed to join the Bureau. In the annual report it was stated:

While there are a number of applicants for positions of the lower grades
such as radio almost impossible to secure persons properly
aid, it is still

qualified to carry on independent research work and having the ability

required for directing the work of one of the groups in the radio
laboratory. . . .

There was one exception. A year later (July 15, 1922) Dr. Charles B. Jolliffe joined the
section as the assistant chief, and remained until 1930. 8
In writing his article, "The Bureau of Standards lends a hand," for the November 1922
issue of Radio Broadcast, Dellinger stated in his concluding paragraph:

The greatest difficulty is that the technical work in this field which
requires the most highly specialized knowledge, has to be carried on with
constantly changing staff. The salaries which the Government pays
scientific assistants are such only inexperienced
as, in general, to retain
men just out of college. These men must
be trained by the Bureau in this
special field of work and they remain on the average but a short time. To
maintain a staff of twenty scientific workers there has been a total of
seventy different persons on the radio staff in the past three years. This
type of difficulty is especially serious at the present time when there is
great demand for the services of any one who has a specialized knowledge
of radio. Indeed, it may be stated that one of the Bureau's valuable
functions in the radio field is the training of men for the industry.

Again, in FY 1923 separations outnumbered new employees and the section total
dropped to 20. By July 1924 the number bottomed out at 18 but, again, with serious losses of
experienced personnel. Thereafter the number of personnel gradually increased the radio —
boom on the outside was waning.
7
Previously eight persons in the section had been engaged in this field that was growing so rapidly outside the
Bureau.
the Federal Radio Commission on March 1, 1930, to become the chief engineer until 1935. In
"Jolliffe transferred to
later years he became vice president and technical director of the Radio Corp. of America. He retired from RCA in
1964 and became an electronic consultant. While in the Radio Section he was active on many technical committees
associated with radio.

Scientific staff of Radio Section, November 1, 1924, at entrance to Radio Building. (Front row, left to right) Dr. J.
Howard Dellinger, Francis W. Dunmore, Elizabeth M. Zandonini, Taintor Parkinson, Grace Hazen, Elmer L. Hall,
Morris S. Strock. (Rear row, left to right) Hoy J. Walls, Dr. Charles B. Jolliffe, John P. Buckley, August Hund,
Richard P. Battle, Herbert B. DeGroot. Thomas F. O'Keefe.

74
4. The Dellinger "Credo" of administering the Radio Section
In July of 1920 Dr. Dellinger issued the first of at least 10 editions of his "Information
for members of the Radio Section," the last one being dated August 1, 1943. This
information was of such a nature as to be a "credo" for administering the section. The
format and the subject matter changed but little through the years.
In retrospect, and particularly to those who experienced any or all of those years in the
Radio Section, this "Information" can bring back a poignant response. For it describes the
atmosphere in which the personnel worked and conducted themselves. The table of contents
of, say, the 1928 edition, must suffice as to the general nature of the "Information." We read

thus, as found in the Radio Reports file:

1. Laboratory organization

2. Laboratory hours and personnel matters

3. Periodic reports
4. Equipment
Preparation of official letters and technical reports
5.

Meetings
6.

7. Technical information and education

8. Outside work, patents, etc.

There were several items of special note that could have been and probably were a bane
to some and a boon to others. Until the late 1930's the use of tobacco in the Radio Building
was "not approved," and later only in a few designated areas. Again, "It should be a matter
of pride with members of the Laboratory to be actually at work at all times within the
official hours. This applies particularly to the minutes just after 9:00 a.m." (9:00 to 4:30 were
the work hours in those years, with Saturday as a workday).
From the technical view there was good counsel: "All members of the Section are urged
to continue their technical training," and "The difference between accuracy and precision of
measurement should be understood." There was admonishment on transmissions (or
emissions), thus: "The Radio Building is a place primarily for measurement work. No
emissions may take place in or near the building except upon specific approval of Section
Chief and after notice to all persons in the building. The Beltsville station is the normal
place for emissions. Emissions limited to kinds approved in advance. No emissions at
broadcast frequencies except upon specific approval by Section Chief (1939)."
Other procedures for administration and working aids prepared by Dellinger included:
Notes on procedure in Radio Laboratory
Notes of stock of Radio Section and purchase of equipment
Notes on composition of letters and scientific papers
Preparation of papers
Radio terminology
Dellinger was especially strong on communication among the Radio Section staff on
technical matters. This was particularly the case in the postwar period. There were
9
biweekly radio staff conferences, usually on specific topics prepared in advance. There were
also group meetings of a more informal nature. The Radio Section members were also urged
to attend the weekly meetings of the Electricity Division and the Bureau staff meetings,
both held during the winter months.

5. Cooperative research with universities

Under the designation of "University Research" the Radio Laboratory carried on a
cooperative program with a number of universities for several years beginning in 1919. It
was "lending a hand" to the schools by reviewing their radio research programs, suggesting
programs, supplying technical information, and advising on equipment. In one project
radiation studies were made over the transmission path between the Bureau and the
university transmitter. As a designated program this cooperative research was short-lived
and lost its significance in the years of the radio boom.

9
The first staff meeting of the Radio Section (Laboratory) was held during the week of February 18-23, 1918, with
14 in attendance, including Dr. Rosa, chief of the Electricity Division. It was the precursor of such meetings that

could be counted almost without number from that time to the present.

75
 —

The broadcasting fever strikes the Radio Section

1. WWV broadcasts music
Although the extensive use and the inventive spirit in radio communication that
developed during World War I carried over into the immediate postwar period, there existed
10
the stifling effect of the deadlock on vacuum tube and radio circuit patents. Yet in spite of
the legal problems besetting the radio industry, the urge to use radio telephony to broadcast
voice and music could not be suppressed. The Radio Laboratory, a few private groups, and
several engineering schools were swept up in the fever to be "on the air." Fulfillment of the
Bureau's request to operate an experimental radio transmitter was the announcement made
in the October 1, 1919, issue (No. 30) of the Radio Service Bulletin (issued monthly by the
11
Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce). During the spring of 1920 the Radio
Laboratory experimented with some U.S. Army Signal Corps equipment for the
transmission of voice and music. Also, a radio telephone transmitter was constructed that
used four type U tubes (General Electric Type VT-18, 50 watts output) as a modulator and
the transmitter output oscillator. This was preceded by a speech amplifier, plus several
types of sound pickup devices (transducers) including a carbon telephone transmitter.

10
The deadlock on vacuum tubes ended on July 1, 1920; that on radio circuits on June 30, 1921. Many hundreds of
patents, some of them of a very basic nature, were involved in agreements between large firms such as: General
Electric, Westinghouse, American Telephone and Telegraph, and the Radio Corp. of America.

Listing in the Radio Service Bulletin indicated that the new Government land station was of an experimental
11

type, located at Washington, D.C., and using the "call letters" of WWV. The station would be used for "Government
business exclusively" by the Bureau of Standards at no assigned wavelength and with no regular hours of
operation.
Note: Oddly, in the detailed and meticulously prepared Monthly and Annual Reports of Dellinger and Kolster
WWV
nothing was ever noted on the request for an experimental station or the assignment of the call letters of
call letters that have become so well known in the field of broadcasting.

During the spring of 1920 the Radio Section broadcasted music over station WWV in advance of the scheduled
commercial broadcasts later in the year. A Victrola phonograph was the source of music, with pickup by a
"microphone" using a telephone transmitter fitted with a "morning glory" horn. U.S. Army Signal Corps radio
equipment served as the transmitter.

76
The Radio Section was successful in the spring of 1920 with its own design of a broadcast transmitter, using 50-watt
tubes in the modulation and oscillator circuits. A Columbia Graphophone served as the source of music, with
pickup by a telephone transmitter.

By May 1920 the transmitter was in operation from the Radio Building. Its introduction
to the Washington community was described well in the Technical News Bulletin of June 4,
1920.

Music can be transmitted by wireless in the same manner as speech or code

signals. As an incidental result of research work on radio telephony at the
Bureau of Standards, it has been shown that music can be transmitted by
radio without loss of quality. The possibilities in this direction are great and
very interesting. By this means a concert given in one place may be
available to those living at a distance. Experimental concerts are at present
being sent out on Friday evening from 8:30 to 11, by the Radio Laboratory
of the Bureau of Standards, using a wave length of 500 meters. One way of
transmitting music has been to place a phonograph so that the sound from
it will pass into the radio transmitter. The Bureau of Standards has made

an interesting improvement upon this method, which consists of

substituting the carbon microphone, which is the mouthpiece of an
ordinary telephone, for the vibrating diaphragm ordinarily used on the
phonograph. As a result, the phonograph sound record produces direct
variations of electric current in the telephone apparatus instead of
producing sound, thus while no sound is heard where the phonograph
record is being played, the music is easily heard by those at the distant
receiving stations.

The consistent receiving range was out to 25 miles. Dellinger in a news release of May
28, 1920, entitled "Radio Music," stated, in part:

. . This means that music can be performed at any place, radiated into
.

the air by means of an ordinary radio set, and received at any other place
even though hundreds of miles away. The music received can be made as
loud as desired by suitable operation of the receiving apparatus. The entire
feasibility of centralized concerts has been demonstrated, and, in fact, such
concerts are now being sent out by a number of persons and institutions.

77
 Such concerts are sometimes sent out by the radio laboratory of the Bureau
of Standards in connection with trials of experimental apparatus. This
music can be heard by anyone in the states near the District of Columbia
having a simple amateur receiving outfit. The pleasant evenings which
have been experienced by persons at a number of such receiving stations
suggest interesting possibilities of the future.

The broadcasting experiment of WWV progressed for several months. The Radio
Laboratory had proved the feasibility of this new communication medium. Yet how little did
the Radio Laboratory personnel realize in the spring of 1920 the tremendous effect that
radio broadcasting and, later, television, would have on the social, educational, and political
life of the world in years to come.

In keeping abreast of the times and on the occasion of experimental broadcasts of

WWV, Dr. Dellinger addressed the Bureau staff with a demonstration lecture entitled
"Explanation of Principles of Radio Telegraphy and Telephony." A short account of the
lecture appeared in the June 4, 1920, issue of the Technical News Bulletin:

Communication by means of electricity without wires has progressed very

rapidly during the last few years, and has probably been given more
consideration by the general public than almost any other scientific subject.
It is, nevertheless, a fact that due to the somewhat inaccurate and

misleading newspaper accounts which have appeared from time to time

dealing with the principles of radio communication and which have been
apt to surround the whole matter with an air of mystery, most people
believe that the principles underlying wireless transmission are not very
well known. On the contrary, radio communication is a natural effect
following well-known causes. With the object of giving a concise and easily
understood explanation of the principles underlying radio communication,
a lecture was given at the Bureau of Standards during May of this year, in
which the whole subject was thoroughly discussed in a way easily
understood by all. The similarity between various forms of wave motion, of
which radio communication is one, were described and illustrated. Copies of
this lecture will be available for distribution to those interested.

Previously, Dellinger had presented the lecture to the Secretary of Commerce and his staff.
For some years hence the Secretary, the Department of Commerce, and the Radio Section
were to play important roles in the development of broadcasting in the United States.
The pioneer commercial broadcasting station KDKA (Westinghouse Electric Co.,
Pittsburgh, Pa.) did not make its formal bow to the world until the evening of November 2,
1920, when it broadcast the election returns of the Harding-Cox Presidential campaign.

2. WWV broadcasts market reports

Late in the fall of 1920 the Bureau of Markets of the Department of Agriculture
requested assistance in the inauguration of an experimental radio service for the
dissemination of market news. The service would be to farm bureaus and other agricultural
organizations, and not a broadcasting service to the public. Again, WWV was the station
call, but a 2-kW spark transmitter was operated in code for this more specialized use by the
Radio Laboratory. Service began on December 15, 1920, and continued for 4 months,
transmitting the daily market reports at 5:00 p.m., except on Sundays and holidays. The
reports were furnished by the Bureau of Markets, the 500-word reports being called the
Daily Radio Marketgram. The operating radius was 200 miles out of Washington, with
transmission on a wavelength of 400 meters (750 kHz).
Beginning on April 15, 1921, the radio market service was taken over by the Air Mail
Radio Service of the Post Office Department, with radio transmitting outlets from
Washington, D.C., Bellefonte, Pa., St. Louis, and Omaha.

78
Receiving market reports to monitor the Bureau's station, WWV, during the winter of 1920-1921. The experimental
program was initiated at the request of the Bureau of Markets, Department of Agriculture, using a 2-kW spark
transmitter and code. Reception in this photograph was on a commercially produced crystal set.

Receiving market reports in code with a very early commercially produced three-tube regenerative receiver designed
for broadcast reception. The loudspeaker was an early design that had considerable popularity during the first
years of broadcasting.

7!>
3. Aiding the broadcast listening public
a) The Letter Circulars on radio receiving sets
The radio boom in the United States was a most extraordinary phenomenon in the
development of communication and the effect upon society [l]. 12 The period of the radio
boom, from around 1921 to about 1928, was a period of a budding and then a full-bloom
technology and the advent of a new social force. The "Golden Age" of radio is usually linked
with the 1930's when radio became a dominating force in the entertainment and educational
world and a widely used news medium.
In the early stages of the boom the Radio Section received many requests for
information on the construction of radio receiving equipment, for both the simple crystal
sets and the electron-tube receivers. At the request of the Bureau of Markets, the section
tested a number of different types of receiving sets during the fall of 1921. Although
designed for code reception, these sets were suitable for reception of the programs from the
many broadcasting stations getting "on the air." The experience gained from this study and
testing project made a large contribution toward meeting the public's requests for
information on broadcast receivers. But answering the many requests by individual letters

12
Paul Schubert has given a good account of this phenomenon in the chapter entitled "The Radio Boom" in his
book The Electric Word, Macmillan, New York, 1928. To quote from the introductory paragraphs:
In the seven years between the dawn of 1921 and the dawn of 1928 the popular use of radio
spread as nothing before has ever spread, not only into every nook and cranny of the United
States, but in growing waves all over the earth. On the former date there were not over six or
seven thousand privately owned sets of radio receiving instruments in this country; at the end of
those seven years the number was on the order of 10 million, three quarters of which were
"tube" sets of a high standard of scientific perfection, and the radio audience of a few thousand
had grown to number, on occasion, more than half the adult population of the land. . . .

It perhaps difficult for those who have lived through this change to comprehend what it
is

signifies interms of world history. No nation ever had greater communication barriers than
those of the wilderness infancy of the United States; no nation has ever broken those barriers
down or achieved such astonishing unanimity and rapidity of thought conveyance as has this one
in its young maturity. It took aeons of time for the use of fire to spread among men, aeons of
time to develop a substantial man-made structure to shelter him from the elements, aeons of
—
time for him to learn to speak, other aeons to write his progress along the pathway up from
brutehood has been painfully slow . and now, in this new era of science and
. .

intercommunication, of which these United States are such a vital expression, an entire nation
has come to the point of absorbing some new thing into its life, a thing that will henceforward
play a profounder part in its environment than it can guess, in the short span of a little more
than two thousand days.

Radio broadcast receiver with two-circuit tuning unit, electron-tube detector, and two-stage amplifier, constructed
from directions given in three NBS Circulars published in 1922. Complete with batteries and headphone, this
assembly of heavy equipment occupied considerable space, judging by the 2-ft ruler. Today, the equivalent in a
transistor radio with enclosed loudspeaker could be held on palm of the hand.

80
grew out of hand and the Bureau's typewritten information vehicle the Letter Circular- —
was put to an urgent use. Letter Circular 43, under the title "Construction and operation of
a very simple radio receiving equipment" (crystal detector), was issued February 15, 1922,
and the supply was quickly exhausted. Newspapers reprinted the Circular in whole, and the
public clamored for more information on receiving sets. In quick succession during 1922, six
more Letter Circulars were issued on the construction of receivers, including one with an
electron-tube detector, and another on an audio amplifier unit.
From 1922 through 1956 the Radio Section brought out nearly 100 Letter Circulars on
various radio subjects. However, a number were revisions that updated previous material.
Nevertheless, in total, this source brought a prodigious amount of information on radio to
the public.

b) Spreading the information via NBS Circulars

The Letter Circulars served as a stopgap measure but were quickly followed by NBS
Circulars set up in printer's type.
13
These sold —
and 10$ each a real bargain for those
for 5$
who wanted to build their own not afford the inflated cost of a
receivers or could
manufactured receiver. NBS Circulars on five different subject areas on the construction of
homemade receiving sets were published during the period of April 1922 to March 1923. 14
Cost of parts ranged from approximately $10 for the crystal set with headphones to around
$75 for a tuning circuit equipped with an electron-tube detector and one-stage amplifier
15
units, including the batteries. In 1922 a "hard" or amplifier-type electron tube cost $6.50.
Years later this same type of tube could be purchased for less than $1, particularly the
16
"bootleg" tubes.

C) A MISCELLANY OF TASKS IN THE BROADCASTING BOOM

The Radio Section went all out, within the limitations of the number of personnel, to
—
"lend a hand" in the growing broadcasting field to the listener, to industry, and to the
Government. The listener-to-be was furnished detailed instructions in Letter Circulars and
NBS Circulars on how to construct reliable receivers.
The development
methods of testing radio receiving sets became an important project
of
of the Radio Section in 1921 and 1922. First requested by the Department of Agriculture
(receivers for market reports), the requests soon came from manufacturers of receivers, from
testing laboratories, and trade associations. The information gained from this project was

The Bureau's Circulars were discontinued in June 1959, to be replaced largely by Special Publications and
Technical Notes.
14
Circular 120— Construction and operation of a simple homemade radio receiving set
Circular 121— Construction and operation of a two-circuit radio receiving equipment with crystal detector
Circular 133— Description and operation of an electron-tube detector unit for simple radio receiving outfits
Circular 137— Auxiliary condensers and loading coil used with simple homemade radio receiving outfits
Circular HI — Description and operation of an audio-frequency amplifier unit for simple radio receiving outfits
These five Bureau Circulars were written by J. L. Preston and M. S. Strock, although, in keeping with the
editorial policy at the time, their names did not appear on the publications.
10
The Circular on the electron-tube detector unit did not mention the possibility of using the tube in combination
with a modified tuning circuit to obtain regeneration and thus increase the sensitivity by many fold (equivalent to
adding one or two stages of amplification). In the late summer of 1922 when the Letter Circulars and Bureau
Circulars were being prepared on using electron tubes in radio-receiving circuits, a study was being made on
regenerative circuits, including Armstrong's superregenerative circuit. (During a following period Dr. Jolliffe made
a detailed study of regeneration in circuits.) It was recorded in the Monthly Report of October 1922 that the
decision had been made not to publish a paper (Bureau Circular) on a simple regenerative receiving set. This was
after consultation with one of the large manufacturers of radio receivers. Probably the reason for omitting this
feature was to avoid any possible association with patent infringement so rampant at the time. Later, in Circular
133 was stated that: "This publication describes simple apparatus of satisfactory performance without reference
it

to the possible existence of any patents which might cover parts of the apparatus." The Radio Section was already
involved in patent problems and more were to come.
16
Vacuum tubes that were illegally manufactured without payment of royalties for patented designs or
construction features and sold at prices that undercut fair market values were called "bootleg" tubes.

SI
circulated via Letter Circulars, a total of seven being written. In 1924 the project was
17
summarized in a Bureau Technological Paper [2].
The burgeoning radio industry was not without its growing pains in the early 1920's.
Lack of standardization within the entire broadcasting field was brought to the attention of
the Bureau by producer, distributor, and consumer alike. By the latter part of 1922 no less
than seven national technical and business organizations brought pressure on the Bureau to
initiate action for standardization. Yet "standardization" meant many things to many
18
people.
At the call of the Bureau, a conference was held in New York City on January 12, 1923,
19
over which Dr. F. C. Brown, acting director of the Bureau presided. One hundred and six
were in attendance, representing nearly that number of different associations,
manufacturers, dealers, and broadcast operating companies.
A Sectional Committee sponsored by the Institute of Radio Engineers and the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers was set into motion. Many subcommittees operated within
its framework, the total effort going toward recommending standards to the American
20,21
Engineering Standards Committee. Dellinger, Whittemore, and Jolliffe took active roles
in the standardization programs for a number of years.
To popularize radio broadcasting, early in the summer of 1921 a portable receiver was
built in the laboratory and dubbed a "Portaphone." The three-tube circuit, with batteries
and loop antenna enclosed within a wood carrying case, provided enough sound from a
"morning glory" horn to entertain a passerby with music from local broadcasting stations.
Such was the appeal of radio in the early stages of broadcasting. Today's transistorized
receiver held in the hand is many stages in advance of the Bureau's "Portaphone," but the
22
magic spell has largely disappeared.

17
Laboratory tests developed by the section included determination of frequency range, sensitivity to weak signals,
and selectivity of the tuning circuit to wanted signal with suppression of signal from stations of adjacent
frequencies (before the common use of superheterodyne receivers, tuning with high selectivity was a serious
problem). Ruggedness of construction was evaluated with a motor-driven shaking table.
1H
The clamor for standardization included the subjects of nomenclature, terminology, definitions, proper labeling of
radio products, power rating of transmitting tubes, standardization of tube bases and sockets, dimensional
standards for connectors, safety standards, acceptable testing procedures, performance ratings, quantitative
information rather than adjective descriptions, and restraints on expression of receiver performance in terms of the
occasional freak reception expressed in miles from a broadcasting station.
19
Dr. Stratton had resigned from the director's office effective at the end of 1922; Dr. Burgess was not appointed
until April 21, 1923. During the interim, Dr. Fay C. Brown, technical assistant to Stratton, served as the acting
director.
20
Later to become the American Standards Association and more recently the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI).
21
One standards of continuing prominence and value has been that of the Standards Committee
field of activity in
and the many subcommittees set up within the Institute of Radio Engineers shortly after its founding in 1912. Over
the years it has continued to be a functioning group (now within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers), bringing out reports of a broad scope every few years. Important in the early years was standardization
of terminology.
22
An interesting project is noted in the Monthly Report of May 21, 1921 which stated:

Efforts were made to construct a pocket receiving set for the use of the Director around the Bureau
grounds so that the Director's office could communicate with him at any time. The construction of
such a small set was found to involve a number of difficulties, including special problems in amplifier
design, and a satisfactory set has not yet been constructed.

There no evidence that the project was continued in later years when such a receiving set would have been
is

more advancing technology. The Bureau had to wait nearly 50 years before adopting a "walkie-
feasible with the
talkie" two-way communication system for use on Bureau grounds by the Plant Division at the Boulder
Laboratories. Similar communication systems have been in operation for a number of years at NBS Gaithersburg.
Transistor operation made these communication systems vastly superior to the bulk and energy requirements of
1921 vacuum tubes.

82
The "Portaphone, "a portable radio receiver constructed by the Radio Section in 1921. Included within the wood case
(12x12x6 in) was a loop antenna with tuning capacitor, electron-tube detector, two-stage amplifier, and dry
batteries. A loudspeaker driver unit fitted with a small "morning glory" horn provided sufficient volume to
entertain the passerby with music from local broadcasting stations. A later model completely enclosed a wood
horn.

In addition to the many novel uses to which radio broadcasting was applied, there was
its therapeutic value to hospital patients as a means of entertainment and news source.
Thus it was in 1924 that the New York Sun and S. L. Rothafel (of Roxy Theatre fame) raised
funds for radio reception facilities in all Government hospitals. Dr. Jolliffe took a very
active part as a committeeman in engineering of these installations. The project was begun
with three hospitals in Washington, D.C., and then carried to all sections of the country.
When completed, facilities were provided that enabled 120,000 patients to "listen in."
As the radio boom was fading away the Radio Section engaged in two events that were
above the "stunt" status. In each event a Ford trimotor plane was used, furnished by the
Ford Motor Co. With much haste a plane was fitted with equipment that permitted an
announcer to view the cruiser Memphis move up the Potomac River to Washington and
then follow the cavalcade of cars to the Washington Monument grounds where Colonel
Charles Lindbergh was received by President Coolidge. This was on June 11, 1927, after
Lindbergh's historic crossing of the Atlantic by air from New York to Paris. The plane's
transmitter relayed the announcer's descriptive account to the Bureau's radio facility at
College Park where it was rebroadcast and also picked up by the telephone lines of the
United Press for rebroadcasting. On April 14, 1928, in cooperation with the All America
Aircraft Show at Detroit, Mich., Radio Section equipment was used as a flying studio and
airborne transmitter to stage a radio program from the air. The program was heard across
the country by rebroadcasting from a high-power Detroit station. The event was an
outstanding feature of the aircraft show.

83
 "

Remote control by radio

Even before wireless telegraphy became an engineering reality at the close of the 19th
century there had been the contemplation of remote control of electrical devices by
"wireless." At the request of the U.S. Army Air Service, the Radio Section initiated such a
23
project in the summer of 1921. This project was a natural for Francis Dunmore who by now
had developed an aptitude for electron-tube circuits. It was his application of the electron
tube to the control unit at a distant point that spelled early success. Nearly a decade before,
several entrepreneurs with an inventive bent had some success with remote control by
wireless without the use of electron tubes.
24
In the spring of 1922 Dunmore published a paper on his accomplishment [3]. The term
"relay recorder" used in the title of his paper is somewhat misleading for the device
controlled a relay and, in turn, the relay could serve various purposes ranging from a
telegraph "sounder" and operation of a signal recorder to the control of mechanical
movement.

23
More than a year were made by the Radio Laboratory on the use of an electron tube as a
earlier experiments
came from the Bureau of
relay in a block signal device for safety of railroad trains. Request for this development
Safety of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
24
The object of the development was to operate a moderately sensitive telegraph-type relay from a radio signal
under conditions of vibration such as on board an airplane. This was accomplished by using an electron-tube
receiving set with sufficient output signal of an audiofrequency tone (from a modulated transmitter or a heterodyne
note) to operate an electron tube (two UV201 tubes in parallel) in a plate-rectification mode (using approximately
30 volts negative bias). This method of operation gave Dunmore the advantage of differentiating the control signal
from moderate levels of static. By tuning the secondary of the audio transformer (feeding the relay circuit) with a
variable capacitor, Dunmore was able to gain additional frequency selectivity against extraneous noise or
unwanted signals. At 10-mA plate current he was able to obtain a speed as high as 48 contacts per second from the
relay.
As an additional feature to obtain reliance against operation from unwanted signals, Dunmore suggested the
simultaneous reception of audio tones from two separate radio frequency signals in order for the relay to function.
There is no evidence that this scheme was used by Dunmore. However, he operated two relays in series from two
different audio tones in order to obtain reliance against unwanted signals.

Remote control by a radio signal was achieved in 1922 by Dunmore with his design of this "radio receiving relay.
—
One model was energized by batteries, another operated from 60-Hz alternating current a new achievement.
—
Remote control by radio signals became a common mode of operation in later years eventually to distances of
interplanetary space.

X4
 Dunmore's remote-control relay was among the forerunners of the many devices that
were to be developed in later years for telemetering and remote control by radio signals,
ranging from short distances out to interplanetary space. Such was the unforeseen potential
of this development in the Radio Section. However, his device had another feature that was
to have great potential within a few years. Dunmore came out with two designs of his
remote-control relay, one for use on batteries, the other for use on "60-cycle, 110-volt, A-C
25
supply." Concurrently with the development of this alternating-current feature, Lowell
and Dunmore were developing methods of energizing a radio receiving set with 60-Hz
alternating current.

AC OPERATION OF ELECTRON TUBES

1. Early use of ac operation of electron tubes
The millstone around the neck of early radio receiving sets and amplifiers was the
weight, size, cost, and nuisance of batteries — the storage-type "A" battery (filament heating)
and the dry-cell type "B" batteries (plate supply). If dry-cell type "C" batteries were
necessary for grid bias there was but little problem, for they were relatively cheap and had
a lifetime equivalent to their shelf life. The broadcast listener of the early 1920's learned to
live with the battery problem —
there was no choice unless he was satisfied with a crystal
set. The first tubes that came out with filament operation from dry cells were a partial
answer to the battery problem. Then came the "A" battery eliminator of several types. But
not until vacuum tubes became available in the mid-1920's for ac operation from the house
lighting circuit was there a satisfactory solution to energizing the receiving set. The much
greater energy requirements to operate transmitter tubes brought on the early use of direct-
current power sources such as motor generators and the rectification of alternating current
to power both the filaments and plates of these tubes. Before 1920 the Radio Laboratory was
designing and building power supplies for the plates of the larger electron tubes. These
consisted of a transformer (multiwinding), two-element tubes (kenotrons) and sometimes
three-element tubes (grid and plate shorted) for rectifiers, and choke coils and large
capacitors for "smoothing" or filter circuits to minimize the hum of pulse components of the
rectified current.

2. The "Better Mousetrap"

The early developments in the Radio Laboratory of audio-frequency and radio-frequency
multistage amplifiers around 1920 brought on the need of energizing the many electron
tubes by means other than the cumbersome batteries. Thus it was that Percival Lowell and
Francis Dunmore put themselves to the task of developing the "better mousetrap." Their
project in the winter of 1921-1922 was the development of a five-stage amplifier (three RF
stages and two AF stages), plus tuning circuits, with the electron tubes energized from 60-Hz
alternating current. By February 1922 they had an improved model of their equipment in
operation. The Monthly Report for February 1922 stated that: "The use of AC supply makes
this amplifier much more convenient for use by the general public than the usual amplifier
having DC supply, since the inconvenient storage battery is not necessary."
In the spring of 1922, as Lowell was writing a paper on the project for a technical
journal, a premature announcement of the development came out as a press release by the
Department of Commerce. It caused the "world" to beat a path to the doorstep of the
Bureau to see and learn more of this "better mousetrap." What took place was well

25
With a special six-winding transformer (110-volt primary), the tube filaments were supplied with raw ac. Grid and
plate voltages receiving tubes used as half-wave rectifiers (grid and plate tied
came from separate windings, with
together) and large capacitors used to smooth the ac ripple. Residual ac hum was not a serious problem with the
one-stage circuit.

85
 26
described in the May 1922 Monthly Report of the Radio Section. The manufacturers and
dealers in storage batteries were, indeed, alarmed about this new method of operating
—
receiving sets broadcasting had brought a bonanza to the storage battery industry.

3. AC operation an accomplished fact

On May 10, Bureau published Letter Circular 65 entitled "Electron tube

1922, the
amplifier using 60-cycle alternating current to supply power for the filaments and plates."
Although a circuit diagram of the complete amplifier and tuning circuit was included, many
of the technical details were missing. Significantly it stated that:

The storage battery ordinarily required up the filament of electron

to light
tubes is a drawback to the general use The battery must be
of radio sets.
charged from time to time, it is bulky and heavy, and the acid in it is a
source of danger and damage in a household. In this amplifier both the
filament storage battery and the dry battery used in the plate circuit are
replaced by a special transformer, and an electron tube rectifier and
accessories, the aggregate bulk and weight of which is less than that of the
batteries.

Lowell wrote a technical paper on the development for two publications, including a
27
Bureau Scientific Paper [4, 5]. He gave credit to Dunmore as a coworker. Radio engineers
and broadcast listeners were now aware that the problems associated with battery operation
could be overcome. But new receivers operating from "60-cycle alternating current" did not
appear overnight.
Lowell resigned from the Bureau on July 15, 1922, at about the time that his two papers
on the development of the ac operation of electron tubes were published. He was not to
return until March 17, 1941, when the Radio Section was beginning to take an active part in
development of wartime projects. Dunmore continued work in the Radio Section, and later
in CRPL. He retired in 1949.

26
"Electron tubes. — Through an error, an incorrect statement was released to the press through the Department of
Commerce Press Room
regarding the amplifier developed by Mr. Lowell which uses 60-cycle alternating-current
supply for both filaments and plates. The publicity release stated that about May 1st the Bureau of Standards
would have on sale for 5 cents a publication describing this amplifier. This error was due to a confusion of Circular
120, describing a simple crystal detector receiving set, with Mr. Lowell's paper describing this amplifier, which is to
be published in the 'Journal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.' As a result of this error, both the
Bureau and the Superintendent of Documents have received a great many orders for the amplifier paper. A
number of storage battery companies have viewed with alarm the amplifier, using alternating-current supply, as a
probable source of a marked decrease in the storage battery business. Some storage battery companies have sent
representatives to the Bureau to get the details concerning this amplifier, and they have been supplied with
information as to the possibilities and the limitations of the device."
27
The development of the ac-operated amplifier was a series of several progressive steps. The first step was that of
supplying 60-Hz alternating current to the filaments only of a receiving set fitted with one stage of RF
amplification, an electron-tube detector, and one stage of AF amplification. Success was attained in minimizing
hum by using a balancing resistor (voltage divider) for each grid return, keeping the grid voltage to the average
voltage of the electrical midpoint of the filament. However, Lowell and Dunmore experienced considerable hum
from the detector circuit. The electron-tube detector was replaced with a crystal detector, with a marked reduction
in hum.
The next step was to power the plate circuits with rectified ac by using a three-element tube as a rectifier (grid
and plate connected together). A large capacitor gave a smoothing action to minimize hum. (In later years receiving
sets and amplifiers were designed with inductive-capacitative filters that held ac hum to very low levels.) In their
final design Lowell and Dunmore constructed a receiving set by using three stages of RF amplification, two stages
of AF amplification, and a crystal detector. Thus they obtained fairly high sensitivity and a degree of hum that was
quite acceptable. Not until the arrival of indirectly heated cathode tubes a few years later was it practical to use
alternating current to heat the detector-stage tube.

86
Percival D. Lowell joined the Bureau in 1913 to become its first laboratory technician to work in radio. Among his
many contributions was the development, along with Dunmore, of a method of energizing the filaments and plates
of an electron-tube receiver with rectified and partially filtered 60-Hz alternating current. Two patents led to much
litigation in later years. (Photo taken June 16, 1922.)

4. The meshes of "The Mousetrap"

On March 21, 1922, Dunmore and Lowell a patent on energizing the electron
filed for
tubes of a power amplifier from an alternating current power source (normally 60 Hz).
Patent 1,606,212, entitled "Power amplifier," was issued on November 9, 1926. Various
28
circuit configurations were used to reduce hum. Novel to the circuitry was minimization of
audible hum from a moving coil or armature type of loudspeaker by phase neutralization of
the hum component(s) in the coil with hum component(s) in the winding of the
electromagnetic field (energized by rectified current) of the loudspeaker. After 12 years of
litigation, a disclaimer for this novel method of reducing hum was filed August 16, 1938, by
Dunmore and Lowell and the exclusive licensee, the Dubilier Condenser Corp. Use of the
field winding as a reactance for a filter circuit was retained in the patent.
A second patent on ac operation of electron tubes was filed 6 days later, on March 27,
1922. This patent, entitled "Radio receiving apparatus," was filed by Lowell and Dunmore,
the order of the names being reversed from the first patent. The order of names was in
deference to the priority and importance of the contributions each made to the two patents.
The second patent was issued May 15, 1923, as Patent 1,455,141.
Again, after the passage of 10 years and of litigation, a disclaimer for certain features of
the original design was filed July 8, 1933, by Lowell and Dunmore, and the exclusive
licensee, the Dubilier Condenser Corp. Many of the circuit features of the patent for ac
operation of power amplifiers (first patent) were incorporated in the receiver circuit. Only
certain of these remained in the patent after the disclaimer.
The potential of these two patents for large financial returns to the patentees or any
licensee was high. The potential was the manufacture of millions of radio receiving sets and

28
A specially constructed six-winding transformer was used to energize the amplifier. Choke-coil reactances,
capacitors, and resistors were used form different types of circuits to filter or block the 60-Hz alternating
to
current. A two-element "tungar" rectifier was used to energize the loudspeaker field winding, and a three-element
(with grid and plate shortcircuited) tube was used as a rectifier for the plate circuits. Voltage dividers across the
filament circuit for grid return stabilized the grid voltage with a minimum of hum.

ST
various types of amplifiers, incorporating ac operation, during the life of the patents.
However, because of the lack of a definite and uniform policy on patents issued to
Government employees, Dunmore and Lowell were caught up in the meshes of patent
litigation during the 15 years following their filing for the two patents in 1922. A detailed
account of the litigation that ensued is beyond the scope of this account. A summary account
was written by Cochrane in Measures for Progress as an extensive footnote (footnote 148, pp.
348-349) to his treatment of the patents.
In retrospect we can view the inventive genius of these two members of the Radio
Section as having thought out novel and important features of radio circuitry for a
burgeoning technology at a time when the radio listening public had need of a more
convenient means of operating its sets. It is true there were more ac operation features to
come, by others, such as the heater-type tubes; nevertheless, Dunmore and Lowell must be
given much credit for developing some of the essential features for ac operation of radio sets.

RADIO TELEPHONY BECOMES ESTABLISHED

By the close of World War I the Radio Section was caught up in the meteoric rise in the
use of vacuum tubes. By 1920 most of the section's transmitting and receiving equipment
was converted to or being built for electron-tube operation. Radio telephone equipment was
developed for the Navy Department and the section borrowed some of the design features
for its experimental broadcast transmitter. In turn, this engendered the development of
laboratory equipment and new types of receiver circuitry that incorporated electron tubes.
Vacuum-tube amplifiers became the order of the day and the section was busy at
developing audio- and radio-frequency amplifiers for laboratory use, resulting in several
publications. Out of these developments came the alternating-current operation of
amplifiers by Lowell and Dunmore.
With the aid of the electron tube the Radio Section made rapid progress in two areas
during the 1920's: the development of short-wave techniques and of piezoelectric oscillators
and resonators for frequency standards (see chs. VI and VIII).

PROMULGATION OF THE WRITTEN AND SPOKEN WORD

1. Radio information in multitudinous channels
Early in 1922, at the beginning of the radio boom, there were plans to prepare a Bureau
publication on "Radio for Everybody," but the plans came to naught. Yet during the next
few years there was a profusion of information in many forms that came out of the Radio
Section.
It was probably a combination of Dellinger's methodical procedures of documenting
information and the burgeoning of information from the radio boom that brought about an
abundance of reports, publications, file records, lectures, and radio talks during the first half
of the 1920's. The result became a treasure trove of information that today serves as a most
helpful means of probing the past.
Shortly after World War I Dellinger insisted that all the war projects be documented
and filed for a permanent record. It was from this material that the radio subjects were
taken for NBS Miscellaneous Publication 1^6, "War Work of the Bureau of Standards" (see
ch. III).

a) The "Radio Information Clearing House"

A reference file on sources of radio information that had a modest beginning with
Richard Ould in January 1920 skyrocketed in the number of entries, and by 1921 had over
10,000 entries and took on the name "radio information clearing house." By 1938 the
reference file had grown to 35,000 cards. When the radio boom began to sweep the country
the Radio Section was swamped by inquiries for information at the rate of several hundred
per day. This "clearing house" file became a very valuable asset to the section in answering
inquiries. The issuance of Letter Circulars and the use of form letters eased the
correspondence load considerably, but the overall problem of answering mail remained for
 "

several years. The on radio subjects, in both the U.S. and

listing of literature references
foreign literature, largely became the product
of Miss Elizabeth Zandonini. In later years it
became known as "References to the Current Radio Periodical Literature. 29
Without a doubt, this list of literature references on radio subjects, collected and
classified over a period of 9 years, was one of the most extensive for the period covered
(1920-28). In choice of selection it was slanted essentially toward the interests of the
professional engineer. However, today, the location of this card file on radio information is
unknown. Many inquiries have failed to disclose its location or even its existence. If
irretrievable, the technical libraries have lost a valuable resource for searching radio
literature of a period when radio broadcasting and listening reached the height of
popularity.

b ) The Dewey Decimal Classification of documents and files

The growth of the "radio information clearing house" brought on the need for
classification of this information and the section's files on radio science and engineering
subjects in general. After some study of the problem, the Dewey Decimal Classification was
30
selected and used. The whole subject of radio in the Dewey Classification came under the
number 621.384 which, for simplicity, was replaced by the letter "R." As many as six digits
followed the "R" for the Bureau's purpose. Out of the efforts of the Radio Section to classify
its own files, records, documents, and books came NBS Circular 138, entitled "A Decimal

—
Classification of Radio Subjects An Extension of the Dewey System," released March 21,
1923. This became a useful document in the fast growing field of radio literature. Revisions
continued until 1947. The second edition (1930) was reprinted in the August 1930 issue of the
31
Proc. IRE. By then approximately 1800 radio subjects and subclasses of subjects had been
classified.

c) The Radio Ser vice Bulletin

By 1922 the monthly lists prepared for the "radio information clearing house" began to
appear in printed form in the Radio Service Bulletin, a monthly publication of the
Department of Commerce that began in January 1915. It was first issued by the Bureau of
Navigation as a successor to the quarterly supplement to the List of Radio Stations in the
United States. During 1927 the publication was taken over by the Radio Division of the
Department. The bulletin served as a guide to Radio Inspectors of the Department and to
operators of Government and commercial radio stations. Among other informative items
were the listings of new stations and changes in the radio laws and regulations. The Radio
Section of NBS furnished items of technical interest for a number of years. Publication
ceased in 1933.

d) Information on information
In September 1923 the section published NBS Circular 122, entitled "Sources of
Elementary Radio Information." 32 Covered in this publication were the current periodicals,
Government publications, books, radio call books, sources of information on radio laws and
regulation, and miscellaneous information. In later years supplements in the form of Letter
Circulars filled in for reference to the growing number of publications being written by the
Radio Section.

e) A BIBLIOGRAPHY ON AIRCRAFT RADIO

A bibliography of over 250 entries on aircraft radio, prepared by Dr. Jolliffe and Miss
Zandonini, appeared in the July 1928 issue of the Proc. IRE. It was the result of the section's

29
Files of these literature references were made available to the Library of Congress, the Engineering Societies
Library in New York City, and the John Crerar Library in Chicago.
30
This classification of subject matter, popular at the time for libraries, was the product of the librarian, Melvil
Dewey, who introduced the system in 1876. It has been supplanted in some libraries by the Library of Congress
Classification.
31
The 1st edition was edited by L. E. Whittemore and R. S. Ould, the 2d edition by J. H. Dellinger and C. B. Jolliffe.
32
The Circular first appeared as a Letter Circular in January 1922. The term "elementary" was a bit misleading,
for a considerable portion of the material referenced was at a substantial technical level of radio engineering.

89
program on radio navigation for airplanes and came at a time when there was a greatly
increased interest in aviation (shortly after Lindbergh's historic flight of 1927).

2. Letting the public know

During the 1920's the work of the Radio Section was a favorite means of popularizing
the radio boom through the news media. Possibly at no other time or in any other scientific
or engineering field has the Bureau been so popularized. A prelude to what was to come
33

was a motion picture news story of the Radio Laboratory made by the Pathe Co. in 1919.
Almost from the beginning of its extensive life (from 1917) the Technical News Bulletin
had the Radio Section (and later the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory) as a major
source of news contributions. This was especially so during the 1920's when the Bureau was
being popularized by its role in the radio boom.
But it was through the newspapers and popular radio magazines that the Radio Section
received its widest publicity. Throughout the radio boom period many reporters and feature
writers used material gathered from the developments and operations of the Radio Section.
Also, many of these accounts were direct contributions by Dellinger and others of the
section staff, their names being listed as authors. The extent and variety of these news
34,35
stories made for interesting reading during the years of the radio boom.
During the 1920's the Radio Section was much visited by those whose interests ranged
from that of the research worker to those simply entranced with radio broadcasting. In some
years more than a thousand visitors were listed, among which were the "greats" and "near
greats" of radio science and engineering. Publicity brought visitors to the Radio Section, and
they left as bearers of publicity. The Monthly Report of April 1922 bewailed the situation
36
that furnishing information was stifling research programs.

33
There could be one exception to this circumstance, that of the publicity brought about by the AD-X2 (battery
additive) case of the early 1950's; but then the situation was less favorable tothe Bureau than that of the years of
the radio boom (see Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 483-487).
34
A sampling of subject matter that appeared as news accounts included:
The radio work of the Department of Commerce, J. H. Dellinger, QST June 1921.
Blindfold navigation by radio, F. A. Kolster, Shipping, Feb. 25, 1921.
Fading of signals, S. R. Winters (non-NBS), Radio News, Feb. 1921.
New York first with radio lighthouses, F. A. Collins (non-NBS), New York Tribune, May 8, 1921.
Objects that distort radio waves, L. E. Whittemore, Radio Broadcast, June 1922.
Reducing the guesswork in tuning, J. H. Dellinger, Radio Broadcast, July 1923.
Radiant future for radio forecast, J. H. Dellinger, Manufacturers News, Apr. 12, 1924.
Radio and time keeping, L. E. Whittemore, The National Jeweler, Nov. 1923.
U.S. Bureau of Standards sets pace for radio, J. H. Dellinger, Chicago Tribune, Nov. 16, 1924.
How broadcasting has changed since it started in 1921, J. H. Dellinger, N. Y. Herald-Tribune, Aug. 9, 1925.
Static a puzzler to radio research, J. H. Dellinger, New York Times, Sept. 13, 1925.
Fewer stations or more interference, J. H. Dellinger, New York Sun, Oct. 31, 1925.
Radio paradise, J. H. Dellinger, NY. Herald -Tribune, Nov. 2, 1925.
35
A sampling of subject matter that was given as talks to groups or via radio broadcasts:
Performance tests of radio receiving sets, L. E. Whittemore, Washington Section of AIEE, Oct. 10, 1922.

What's coming in radio, J. H. Dellinger, station WRC (Washington), Dec. 28, 1923.
Reradiating receivers, C. B. WRC (Washington), Jan. 25, 1924.
Jolliffe, station
What you want to know about antennas, J. WRC (Washington), Apr. 9, 1924.
H. Dellinger, station
Facts and fancies about the crystal set, M. S. Strock, station WRC (Washington), Dec. 20, 1924.
Radio as a vocation, J. H. Dellinger, station WRC (Washington), Jan. 31, 1925.
The fading and other vagaries of radio waves, J. H. Dellinger, station WRC (Washington), May 30, 1925.
Radio as seen from the Bureau of Standards, H. Dellinger, Patent Office Society (Washington), Feb. 12, 1926.
J.

The electron tube, C. B. Jolliffe, station WRC (Washington), Sept. 26, 1925.
How the Bureau of Standards assists the amateur, E. M. Zandonini, station WMAL
(Washington), June 14, 1926.
Applications of radio in air navigation, J. H. Dellinger, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Philadelphia,
Sept. 7, 1926.
The possibilities of directional radio transmission, J. H. Dellinger, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Mar. 3, 1927.
36
"The time of the most of the members of the Section continues, as has been the case for several months, to be
devoted primarily to desk work, so that the Section is much more of a clearinghouse than a research laboratory.
Only a comparatively small amount of experimental work is being done. The desk work includes a large volume of
miscellaneous correspondence, activities in connection with the broadcasting conference, including much
correspondence, the preparation of very elementary instruction material for the novice, the compilation of lists of
publications, publication routine, the preparation of reports of experimental work heretofore completed, and
preparation of publicity material. At the present time there are employed in the Section, six clerks, besides one aid
who does considerable clerical work."

90
3. Books for the radio set fan

ALefax book (looseleaf book of a bygone period) came out as the Lefax Radio Handbook
in 1922,and a bound edition in 1924. Published by Lefax, Inc. of Philadelphia, this 130-page
handbook was written by Dellinger and Whittemore. Its several sections took up the
subjects of: the uses of radio, principles of reception, antenna construction, fundamentals of

transmission, and construction of receiving sets. It was a practical guide to those taken with
37
the broadcast fever.
Richard Ould of the section brought out a book near the close of 1924 that was
S.
entitled How Radio Is Received. It was one of a radio series known as The Experimenter's
Library published by the Consrad Co. of New York City. Previously, Ould had taken a major
part in the revision of the Bureau's Radio Pamphlet 40, entitled The Principles Underlying
Radio Communication (see ch. Ill, p. 53).

Services by conferees and committeemen to

Government, industry, and to technical organizations
Along with the rapid growth of radio communication during the 1920's, the Radio
Section was developing an expertise that gave a guiding hand to many conferences and
committees. It was a period when the section was becoming involved with various
Government agencies, national technical and industrial groups, and in the affairs relating to
international communications. These relationships gave stature to the radio work of the
Bureau and to the Bureau itself. The breadth and scope of the section's services during the
1920's can be elicited from a listing of these conferences and committees. A more detailed
account is given in chapters XVI, XVII, and XVIII.
The Radio Section became an active participant in Government circles during World
War I and continued with increased participation thereafter. Among these relationships
were:
Interdepartmental Radio Conferences (to 1919)
Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) (continuing to the present)
Subcommittee on Policy and Legislation of IRAC
Technical Staff of American Delegation, Washington Conference on Limitation of
Armaments (1921-1922)
Committee on Radio Apparatus, Federal Specifications Board
First, Second, Third, and Fourth National Radio Conferences (called by Secretary of
Commerce Herbert Hoover), with participation in Committee on Frequency
Allocation and Committee on Interference
Federal Radio Commission, as advisors (Dellinger, chief engineer, 4 months) (Jolliffe,
chief engineer, 5 years)
Executive Committee on Aeronautical Radio
Liaison Committee on Aeronautical Radio Research
Committee on Air Transport Radio, all of the Department of Commerce
Special
Subcommittee on Communications, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
Kolster had become an active member of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) in its
early years, joining the organization within a month after its formation in 1912. The
Washington Section was among the early sections of the IRE. Members of the Radio Section

In their preface, the authors stated:

Radio has taken its place in modern life alongside the telephone, the phonograph, and the
automobile. Civilization is communication, and radio is the unique supplement of all other
means of communication. With its novelty and mystery, radio has an appeal to everyone, but it
has also rapidly increasing real utility.

... It is the hope of the authors that this book will really assist in making radio less of a
mystery and more of a familiar friend, and that the information given will contribute to the
satisfaction and service which the reader gets from radio.

91
took an active part in IRE affairs, first locally, and later at the national level. Among the
many activities of the Radio Section in the IRE during the 1920's were:
Institute of Radio Engineers (Dellinger, vice president 1924, president 1925)
Washington Section of IRE
Standards Committee (Dellinger, one-time chairman) including: Subcommittee on
Radio Telephone Transmitter and Receiver Terminology, Subcommittee on Receiving Sets,
Subcommittee on Vacuum Tubes, Subcommittee on Bibliography
The Fourth Annual Convention of the IRE convened in Washington in 1929, with C. B.
Jolliffe as general chairman of the convention.
The Radio Section engaged in many standardizing activities in addition to those
associated with the Institute of Radio Engineers. Most of the standards work of the 1920's
came about from the demands of manufacturers, retailers, and owners of receiving sets as a
result of the radio boom.
After the Radio Standardization Conference of January 12, 1923, in New York City (see
p. 82), as a result of Bureau efforts, other groups followed in the train, with Radio Section
personnel taking part, principally on:
American Engineering Standards Committee (preceding the American Standards
Association) with: Subcommittee on Radio, Subcommittee on Electron Tubes, Sectional
Committee on Radio.
Other groups with which the section took part in committee functions included:
Insulating Material Committee, American Society for Testing Materials
Advisory Technical Committees, American Radio Relay League
Interference Committee, American Radio Association
Radio Committees, National Electric Code, National Board of Fire Underwriters
Subcommittee on Telephony, Telegraphy, and Radio, Standards Committee,
American Institute of Electrical Engineers
Committee on Earth Currents and Polar Lights, American Geophysical Union
Committee on Radio Broadcasting, American Engineering Council
Beginning in October 1920 the Bureau took part in its long association with the affairs
of the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI). It was then that Kolster attended, by
invitation, the first meeting of the American Section of Radiotelegraphy of URSI. In later
years Dellinger and others became much involved in the affairs of URSI, particularly with
the American Section and with the international meeting in Washington (1927). Included
among the committee activities was that of the Committee on Methods of Measurement and
Standards.
Late in the 1920 decade the Radio Section took part in the first meeting of the
International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR), convening at The Hague in 1929. As
participants, Dellinger was chairman of the American Committee on Frequency
Maintenance, and Jolliffe the chairman of the Committee on Transmitter Interference.
Each served as a technical assistant to the American Delegation at The Hague meeting.
Four members of the section served as technical advisors at the (Third) International
Radiotelegraph Conference that met in Washington, D.C. during October 1927. At this time
Dr. Dellinger served on the Special Committee on Frequency Measurements.

Bureau programs with roots in the 1920 s

1. The propagation and ionosphere programs

Austin's investigations on radio wave propagation for the Naval Wireless Telegraphic
Laboratory (in close association with, and located at the Bureau) dated back to 1909. In a
Bureau publication of 1911 Austin accounts for anomalies in his observations as being due to
38
absorption of radio signals in the ionized layer above the Earth. In a 1913 paper Austin
explains the increased strength of nighttime signals by reflection from an ionized layer that
is less uniform during the day.

Kennelly and Heaviside had independently suggested in 1902 the existence of an electrically conducting layer in
:,!,

the Earth's upper atmosphere— later to be called the Kennelly-Heaviside layer (see ch. I, p. 9; ch. VII, p. 172).

92
 In 1919 Lt. Commander A. Hoyt Taylor observed and published an account of largi
variations in the strength of nighttime signals received on a loop antenna, accompanied by
large variations of directional bearing of the transmitter. These effects were attributed to
reflectionand refraction in the ionosphere. Taylor was associated with the Naval Aircraft
Radio Laboratory (located in the Radio Building) that had close associations with the Radio
Section.
In the spring of 1919 L. E. Voorhees of the Radio Laboratory observed the same
variational effects as Taylor, using a loop antenna as a direction finder. Voorhees recorded
his own observations and his confirmation of Taylor's work in a report deposited in the
Radio File. 39 Thus the Bureau was making its own and first observations of radio
propagation as knowingly affected by the ionosphere.
The fading of radio signals was of much concern to the Radio Laboratory, and was a
puzzlement to operators and scientifically minded observers from the very beginning of
radio. On June 1, 1920, a cooperative program was initiated by the Radio Laboratory with
the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) in a broadside approach by enlisting a large
number of radio amateurs to observe fading effects. The vagaries of transmission observed
by the growing multitude of listeners in the broadcast frequencies gave added incentive to
study fading phenomena. The cooperative program on fading studies with the ARRL and
later with several universities and radio stations continued until 1927. Thereafter, fading
observations were made by section personnel with automatic recording equipment.
The Bureau's first measurements of the height of ionosphere layer(s) were made in
February 1929 by T. R. Gilliland, using a pulse technique. Transmissions came from the
Naval Research Laboratory in southeast Washington, with reception at a Kensington, Md.
field site 5 miles north of the Bureau grounds. By January 1930 an organized study of the
ionosphere was underway. Thereafter came the many-faceted and extensive program of
probing the secrets of the ionosphere and the vagaries of radio propagation under the able
direction of Dr. Dellinger. The detailed account is given in chapters VII and XI.

2. Standards of frequency and WWV

Although the Bureau's first encounter with frequency measurements related to radio
waves dates back to 1911, no steps were taken to seriously improve upon the technique and
accuracy of measurement until after World War I. Various measurement techniques and
types of frequency standards were tried during the 1920's but it was not until the latter part
of the decade that a breakthrough came by utilizing the potentials of the quartz crystal as a
frequency standard. A group of quartz crystals would serve as the National Primary
Standard of Radio Frequency (and the basis of all frequency standards) until 1960 when the
transition frequency of 9192.6317700 MHz of the cesium atom was adopted as the U.S.
Frequency Standard. Yet it was during the radio boom in the 1920's that the Bureau's
standard frequency broadcasts of WWV
and the calibration of wavemeters gave yeoman
service to the new technology of broadcasting. The detailed account on frequency standards
and WWV is given in chapter VIII.

3. Radio navigation and landing of airplanes

Radio as an aid to the navigation and landing of airplanes had a modest state of
development early in the 1920's. With the creation of the Aeronautics Branch of the
Department of Commerce in 1926, the slowed-down development program within the Radio
Section took on a sudden burst of activity. During the next few years a navigation system
and a blind landing system for airplanes was developed at the College Park (Md.) Airfield,
primarily from the ingenuity of Diamond and Dunmore. In September of 1931 the first blind
landing of a plane was made at College Park with the aid of Bureau-designed radio
equipment. The project carried over until the mid-1930's. The detailed account is given in
chapter VI.

39
The observations by Taylor and by Voorhees were reported briefly in April and May 1919 issues of the Bureau of
Standards Confidential Bulletin (predecessor of the Technical News Bulletin).

93
 Radio brings its problems
1. Problems imposed by radio broadcasting
The sudden thrust of radio broadcasting upon the American scene in the early 1920's
was received with wonderment, but accompanied by apprehension and perplexity because of
the problems that surfaced. It was the Department of Commerce that bore the brunt of the
problems, particularly the Secretary, the Bureau of Navigation, and, to a lesser extent, the
Bureau of Standards. Broadcasting was not much more than 1 year old (dated from the
KDKA broadcast of November 2, 1920) when Secretary Herbert Hoover called the
Department of Commerce Conference on Radio Telephony (later known as the First
National Radio Conference) at Washington, D.C. for February 27 and 28, 1922. A large
number attended this conference at which the Bureau's director, Dr. Stratton, served as
chairman. In attendance were invited Government officials, representatives of the radio
industries, and representatives of the broadcasting interests. Herbert Hoover's concern for
the future of radio communications in general and for the broadcasting segment in
40
particular was well voiced in his short address that opened the conference. Hoover took a
very active part throughout the 2-day conference.
The committee that handled the conference was headed by Dr. Stratton. In putting the
conference deliberations into action three committees were set up, with Dr. Stratton as
chairman of the Technical Committee, with well-known radio engineers, including
Goldsmith and Armstrong, serving on the committee.
The road toward regulating radio broadcasting was a hard one to travel and the journey
would be long. Three more National Radio Conferences were to follow, the fourth being held
on November 9, 10, and 11, 1925, almost 4 years after the First Conference. By this time

411
Among the many topics broached by Secretary Hoover, he said:

This Conference has been called at the request of the President (Harding) and its purpose is to
inquire into the critical situation that has arisen through the astonishing development of the
wireless telephone, to advise the Department of Commerce as to the application of its present
powers of regulation and to develop the situation generally with a view to some recommendation
to Congress, if it be necessary, to extend the present powers of regulation. This is one of the few
instances that I know of in this country where the public all of the people interested are — —
unanimously for an extension of regulatory powers on the part of the Government. . . .

We have witnessed in the past four or five months one of the most astounding things that has
come under my observation of American life.This Department estimates that today over 600,000
(one estimate being 1,000,000) persons possess wireless telephone receiving sets, whereas there
were less than fifty thousand such sets a year ago. We are indeed today upon the threshold of a
new means of widespread communication of intelligence that has the most profound importance
from the point of view of public education and welfare. . . .

Congress some few years ago authorized the Secretary of Commerce to license radio sending
stations, and to impose certain conditions in the licenses designed to prevent interference
between stations and to serve the public good. Until the last four or five months there has
. . .

been but little difficulty in handling these regulations, because sending purposes have been
largely confined to radio telegraph, and to a very small extent to the radio telephone. The
extraordinary development of the radio telephone, however, has brought us face to face with an
entirely new condition upon which licenses should be issued. It raises questions as to what
extension in the powers of the Department should be requested of Congress in order that the
maximum public good shall be secured from the development of this great invention. . . .

The problem is one of most intensely technical character, but is not one without hope of fairly
complete solution. . . .

There is involved, however, in all of this regulation the necessity to so establish public right over
the ether roads that there may
be no national regret that we have parted with a great national
asset with uncontrolled hands. believe this conference with the skill it represents will be able to
I

determine upon a method which should give satisfaction in all directions, and should stimulate
the creation of a new addition to our national life. . . .

Note: These excerpts taken from Minutes of Open Meetings of the Department of Commerce Conference on Radio
Telephony, Washington, D.C, February 27 and 28, 1922. Available in Library, Boulder Laboratories, Department of
Commerce.

94
considerable optimism existed that solutions to problems were not far away. Said Secretary
Hoover to the 500 attendees, in opening the Fourth Conference:
We have great reason to be proud of the results of these Conferences. From
them we have established principles upon which our country has led the
world in the development of this science. We have accomplished this by a
large measure of self-government in an art and industry of unheard of
complexity, not only in its technical phases but in its relations both to the
Government and the public. Four years ago we were dealing with a
scientific toy; today we are dealing with a vital force in American life. . . .

In his address Secretary Hoover enumerated the accomplishments by the Department

of Commerce in regulating radio communications but emphasized the many problems still
confronting the Government and industry. Among the nine committees reporting and
making recommendations to the Conference were Committee No. 1: General Allocations of
Frequency (or wavelength bands), on which Dellinger served, and Committee No. 7:
Interference, on which Jolliffe served. Technically, these two committees were the most
important and were confronted with many knotty problems.
With Congress reluctant to pass needed legislation that would give some semblance of
national regulation to the chaotic situation of licensing broadcasting stations, it was not
until the Radio Act of 1927 (signed by President Coolidge on February 23) that the new
Federal Radio Commission was given authority for licensing, frequency allocation, and
transmitter power regulation. Beginning August 1, 1928, Dellinger served as chief engineer
of the Federal Radio Commission for a period of 4 months, taking a leave of absence from
41
the Bureau. However, Dellinger's services to the Engineering Division of the Commission
extended for several months after his return to the Radio Section. Jolliffe transferred to the
Commission on March 1, 1930, to be the chief engineer until 1935. (The Federal Radio
Commission was renamed to Federal Communications Commission in 1934.)

2. Problems of the limited frequency spectrum and of interference

It was in the technical areas of operating frequencies and interference that the Radio
Section could exercise its talents during the chaotic period when broadcasting stations
swarmed over the land. Dellinger and others of the Radio Section were caught up in the
chaos with its technical complexities. The bulk of the earliest broadcast stations was
assigned 360 meters (833.3 kHz) as the operating wavelength. Low transmitter power,
geographical separation of stations over the spaciousness of the United States, and sharing
of time were factors that permitted broadcasting at one frequency. But this lasted only for a
short time. Then came the allocation of frequencies over a fairly wide band, the boosting of
power, the proliferation of stations, and the concentration of stations around large cities.
Because of the inability to be or not to remain "on" frequency, interference became a
serious problem. The wide use of regenerative receivers, with their accompanying tendency
to radiate "squealing" signals, lent to the interference problems in the early years.
It was to the Radio Section that the Department of Commerce had to turn for technical
assistance. It took the form of better design of: (1) wavemeters for more accurate frequency
measurements, (2) RF current meters, and (3) field intensity meters, all for use by the
Department's radio inspectors. A Letter Circular was issued on how to cope with manmade
electrical interference. Probably the technical advice that could be offered to the
Department was the greatest contribution made by the Radio Section during the 1920's.
Dr. Dellinger, in particular, was much concerned over the technical limitations that
radio communications were encountering and especially in the broadcast frequency band.
His lectures and writings of the mid-1920's revealed apprehensions, yet indicated his
understanding of the technical problems. One of his magazine articles, for the general
reader, appeared in the January 1927 issue of The Forum, just a month before the Radio Act
of 1927 was signed by President Coolidge. It was in this article that Dellinger pointed out
the problem of compressing more than 600 broadcast stations (actually 732 stations when

41
For this "leave of absence" it was necessary from legal considerations that Dellinger resign from the Bureau (and
the Department of Commerce) in order to serve as chief engineer of the Federal Radio Commission. He was
reinstated to the Bureau after 4 months duty with the Commission.

95
the Radio Act of 1927 became law) into 90 channels, plus the 5 channels for Canada, over
42
the spectrum of 550 to 1500 kHz [6].
Of course, the solution to the problem was limitation of the number of stations that
could occupy the broadcast band. The Federal Radio Commission exercised its regulatory
powers to bring about the limitation.
Interference by atmospheric static had to be tolerated. Very little in the early
technology could reduce its nuisance to radio broadcasting. Reception during the winter
season offered the greatest relief. Broadcasting networks, using interconnecting telephone
lines, with national programs available from local stations, partly solved the static problem.
But not until frequency-modulation equipment became available around 1940 was the
problem of interference by static successfully solved. Frequency modulation brought on a
whole new frequency band for utilization by the broadcasting interests, plus its advantage of
high-fidelity communication.

3. The problems of radio patents

The abundance of patents that came out of the Radio Section during the 1920's and
1930's was the result of a flourishing technology and the inventive genius of some of the
personnel. Yet the Bureau's patent policy was changeful and clouded with uncertainties.
Stratton's view was that any development that could be considered novel and patentable
was to be assigned to the Government and be free to the public.
A World War I project, an antenna for underwater reception and transmission of radio
signals developed by Willoughby and Lowell (see ch. Ill, p. 58), was a matter of concern
43
after the war when application was made for a patent.
Caught up in the lack of a written patent policy, both within the Bureau and in the
Government, the two patents granted to Lowell and Dunmore on the operation of electronic
apparatus from 60-Hz alternating current passed through much litigation over a 15-year
period (see Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 348-349 for details). Not until Executive
Order 10096 was issued on January 23, 1950, was there a uniform patent policy throughout
44
the Federal Government. Thus for 30 years Bureau employees (and the Bureau
administration) were uncertain on patent rights of their inventions.

The first Radio Advisory Committee

first advisory committee relating to radio programs within the Bureau met for its
The
meeting on March 9, 1926. An account of the meeting, as written by Dellinger in the
initial
Monthly Report of March 1926, lists the attendees and notes the reactions of the committee

42
Dellinger's title of this paper during preparation was "The limitations of radio." In published form the title

became "The empery of the empyrean," probably at the suggestion of an editor. In more familiar words this
published title was more like "The sovereignty of the ether."
Dellinger's concluding paragraph bears quoting, in retrospect:

To sum up, the principal difficulty in the present radio situation is the lack of comprehension of
its physical limitations. The number of broadcasting
public simply will not believe that the
channels is sharply limited. Consequently the demand that additional stations be licensed
continues, and the broadcasting chaos grows worse. The underlying cause of this situation will
undoubtedly be more and more recognized, and the unsatisfactory condition of broadcasting will

be mitigated when individual and public policy conforms to the natural limitations of radio.

43
In the Monthly Report of June 1919, Dellinger stated:

The recent issuance of a patent to J. H. Rogers on a submarine radio aerial of the exact type
developed in the experiments of Messrs. Willoughby and Lowell last summer, has made it
evident that something should be done to secure protection to the Bureau and its members for
devices which are developed here. This particular case was taken up with the Patent Office,
Navy Department, Committees of Congress, and the Attorney-General. It is recommended that
the Bureau urge prompt passage of legislation for the designating of a body to represent
Government employees in the application for and administration of patents.
44
An explanation of patent rights for employees and others of the Bureau, based upon the Executive Order of 1950,
was printed in the May 1973 issue of The NBS Standard.

96
 45
at this first meeting. Through the years these advisory committees would be meeting on
the Bureau grounds. As the radio program broadened it became necessary for several
committees to advise on the several generalized areas of radio programs within the CRPL.

References
[1] Paul Schubert, "The Radio Boom," Ch. 10, The Electric Word, Macmillan, New York, 1928.
[2] J. L. Preston and L. C. F. Horle, "Some methods of testing radio receiving sets," Tech. Papers Bur. of Stand.,
No. 256, Mar. 26, 1924.
[3] F. W. Dunmore, "A relay recorder for remote control by radio," J. Am. Inst. Elec. Engrs., Vol. 41, Apr. 1922, pp.
310-313.
[4] P. D. Lowell, "An electron tube amplifier using 60-cycle alternating current to supply power for the filaments
and plates," Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 18, 1922-1923, pp. 345-352.
[5] "Note on the development of an electron tube amplifier which uses 60-cycle alternating current
P. D. Lowell,
power for the filaments and plates," J. Am. Inst. Elec. Engrs., Vol. 41, July 1922, pp. 488-490.
to supply
[6] John Howard Dellinger, "The empery of the empyrean," The Forum, Vol. 77, No. 1, Jan. 1927, pp. 107-112.

40
Nine organizations had been invited by the Bureau to appoint representatives on the Radio Advisory Committee.
The report read:

Radio Advisory Committee.

The following members of the committee were present at the first meeting held March 9 (1926):
Mr. O. B. Blackwell, American Tel. and Tel. Co.; Mr. F. Conrad, Westinghouse Electric and Mfg.
Co.; Dr. A. N. Goldsmith, Radio Corporation of America; Prof. L. A. Hazeltine, Institute of Radio
Engineers; Mr. E. M. Kinney, General Electric Co.; and Mr. George Lewis, National Association
of Broadcasters. This group met with the members of the Bureau twice during the day, the time
between meetings being taken up with a general inspection of the work of the laboratory. The
general opinion expressed by members of the committee was that the present program is
was general agreement that efforts should be made to limit the
substantially satisfactory. There
number upon which each individual works. Several other suggestions were
of different projects
made, and each of the members was asked to write suggestions after he had had time to consider
the work.

97
 Chapter V

APPLYING THE MEASURING STICK

RADIO STANDARDS AND MEASUREMENTS, PRE-CRPL PERIOD

An Inheritance from the Electrical Division

1. Early measurements
By an Act of Congress approved March 3, 1901, the Office of Standard
Weights and Measures of the Treasury Department was, on July 1, 1901,
superseded by the National Bureau of Standards, the functions of which
may be briefly stated as follows: the custody of standards used in scientific
investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational
institutions, with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government;
the construction, when necessary, of standards, their multiples and
subdivisions; the testing and calibration of standard measuring apparatus;
the solution of problems which arise in connection with standards; the
determination of physical constants and the properties of materials. The
Bureau will also furnish such information concerning standards, methods
of measurement, physical constants, and the properties of materials, as
may be at its disposal, and is authorized to exercise its functions for the
Government of the United States, for State or municipal governments
within the United States, for scientific societies, educational institutions,
firms, corporations, or individuals.

Thus was the opening paragraph in the first Annual Report of the Director of the
National Bureau of Standards (for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1902) to the secretary of
the Treasury Department by the director (S. W. Stratton) of NBS.
It was the electrical group, later to become the Electrical Division, under the leadership
of Dr. Edward B. Rosa that first began to carry out in earnest the precepts of the purpose of
the Bureau. One of the early projects in the group was conducted by Rosa and his colleague,
Dr. Noah E. Dorsey (later, he used the name N. Ernest Dorsey), on a new determination of
the ratio of the electromagnetic to the electrostatic unit of electricity, the ratio being the
speed of light [l]. This relationship was first derived by Clerk Maxwell in 1864. The two
1

physicists probably were not aware that they were measuring very accurately a physical
constant of electromagnetic radiation in which the lower frequency region would be a major
field of research and technical development within their group (division) not many years
hence.

1
By a somewhat "classical" method of using spherical, cylindrical, and plane capacitors, Rosa and Dorsey came up
4
with a value of the speed of electromagnetic radiation of 2.9979 x 10 10 cm/s, with an uncertainty of 1 part in 10 It
.

is interesting that in 1972 a group at the Boulder Laboratories which can trace its lineage back to the former

Washington group (via Quantum Electronics Division, Radio Standards Laboratory, CRPL, Radio Section, and to
the Electrical Division) came up with a value that was two orders of magnitude more accurate than other recent
9
measurements. The value was 2.997924562 x 10 10 cm/s, with a measurement uncertainty of 3 parts in 10 [2].
(Actually, this value of the speed of light was the combination of a frequency measured by the group on a methane-
stabilized laser and the wavelength measured on a frequency-controlled interferometer by a group of the Joint
Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics of NBS and the University of Colorado. The product of the two measurements
gave the speed of light.) The uncertainty of measurement had been reduced by nearly 5 orders of magnitude since
the time of the measurement by Rosa and Dorsey.

99
 Beginning in 1904 and during the next 15 years or so a number of papers were written
by members of the Electrical Division on standards and precision measurement techniques
of the electrical quantities of capacitance, inductance, resistance, voltage, and current, both
for direct current and for alternating current at power frequencies. These papers were
written mainly by Rosa, F. W. Grover, and Louis Cohen (see ch. II). Cohen's writings brought
the division into the lower radio frequencies. With Dellinger's exposure to a radio frequency
problem in 1911 and Kolster's entry into the Electrical Division during the same year to
study radio problems, there came the need to extend the range of the division's standards
and measurement techniques into the radio frequencies. Requests were being made of the
Bureau by the Government and commercial firms for information and services relating to
new uses of radio technology. With Kolster's arrival, the division had a measurement
program underway.

2. Capacitance
All radio circuits exhibit the effects of capacitance, whether in the tuning of circuits, in
coupling, in the pickup of stray signals, or in measurement circuits. From the beginning of
radio measurements, capacitors (condensers) were more adaptable than inductors to
measurement precision. The precision movement of metal plates in contrast to the less
precise movement or control of coils of wire in an inductor accounts for this fact. By mid-
1916 the design for a variable condenser for precision laboratory use had been developed in
sizes ranging from 0.0001 to 0.007 microfarad. The largest contained 59 fixed and 60 movable
plates, of approximately 3-inch radius. Quartz rods and quartz spacers were used in the
construction to minimize changes in capacity caused by temperature changes, and for low
dielectric loss and high resistance. These condensers, known as the "Bureau of Standards
Type" (and the standard inductors), became almost a trademark of the Radio Laboratory for
many years. They performed yeoman service in nearly all of the precision measurements
made in the laboratory and in the field. They >vere well described in NBS Circular 74 (1918).
This type of variable condenser was the heart of the LC circuit wavemeters, including the
two wavemeters used as the frequency standard until 1930 (see ch. VIII, p. 245). Other uses
included: capacitance comparisons, antenna measurements, and power-loss measurements of
insulating materials.

Variable condensers (capacitors) of "Bureau of Standards Type, " with quartz insulation, designed in 1915 for
laboratory standards. One at left includes the housing. One at right contains 59 fixed and 60 movable plates, with
a capacity of 0.007 microfarad.

100
Equipment used for calibration of standard capacitors. The several variable capacitors are of Bureau of Standards
design and construction and were very useful for various types of measurements during the early years of the
Radio Section.

Another laboratory capacitor was the Bureau of Standards Type R, high-tension,

variable capacitor, designed in 1915. This was a large-scale capacitor designed to operate to
35,000 volts when filled with oil. The usual capacity was about 0.005 microfarad.
For fixed capacitors, special types of mica condensers were used in the wavemeters and
other measurement circuits. At high voltages a Leyden jar type of condenser was used.

3. Inductance
As an initial step toward the understanding and use of coils as standard inductors at
radio frequencies Kolster published a paper in 1913 [3]. It was the sixth paper to be
published by the newly organized Institute of Radio Engineers in its Proceedings, and the
first to appear by a Bureau of Standards author. In summarizing his paper, Kolster stated:

It is shown experimentally that an inductance having distributed capacity

may be practically replaced by an inductance (called its "true inductance")
in parallel with a capacity (called its "effective capacity"). Methods of
calculating each from observations are given and it is shown how strong
response to one or more frequencies in wave meters and so-called untuned
detector circuits is caused by distributed capacity inductances, particularly
2
those with dead-ends.

Over a period of years the Electrical Division and then the Radio Laboratory developed
a number of formulas for the inductance of coils in a variety of forms. These formulas
proved very useful in the design of inductors to be used as standards. The inductance could
be determined independently, either by calculation or by measurement and then cross-
checked. At radio frequencies it was necessary to take into account the RF resistance of the
coils and the power loss in the dielectric supporting forms.
A study was initiated in 1914 on inductors specifically designed for wavemeters and
later for use as inductance standards. Facilities were made available for the measurement of

2
Following Kolster's presentation of his paper at the New York meeting in February (probably) 1913, there was a
discussion by more than 10 persons, the discussion taking up 7 pages following the printed paper. This practice of
printing the discussion was dropped by the IRE some years later. (Kolster joined the IRE on June 3, 1912, within a
month after the founding of the Institute.)

101
 —

inductance over the range of 50 to 1000 kHz. Development of standard inductors for use over
a greater frequency range was not completed until the end of World War I and into the
early 1920's. Ideally, an inductance standard should have the property of inductance only
without distributed capacitance, resistance, or power loss to the surrounding medium, nor
should it be affected by stray coupling to its surroundings. By a development of careful
design these deleterious effects were minimized. The result was a bakelite form of cage-like
appearance on which was wound a coil of wire that had a dodecagon cross-section. This
allowed the coil to be of nearly circular cross section but touching at almost a point on each
of 12 strips of a thin dielectric. The inductors were constructed in several cross-sectional
sizes to cover a range of a few microhenries to many millihenries of inductance. Multilayer
windings had to be used for the larger inductances. Litzendraht (braided cable of very fine
wire) was used on the larger inductors to minimize skin effect, thereby decreasing the RF
resistance. By the mid- 1920's inductors for short waves were made of self-supporting heavy
conductors.

Standard inductors, with the wire wound on polygonal forms of bakelite strips, were designed and constructed by the
Radio Section during the period of 1919-1920. Later types, for short waves, were made of self-supporting heavy
conductors.

These standard inductors of Bureau of Standards design were much used by the Radio
Laboratory in frequency meters, inductance measurements, and antenna measurements.
More than a dozen values of fixed inductance became available. Apparently no type of a
variable form was developed; adjustment of reactance was obtained by the precision
capacitors. Today, these laboratory standards of the 1920's are but museum pieces. Over the
years a number of the Radio Section personnel took part in the standard inductor
developments. In 1923 Grover published a paper on formulas for calculating the inductance
of coils of polygonal form [4].

4. Resistance
Of the three derived electrical quantities of capacitance, inductance, and resistance,
that of resistance had the most extensive treatment in NBS Circular 74- Possibly it was
understood the best at the time of preparing the Circular in 1917. Four methods of
measuring resistance at radio frequencies were listed: (1) calorimeter method, (2)

substitution method, (3) resistance-variation method, and (4) reactance-variation method.

For resistance standards at radio frequencies a radical change had to be made in the
design in contrast to resistors used at dc and power frequencies. The resistance standards
were straight lengths of wire for minimum inductance and consisted of wire in different
diameters, lengths, and resistivity. Manganin wire was usually used because of its low
temperature coefficient. The short length of resistance wire of very small diameter was
supported at each end with a much thicker copper wire sealed in a glass tube for protection.
Contact to the measurement circuit was with mercury cups. The standard resistances

102
ranged from a short circuit to approximately 40 ohms, with a maximum inductance of about
0.15 microhenry.
NBS Circular 74 gave rise to a number of progenies in the form of Letter Circulars and
published papers. Four Letter Circulars in 1922 formed a supplement of NBS Circular 74- A
sizeable cross-section of the section's personnelhad a hand in these writings over several
decades. Several papers treated the coupling characteristics of circuits at radio frequencies.

5. RF current

In the early years of measurements at radio frequencies the role played by current
measurement was an important one. NBS Circular 74 stated:
The measurement of current is a cardinal operation in high-frequency
work, to a much greater degree than at low frequencies, since upon it
depends also the measurement of resistance, and it is involved in most
measurements of other quantities.
Today the role of current is much measurements made at
reversed. Rarely are current
radio frequencies — much more can be learned from and impedance
voltage, power,
measurements. The ease of connection facilitates voltage measurement.
In general, the design of ammeters and methods of current measurement at radio
frequencies was done by adapting low frequency techniques to higher frequencies by
minimizing the effects of inductance and capacitance upon the elements of the circuitry.
However, such adaptation could tax the ingenuity of the physicist and engineer.
Considerable material written in NBS Circular 74 on RF ammeters was based upon
Dellinger's doctoral dissertation (see ch. II, p. 43).

The measuring RF current in the early years was conversion of RF

basic principle of
energy into heat, with some method of indicating the process. The indication was usually by
three methods: the linear expansion of a metal wire or strip, the thermoelectric effect (by
thermoelement and dc milliammeter), and by calorimetry. Ammeters could be designed to
handle several hundred amperes, while thermoelements could be used to indicate accurately
in the order of several milliamperes. But in all designs the matter of reactance in the
circuitry was of paramount consideration in order to gain high accuracy.
The use of current transformers, widely used at power frequencies, had some
adaptability to radio frequencies. An RF meter developed by R. D. Duncan used this method
of operation. The Duncan Volt-Ammeter, Bureau of Standards Type A, was used by the
radio inspectors of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. It would measure to
150 volts and 25 amperes.
Other forms of current measurement devices existed at the time NBS Circular 74 was
written. These included bolometers and semiconductor devices (the crystal detector). The
latter was unreliable because of instability but was a very sensitive device. In later years the
electron tube was used to a limited extent in current measurements. NBS had to wait until
the 1950's and again in the 1960's to adapt the electrodynamometer principle to accurate
measurement of current at radio frequencies (see ch. X, p. 380).

103
An RF meter designed by R. D. Duncan of the Radio Section, and known as theDuncan Volt-Ammeter, measured up
to 150 volts and 25 amperes. It was used by radio inspectors of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of
Commerce.

The many-faceted period

World Warbrought on new demands for measurements of considerable accuracy at
I

radio frequencies, and the War and the Navy Departments turned to the Bureau for aid.
NBS Circular 74 brought much of the Radio Laboratory's "know how" into a consolidated
handbook on instruments and measurements that was useful to the radio engineer. But
developments in radio technology brought on new requests of the Bureau to measure
performance at radio frequencies and the need for such work carried on for a number of
years after the Armistice of 1918. The Radio Laboratory was now pioneering beyond the
measurement techniques associated with dc and power frequencies of the Electrical
Division. Kolster had been the first to enter this new frequency region with the development
of his decremeter in 1912. Wide-scale introduction of the electron tube into the laboratory's
operations during World War I opened up many new avenues of research, instrumentation,
and measurement techniques.

1. The Kolster decremeter

Kolster's direct-reading decremeter was the first measurement instrument for use at
radio frequencies to be developed by the Bureau. Kolster entered the Bureau at a period
when the spark transmitter was the common means of generating radio waves (NBS was
stillusing a spark transmitter in 1923). But the spark transmitter was notorious for its
interference properties caused by the wide-band transmission of energy due to the highly
damped waves. Devices such as the quenched spark gap were developed to reduce this
interference effect.

104
 At the time Kolster began the development of his decremeter, Government regulations
called for operation of a spark transmitter with a logarithmic decrement no greater tha
O.2. A decremeter was a part of a kit of instruments used by the radio inspectors of the
3

Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce, to enforce the radio regulations. Previous

to Kolster's development of the direct-reading decremeter it had been necessary to calculate
the logarithmic decrement from a series of readings taken on a decremeter. The radio
inspector needed a direct-reading instrument and one that was compact and easily carried.
Much of the inspector's work was on board ships.
Kolster designed the direct-reading decremeter in 1912 for the Bureau of Navigation.
His Type B decremeter incorporated a wavemeter which allowed the portable instrument to
serve a dual purpose. It was quickly adopted by the War and Navy Departments for their
growing use of wireless equipment. Kolster's lengthy paper on the decremeter was published
4
in 1915 [5]. Several models of various designs were developed over a period of years. The
decremeters were manufactured to Kolster's design and specifications and met with wide
popularity. The need for a decremeter as an inspection instrument passed out of existence
with the spark transmitter and today it is but a museum piece.

3
The logarithmic decrement of damped radio waves is the Naperian logarithm of the ratio of successive amplitudes
of the damped oscillations. It is commonly expressed by the Greek letter 8 (delta).
4
The worked on the method of variation of reactance in a wavemeter
direct-reading decremeter designed by Kolster
produce resistance changes as indicated by definite ratios of current read on an RF ammeter. Kolster's
circuit to
decremeters featured a variable capacitor with specially shaped plates such that the readings of logarithmic
decrement were spread reasonably uniformly over the dial. The decremeters were designed to read logarithmic
decrements in 0.001 increments over a range of 0 to 0.3, the value 0.2 being the maximum permitted by
Government regulation.

An early form (1912! of a series of direct-reading decremeters designed by Kolster. Among the users of these
instruments were the radio inspectors of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. The instrument
provided a test that determined the degree of interference caused by damped oscillations of spark transmitters.

105
2. Measurement of the properties of insulating materials
Because of some of the mechanical and thermal shortcomings of hard rubber as an
insulating material in wireless equipment, the relatively new phenol products, such as
bakelite, became popular as electrical insulation by the time of World War I.
5,6
Yet the
properties of these materials were not well understood, especially the electrical properties at
radio frequencies. After the United States entry into the War in April 1917, the War and
the Navy Departments became concerned about the use of these new phenol products in
their radio equipment and in the shortages of products that were occurring. Manufacturers
wanted more technical information on their products. In October of 1917 the first requests
came to the Bureau for measurements on the properties of insulation of the phenol type.
Thus was started an extensive investigation by several sections in the Bureau that resulted
in Technological Paper 216, entitled "Properties of Electrical Insulating Materials of the
Laminated Phenol-Methylene Type," prepared by J. H. Dellinger and J. L. Preston. The 127-
page paper was issued July 21, 1922. Concurrent with this publication was a Bureau
Scientific Paper by the same authors that described the measurement methods and
particularly the electrical measurements [6].
Measurements were made over a frequency range of approximately 100 to 1000 kHz. To
determine the dielectric constant of a specific insulating material, a sheet of the material
was placed between two pools of mercury (acting as two plates of a capacitor) and the
capacity measured by comparison with a Bureau of Standards variable standard condenser.
The dielectric constant was computed from the measured capacitance and dimensions of the
sheet of material. Measurement of dielectric loss, in terms of phase difference or power
factor, was by means of a resonant circuit and known values of a standard capacitor and
standard resistors. Some of the earliest work of Elmer L. Hall contributed much to these
dielectric measurements.

The phenolic resinknown as "bakelite" was named after Leo H. Baekeland, who discovered the resin plastic in
1909 after many attempts of combining phenols and formaldehyde.
h
During the 1920's when construction of homemade radio receivers was at the height of popularity, the phenolic
type of resin such as bakelite, formica, and micarta, were in greatdemand for panels and subpanels to mount the
receiver components. Dry wood or dense fiberboard could have served as well, but instructions called for "bakelite"
which was much more difficult to process with tools. But these phenol resins gave "stature" to the receiver. It was
a different matter with transmitters where high voltages and high dielectric losses were encountered.

Apparatus used in 1921 to measure the phase difference (or power factor) and dielectric constant of insulating
materials from 7.5 to 3000 kHz. Measurements were performed in a shielded room of window screening. Dellinger
was the principal investigator on the project for several years.

106
 A novel method of measuring the flash-over voltage and breakdown voltage at radio
frequencies of the insulating materials was designed by G. C. Southworth for voltage
ranging from 5000 to 50,000 volts. A bank of six power-type electron tubes in an oscillator
circuit was energized by two dc generators at 1200 volts on the plates. Across the resonant
circuit was a large-sized cylindrical condenser of but 30-picofarad capacitance. A small
sample of the insulating material, fitted with metallic lugs of a specific spacing, was placed
in parallel with the special condenser. RF voltage across this arrangement could be built up
to 50,000 volts in terms of the equation E = (I/27rfO, where the known current, I, could be
quite large and the known capacitance, C, was very small. The voltage, E, was determined
by calculation and not by direct measurement. Much interesting and useful information on
the high voltage properties of insulating materials at radio frequencies was gained from this
ingenious scheme.

The surface resistivity and volume resistivity of the materials were measured under
several conditions of relative humidity. Other sections of the Bureau measured mechanical
properties, including density, moisture absorption, tensile strength, hardness, impact
strength, and machining qualities. Measurements were made on the thermal coefficient of
expansion and observations on resistance to various chemicals.
In all, the Bureau, and especially the Radio Laboratory, made a valuable contribution
to industry in carrying out this extensive program on insulating materials. It had or
developed the "know how" of aiding a new industry in learning about a product that was
very useful to radio technology. Two papers were written to disseminate the information
7
gathered during this extensive program.

3. The Radio Section measures the properties of electron tubes

The Radio Laboratory was introduced dramatically to many new types of electron tubes
by the French mission late in the spring of 1917 (see ch. Ill, p. 52). During World War I the
Signal Corps enlisted the aid of the laboratory to study the measurement of tube

'Letter Circular 50, Nov. 4, 1922, "Bibliography of books and periodicals on properties and uses of electrical
insulating materials." Letter Circular 51, Nov. 4, 1922, "List of the more important U.S. Patents covering the
materials and methods of manufacture of insulating materials."

107
characteristics and methods of tube testing. The measurement programs continued until
8
1924. During the early 1920's these measurement programs were under the guidance of C.
B. Jolliffe.

Electron tubes of receiving type of American manufacture that became available after World War I. The Radio
Section quickly adapted these tubes to various radio circuits and became much interested in their characteristics.

The several treatises on electron tubes in preparation by the section never materialized.
From the measurement program two Letter Circulars were completed. One of these, Letter
Circular 87, issued January 27, 1923, entitled "Methods of measuring properties of electron
tubes," covered a fairly wide range of electron tube properties, with measurement methods
described in detail. By means of an alternating-current bridge the input resistance, output
resistance, and amplification coefficient of a tube could be determined under a variety of
impressed voltages. With a large assortment of indicating instruments a system was
described by which the dc characteristics of tubes could be measured under a multitude of
operating conditions. The system would also measure the power output capabilities of
power-type tubes used as RF generators. Measurement of detection factor was less
satisfactory, primarily because of the lack of a uniform definition of the term.

8
The Radio Section's pioneering period with electron tubes was over by 1924. The section began to depend upon the
tube manufacturers and engineering laboratories for operating characteristics of tubes and application to electronic
circuits. This new period coincided with the advent of the multigrid tubes. Many special types of tubes were to come
later, particularly the tubes designed for short waves and microwaves, and the high power tubes.

108
Laboratory equipment for measuring the characteristics of electron tubes for use as detectors, amplifiers, and
oscillators. Due to lack of performance information by manufacturers of tubes, the Radio Section, at the request of
the Army Signal Corps, initiated a measurement program during World War I that was continued until 1.924 when
such information became readily available.

Letter Circular 86, issued on January 26, 1923, entitled "Methods of measuring voltage
amplification of amplifiers," was applicable to both RF and AF amplifiers, although two
differentmeasurement systems were necessary. The audio system was capable of measuring
amplification to 20,000. Radio-frequency amplifiers could be measured over the range of 75
to 500 kHz. Usually, the voltage amplification would be less than 100. These Circulars were
prepared with the point of view that a well equipped laboratory could duplicate the
measurement systems and techniques.

4. Measurement by the headphone receiver

Early workers in the measurement of intensity of radio signals were not blessed with
the sophisticated apparatus that has evolved over the years for signal-strength
measurements. Except for the very strong signals, reliance was almost entirely upon
auditory observation. This often left much to be desired. A common procedure was to use a
variable shunt resistor across the telephone receiver and compare signal strength with the
condition of the signal being just audible. The "audibility meter" (a form of resistive
attenuator) was often used for this purpose.
The Radio Section made some attempts in the early 1920's to improve upon the auditory
method of measuring signal strength by using instruments as an aid in the measurement
process. Use was made of the condenser microphone of the Wente type, an "artificial ear,"
and the thermophone. 9 In this area of sound measurement the Radio Section was more than
9
The thermophone was developed by the Research Laboratories of the A.T. & T. (later, Bell Telephone
method of calibrating microphones and similar equipment on an absolute
Laboratories) in 1917, as an accurate
basis.

109
a decade in advance of the work carried out by the Sound Section in the 1930's. Only one
paper was published on this measurement development [7]. Many of the technical details
were omitted, but were preserved in laboratory reports deposited in the Radio File.
Impedance studies of headphone receivers were conducted by C. T. Zahn during the same
10
period as a corollary program.
With the development of high-gain amplifiers, synchronous detector systems,
correlation techniques, and the many types of recording systems, the need for auditory
methods of measuring signal strength has practically vanished. Yet much was accomplished
with the ear as a measuring device in those earlier years.

5. Modulation measurement
The study and measurement of modulation of continuous wave (CW) tranmission was
not carried on extensively by the Radio Section. Little was published in this area. However,
use was made at times of the oscilloscope to observe the effects of modulation on the output
of RF generators and transmitters.
During 1924 C. B. Jolliffe studied the operating characteristics of detector tubes as a
means of arriving at a logical and useful definition of "detection factor" and its
measurement. In this study he made extensive use of the vacuum-tube voltmeter which was
coming into popularity. As an outgrowth of this study Jolliffe applied the vacuum-tube
voltmeter as a peak reading device to the measurement of modulation of transmitters. Thus
a relatively simple device had evolved to measure an important function in the operation of
an RF transmitter. A paper was published in December 1924 [8].

6. An improvement on RF measurements
In 1924 August Hund published a paper that described the development of a balanced-
transformer circuit that incorporated a differential method of measuring the effective
resistance and effective inductance of coils and straight sections of conductors [9].
Measurements were in terms of a variable condenser of the "Bureau of Standards Type"
used as a standard. The method was superior to those used previously in the Radio Section
which had not been improved upon since described in NBS Circular 74 of 1918.

7. Antenna measurements
It somewhat paradoxical that, with the extensive development of a variety of
is

antennas and complete radio systems by the Radio Section from before World War I and
extending into the early 1930's, little was reported in the literature on measurement
methods. Little was written on the subject in NBS Circular 74 in 1918 or in the revised
edition of 1924. Yet over many years to follow, measurements were made on the various
antenna systems that were developed. This isevidenced by the photographs left in the
section's records of apparatus being used in the vicinity of the antennas to measure their
characteristics and performance. Thus we are left to ponder over an enigma.

THE DOLDRUMS PERIOD

Beginning in the late 1920's the efforts of the Radio Section toward advancement of the
science of measurement and standards in radio appears to have slackened. Apparently there
was little need to increase the accuracy of measurements except in the area of frequency. By
1930 a whole new field was opening up in frequency standards with use of the quartz
crystal, to be followed later with atomic frequency standards. By 1930 Diamond and
Dunmore were much engaged in radio navigation and a blind landing system for airplanes.
In the late 1930's Diamond, Hinman, and Dunmore were wrapped up with the radiosonde.
And during the whole period of sparse activity on radio standards and measurements
Dellinger and others were giving their efforts to an intensive study of the ionosphere.

10
Charles T. Zahn entered the Radio Section on October 7, 1920, as an assistant physicist, and remained about 1
year. He returned many years later (1946) to join the CRPL. Dr. Zahn chose not to go to Boulder in 1954 and
remained with the Electricity Division until retiring in 1964.

110
A balanced-transformer method for the rapid measurement of capacitance, inductance, and resistance at radio
Bureau publication by August Hund. Later, Hund authored several well-known
frequencies, described in a 1924
technical books on radio subjects.

1. Field intensity measurements

During the summer of 1926 a field intensity measuring set (later known as a field
strength meter) was developed in the section under the guidance of Jolliffe. The section was
in need of an instrument, calibrated in terms of field intensity, for measuring the radiated
output of radio stations and for observations of fading phenomena. Even more important
was the need by Supervisors of Radio of the Department of Commerce for measuring the
field intensities of broadcast stations. The Supervisors were required to make measurements
within the reliable service zone of a station to determine conditions of interference and
regulation of radiated power. The measuring set was designed for installation within the
Supervisor's test car, with a direction-finder loop antenna mounted on the car. Operation
was within the broadcast range of 550 to 1500 kHz and field intensities in the range of 5 to
50 millivolts per meter.
A
service for calibrating field strength meters at broadcast frequencies was initiated in
1932. Preceding this service during a period of years beginning in 1926, steps were taken in
a measurement program to develop a calibration method. The program was characterized by
much frustration in arriving at a satisfactory relation between measured values and
calculated values of field intensity at a distance from a transmitting antenna. Initially, a
coil antenna was the radiator, set up at the Kensington field station, about 5 miles north of
the Bureau. Then a single-turn antenna was tried, then a small condenser antenna. Later, a
standard field, as a calibration method, was obtained by means of the mutual inductance
between two loop antennas. All methods were less than satisfactory toward obtaining a
calibration technique of desirable accuracy.
During the latter part of 1927 a measurement facility was set up on the shores of the
Potomac River in Washington. The transmitter was located at the Naval Air Station on the
Anacostia shore, with the receiver site at Hains Point. Several condenser antennas were
tried, finally using a large one with a radius of 750 cm and 114 cm in height. The

111
transmission path across the river was 3200 meters. In terms of the height of the condenser
antenna and the antenna current, the field intensity could be calculated in volts per
centimeter. Confronting the project personnel, S. S. Kirby and K. A. Norton, was the
unexpected observation that the ratio of the measured field intensity to the calculated field
intensity decreased as the frequency was increased [10]. The effect was accounted for by an
increased absorption at the higher frequencies, even over relatively short transmission
paths. When checked with a vertical antenna at the transmitter the effect was the same.
As a further step in the study, the field intensity meter was operated at various
distances from the transmitter (fitted with a loop antenna) by using a boat. These
observations were then compared with measurements made over land. The frequencies
ranged from 590 to 5400 kHz. The conclusion reached after several years of study was that
absorption of the radio waves must be taken into account and that it varies with ground
properties (primarily electrical conductivity) and that it is a function of frequency. To have
minimal effects of the absorption, it was concluded that measurements should be made
within five wavelengths of the transmitter.
As a further study of field intensity, the investigation included measurements under
daylight conditions made on 12 broadcasting stations as far away as Chicago, plus some
airway beacon stations. The frequency range was from 290 to 1460 kHz. Observations were
made by traveling in a laboratory truck, making measurements at distances ranging from
one to several hundred kilometers from the transmitting station. Comparison of these
measurements with calculations by the long established Austin-Cohen transmission formula
showed lack of agreement in most cases. This was attributed to attenuation of the ground
wave, a factor that varies considerably with ground conductivity.
In 1935, when he was a staff member of the Federal Communications Commission,
Norton pointed out an error in the frequently used Sommerfeld formula on the attenuation
of radio waves over a plane Earth. In a letter to Nature published June 8, 1935 (Vol. 135),
Norton stated, "The purpose of this letter is to point out an error in sign in Professor A.
Sommerfeld's original paper (1909) on the attenuation of radio waves." The error was that of
a reversed sign at the bottom of the integral in an equation used to compute the field
intensity from a distant radio transmitter. Norton was led to his discovery of the error from
anomalies of measurement values compared with computed values in the observations of
field intensity made by him and Kirby at an earlier time.
During the World War II period H. E. Sorrows, R. C. Ellenwood, and W. E. Ryan
developed methods of calibrating field intensity measurement equipment in the VHF band
from 40 to 160 MHz (frequency range of FM, TV, and navigational aid equipment used by
the Civil Aeronautics Administration). Several techniques were developed to calibrate the
internal circuits. Calibration of the antenna system was by the standard-field method.

2. Measurements up to 200 MHz

In 1944, E. L. Hall published a paper on the use of the Q-meter to study the behavior of
radio components in the region of 25 to 200 MHz [11]. During that same year the new
technology of microwaves rather suddenly came upon the section, resulting in an upsurge of
interest in radio standards and measurements within the section that was to continue
throughout the CRPL period and beyond. World War II had hastened the need for an
advancing front in the measurement art.

References
[1] E. B. Rosa and N. E. Dorsey, "A new determination of the ratio of the electromagnetic to the electrostatic unit
of electricity," Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol. 3, No. 3, 1907, pp. 433-604, Scientific Paper 65.

[2] K. M. Evenson, et al., "The speed of light from direct frequency and wavelength measurements in the
methane-stabilized laser," Phys. Rev. Letters, Vol. 29, No. 19, Nov. 6, 1972, pp. 1346-49.
[2] Frederick A. Kolster, "The effects of distributed capacity of coils in radio-telegraphic circuits," Proc. IRE, Vol.
I, Part 2, Apr. 1913, pp. 19-26, plus 7 pages of discussion.

[4] Frederick W. Grover, "Formulas and tables for the calculation of the inductance of coils of polygonal form,"
Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 18, 1922-1923, pp. 737-762.
[5] Frederick A. Kolster, "A direct-reading instrument for measuring the logarithmic decrement and wave length
of electromagnetic waves," Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol. 11, No. 3, 1915, pp. 421-455, Scientific Paper 235.

112
 [6] J. H. Dellinger and J. L. Preston, "Methods of measurement of properties of electrical insulating material:
Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 19, pp. 39-72.
[7] Helen H. Smith, "Some measurements of telephone sensitivity," The Wireless Age, Vol. 9, No. 11, Aug
pp. 65-66, 96.
[8] C. B. Jolliffe, "The use of the electron tube peak voltmeter
for the measurement of modulation," J. Opt. Soc.
Am., Vol. No.
Dec. 1924, pp. 701-704.
9, 6,

[9] August Hund, "Measurements at radio frequency," Electrical World, Vol. 84, No. 19, Nov. 8, 1924, pp. 998-1000.

[10] S. S. Kirby and K. A. Norton, "Field intensity measurements at frequencies from 285 to 5400 kilocycles per
second," Proc. IRE, Vol. 20, No. 5, May 1932, pp. 841-862. (Also published in J. Res. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol.
8, No. 4, Apr. 1932, pp. 463-479.)
[11] E. L. Hall, "VHF behavior of radio components," Electronics, Vol. 17, Mar. 1944, pp. 114-118.

113
 Chapter VI

ANTENNAS, INSTRUMENTS, AND SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPMENT

Antennas
1. Radio antennas become a part of the Bureau scene
An antenna is an all-important component of a radio system, whether serving as the
radiator for a transmitter or as the absorber or collector of radio waves for a receiver. Radio
antennas became a part of the Bureau's facilities beginning with Dr. Louis Austin, probably
in 1905. As head of the U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory on the Bureau grounds, he
made use of antennas until the time of his death in 1932. Antennas appeared on the South,
West, and East Buildings and in that order around the "quadrangle" which included the
North Building. Finally, in 1918, antennas became associated with the new Radio Building
at the southeast corner of the quadrangle. Until 1954, a variety of antennas appeared on the
Radio Building, on the lawn, and in the nearby woods. Many antennas were located at the
several field stations in the Washington area over a period of three decades.
These antennas were of many types. Over the years there were fan types, cage
antennas, and the familiar T-type and inverted L-type. There were large and small size coil
(loop) antennas, condenser antennas, and at least one parabolic antenna. As the frequency
range was extended toward the shorter waves dipoles began to appear. A few microwave
horn antennas were around the laboratories before the move to Boulder, Colo. A variety of
antennas appeared at the Sterling field station. Several of the types of antennas came in for
considerable study and for adaptation to radio systems developed by the Radio Section for
special purposes. Among these were the coil antenna, condenser antenna, a parabolic
antenna, a submarine antenna, and the dipole.

2. The coil antenna adapted to many uses

The coil antenna was not new with NBS. It originated with Heinrich Hertz in 1888
when he used a circle of wire as a receiver, even noticing its directional properties. In 1908
G. W. Pickard used a coil antenna as a direction finder. Kolster began experimenting with
the coil antenna shortly after he came to the Bureau in 1911. (See p. 139 on the coil antenna
for fog signaling.) In 1919 Dellinger published a paper on the principles of transmission and
reception with antennas that included the coil antenna [1]. Dellinger's study revealed many
properties of coil antennas, both in transmission and reception, that were previously
unknown. Formulas for performance, based upon theory, were confirmed by experimental
observations. He suggested various subjects for future research. Among these was obtaining
a better understanding of the effects of surrounding objects on the current developed in coil
antennas. This became the objective of a study, in the spring of 1919, supported by the U.S.
Army Signal Corps.
The coil antenna showed great promise as an accurate direction finder (within 1 or 2
degrees of true direction). To study the effect of surrounding objects a small collapsible coil
antenna was designed for field studies in the frequency range of 300 to 1500 meters (1000 to
200 kHz). With a transmitter on the Bureau grounds, observations were made from different
locations in Washington. At the Washington Monument grounds it was found that larger
metallic bodies (in this case the elevator shaft) could distort the field greatly and cause
directional errors by as much as 90 degrees, particularly at or near the resonance
frequencies of metallic objects. Trolley lines and electric lines were also a source of large
directional errors [2]. It was during this same period that methods were developed by

115
W. G. Wade receiving signals from a coil (or loop) antenna at Kensington, Md. field station in 1919. The Radio
Section made extensive studies of coil antennas for several decades, beginning in 1911, mainly for use in direction
finding. *

*This photograph has been miscaptioned in several Bureau publications. The year 1919 and not 19H. The
is

operator is W. G. Wade and not Kolster. It is and not designed

a coil antenna for receiving radio signals
specifically for direction finding as the antenna assembly lacks the mechanism for determining azimuth angle.

Field-type direction-finder antenna developed by Radio Section at an early period. The collapsible feature allowed
for easy carrying. A circular scale, graduated in degrees and attached to the vertical shaft, permitted the operator
to determine azimuth angle of direction of transmitted signal being received.

116
 Kolster and Dunmore to use the coil antenna as a unidirectional antenna, thereby serving
as a reliable direction finder without the ambiguity of the figure-of-eight pattern. This
accomplished by a tuned network circuit from the coil to ground. This study and imprc
instrumentation led to the success that Kolster and Dunmore had in a new radio navigation
system for the Bureau of Lighthouses (see p. 144).

3. The small condenser antenna

Although Dellinger was a strong advocate of the use of coil antennas for many
applications, he believed there were possibilities in the use of an antenna that was wholly
capacitative (in actuality, it would be only nearly so because of residual inductance). The
salient features of such an antenna would be the reduction of conductor resistance and the
reduction of dielectric losses in the field of the antenna as compared with the ordinary
elevated antenna. In the summer of 1920, John C. Warner of the Radio Laboratory, under
Dellinger's direction, carried out a series of experiments with the condenser antenna on the
lawn in front of the Radio Building.

Apparatus, including standard inductor and standard capacitor, used to measure constants of a condenser antenna.
Lower plate of antenna is seen beyond measurement equipment. Location is on lawn of Radio Building in the
summer of 1920. (East Building at left, recently constructed Industrial Building in far background to the north.)

The two plates of a condenser were suspended in a horizontal position placed at various
heights ranging up to about 10 feet above the ground. The plates were separated at
distances ranging from 50 to 225 cm. Iron and copper screen wire netting in several areas of
sizes up to 90x310 cm (for the smaller of the two plates) was used as plates of the condenser.
Most measurements of the condenser as a receiving antenna were made over a range of 200
to 450 meters (1500 to 670 kHz). The antenna showed very little directional characteristic.
Warner found that the voltage induced in the antenna by a radio wave was approximately
1
proportional to the distance between the two plates. Experiments indicated that the
condenser antenna furnished a greater signal strength than a coil antenna of comparable

1
The induced voltage followed approximately the well-known transmission formula where the current in the
receiving antenna is proportional to the height of the transmitting antenna and to the height of the receiving

antenna (simple flat-top antenna).

117
height at wavelengths less than 250 meters (for the sizes of antennas used) but that the coil
antenna was superior above about 300 meters. From these experiments, Warner's conclusion
was:

The Bureau of Standards tests show that the low resistance of the two-plate
antenna gives it a decided advantage over other forms of antennae.
However, the impression should not be given that this feature alone makes
a two-plate antenna as effective as a large overhead antenna when loud
signals are desired. Amplification is almost as necessary with the two-plate

antenna as with the antenna. The two-plate antenna does, however,

coil
lend itself to indoor use even though the dielectrics so introduced into the
2,3
field raise the resistance somewhat. [3].
. . .

Bellinger's concept of the condenser antenna as being fairly efficient was proven correct
by experiment, but the antenna never proved to be a popular type. 4 However, the Radio
Section made considerable use of the condenser antenna in the late 1920's as a source of
known radiation for the measurement of field intensity as a means of calibrating field
intensity meters (see ch. V, p. 111).

4. Experimenting with a directive antenna at 10-meter wavelength

a) TOWARD SHORTER WAVELENGTHS
Within a month after Marconi disclosed his and C. S. Franklin's experiments with short
waves in an address to the Institute of Radio Engineers at New York City (June 20, 1922; see
ch. I, p. 13), Dunmore and Francis H. Engel began to construct equipment to experiment
with directional antennas at a wavelength of 10 meters (30,000 kHz). In less than 6 months
they submitted a paper for publication on this first effort by the Radio Section to study the
properties of waves in the 10-meter region [4].
For NBS, Dunmore and Engel were pioneering in a new frequency region. Their
purpose was twofold: (1) as an aid in reducing interference, directional antennas appeared to
be one solution, if not for broadcasting, at least for point-to-point communication; and (2) the
higher frequency region appeared to be more promising for lower static levels.

b) The transmitter and a parabolic reflector antenna

For the first time the Radio Section was limited in extending the frequency range of its
transmitters by the interelectrode capacities of electron tubes. To reach down to 10 meters
in a tenfold jump the two men dispensed with the tuning condenser, using one turn of wire
for each of the two inductors (grid and plate coils) of a Hartley circuit (plus the
interelectrode capacitances) as the oscillating circuit of a 50-watt tube. Both and phone CW
signals were available from the transmitter. Another turn of wire fed a dipole antenna. The
dipole radiator was at the focal position of a reflector of parabolic-cylinder shape consisting
of 40 vertically hanging wires. The wires could be tuned to the transmitter frequency by
adjustment to proper length; they could be detuned and removed at selected interval

2
Warner's published paper appeared in March 1923, long after the initial announcement of the condenser antenna
experiments appeared in the November 5 1920, issue of the Technical News Bulletin. The reason for the long delay
?

is not evident in the section's records.

3
In the Radio Section Reports found an interesting paper, dated August 9, 1922, that apparently was prepared for
is

publication by H. F. Harmon, one of the section personnel. An attached note indicated that it needed revision
before submitting for publication. By a series of experiments Harmon developed an antenna on the condenser
concept by using a "plate" of crisscrossed wire in the top of a Ford touring car. The car chassis served as the other
plate of the condenser antenna. His experiment met with considerable success as having produced a complete
automobile radio receiver at an early date. This form of antenna came into considerable use in the early years of
automobile radios until the metal "turret" top spelled its demise. It again appeared in the form of a metallic screen
or plate under the running board until that feature on automobiles disappeared. Finally the "whip" antenna
overtook the condenser antenna.
4
—
Another form of condenser antenna in the early years of radio was the use of the metal bedspring a convenient
form of antenna for the bedside radio. (The bedspring antenna for radar, in more recent years, is not a condenser
but a planar array of dipoles.)

118
spacings. Variations in the wire combinations gave different patterns to the directior
characteristics of radiation from the antenna. The hanging antenna was turned on
vertical axis to determine its directional characteristics.

In the summer of 1922 Dunmore and Engel experimented with a transmitter and a receiver that operated at 10
meters (30,000 kHz), the upper frequency being limited by interelectrode capacitance of the transmitting tubes then
available. A single-turn loop coupled to the oscillator fed two cage antennas that served as a dipole radiator at the
focal point of a parabolic-cylinder-shaped reflector consisting of 40 vertically hanging wires. Various directional
characteristics were obtained by changes in the reflecting system and tuning relations of dipole and reflecting
wires.

119
c) The receiver
A single loop of wire with a very small variable capacitor served as a combination
directive antenna and tuned circuit for the detector. An auxiliary oscillator served for
heterodyning the CW signals.
Dunmore and Engel found a directive effect to their parabolic antenna to the extent
that at least 75 percent of the radiated power was confined to an azimuth angle of 40
degrees. The parabolic reflector -type antenna did not come into common use by the Radio
Section. Some years later when Dunmore became one of the team working on a radio
guidance system for landing aircraft, a Yagi-type dipole antenna was used. By 1930 NBS was
operating this new directive antenna at 100 MHz, a threefold increase in frequency from
that used on the parabolic antenna in 1922. And the newer tubes permitted tuning of the
transmitter.

5. Dunmore designs an antenna for 100 meters

With the availability of electron tubes designed for the shorter waves, after World War
I, the Radio Laboratory began experimenting at wavelengths much below the early
broadcast region that centered on the 360-meter wavelength. Noticeable features of the
shorter wavelengths were greater freedom from static and fading characteristics that
differed considerably from the longer wavelengths. At the request of the U.S. Army Air
Service, Dunmore, assisted by Engel, designed equipment for operation at 100 meters (3
MHz) and explored the properties of radio waves at this wavelength. The Army Air Service
was interested in the practicability of utilizing the higher frequencies for its radio
communication services.
—
Of particular interest was the antenna one of rather unorthodox design. Both in
appearance and in operating characteristics the antenna was a "hybrid" of condenser and
5
coil antennas. Directional characteristics observed at an installation at McCook Field,
Dayton, Ohio from an airplane flying at various heights and directions showed that, indeed,
the antenna had characteristics of each type (coil and condenser) and a combination of each
type, depending upon the configurations used.
Probably more important than the uniqueness of this antenna were the two-way tests
conducted with it by Dunmore along with Frank Conrad of the Westinghouse Electric and
Manufacturing Co. of Pittsburgh. (Conrad is usually credited with the first scheduled
broadcasts by a commercial station, which was the pioneer broadcast station KDKA.) In
May and June of 1922 the two men made many observations of the transmission between
Washington and Pittsburgh, Pa. This 200-mile transmission path had already reached
notoriety because of the excessive fading at night observed by the 1921-1922 broadcast
listeners in the two areas. Dunmore and Conrad found but little fading of the 100-meter
6
signals and that the daylight transmission was nearly as strong as that of the night.
Dunmore published two papers on this project, one in QST, and a longer one in the Proc.
IRE [5].

5
The antenna was rectangular in vertical cross section, 18 feet high and 40 feet long, and consisted of 23 wires in
parallel and held apart at 3-inch intervals by wood spreaders to form a plane of wires. The wires were joined
together in a fan fashion at the bottom of the rectangle and inductively coupled to the output of a transmitter. An
18-inch gap was formed in the loop of 23 wires which gave the effect of the two plates of a condenser antenna (the
23 wires were bridged by metallic foil on each side of the gap). The small capacitance of the gap gave somewhat the
effect of a single-turn loop tuned to 105 MHz (operating frequency) with some directional properties to the whole
antenna. To observe the directional effects, Dunmore provided for gaps at three locations, one on the top plane, and
one on each of the two vertical planes; however, only one gap was used at each observation. Although the antenna
acted somewhat in the fashion of a single-turn loop, the 23 wires in parallel reduced the resistance considerably.
6
In later years the Radio Section could explain Dunmore and Conrad's observations. For the distance of 200 miles
between Washington and Pittsburgh at a wavelength of 100 meters, there would be one reflection from the
ionosphere and at the frequency of 3 MHz there is no great difference between day and night signals at a 200-mile
separation.

120
 ,

>

Unique antenna for operation at 100 MHz, designed by Dunmore, combined properties of condenser and coil
antennas. Original photo shows the general nature of the antenna; the recopied picture with wire structure
enhanced by drawn-in lines gives a better concept of the antenna structure (small loop antenna on roof of building
is not a part of the larger antenna). This antenna was used in 1922 for study of transmissions to Pittsburgh. Pa.

121
6. The submarine antenna of World War I

In 1918 John A. Willoughby and Percival D. Lowell developed an antenna for

submarines that was capable of transmitting and receiving radio signals with the entire
antenna submerged in seawater. Because of its development as a wartime measure, the
account is covered in chapter III.

7. A theoretical study of antennas

In 1925 Frederick W. Grover of Union College (and University), who at various periods
served as a consultant to the Radio Section, completed an extensive theoretical paper on the
7
capacity of antennas. He developed formulas by which the electrostatic values of the
capacity of single and multiple wire antennas could be calculated for engineering purposes.
Grover developed capacity formulas for 18 different types of antennas [6].

RADIOSONDES
1. Early work in radio meteorographs (radiosondes)
8
Radiosonde or radio meteorograph projects within NBS were established with
substantial support by other government agencies. The field of development was not entirely
new, dating back to 1929, about 6 years before NBS entered the field. 9

2. An early NBS radiosonde

At the request of the U.S. Weather Bureau, L. F. Curtiss and A. V. Astin of the
Electricity Division completed a radio
meteorograph in 1935 to be attached to a free balloon.
Observation of the sensing elements was by means of an Olland telemeteorograph. 10 They
The transmitter
later replaced the spring-driven clockwork with a very small electric motor.
operated at 5 meters (60 MHz) and used a dipole antenna. Signals could be heard out to 80
11
miles. Several years later Curtiss and Astin adapted their radio meteorograph for
observation of cosmic rays in the stratosphere.

3. The Radio Section takes up radiosonde development

The second project in the development of radiosondes at NBS had its genesis in a
cooperative program with the National Geographic Society and Army Air Corps

7
Professor Frederick W. Grover was a member of the Electricity Division from 1902 to 1911. During the period of
being professor of electrical engineering at Union University (Schenectady, N.Y.) from 1920 to 1946, he was also a
consulting physicist with the Bureau until 1946, for much of this period with the Radio Section. Professor Grover
died in the spring of 1973 at the age of 96.

8
The term "radio meteorograph" crept November 1938, the Radio
into the literature about 1930. Beginning in
Section replaced the term "radio meteorograph" with "radio sonde," in harmony with the agreement among
Government departments through the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee. By 1946 the term "radio
sonde" had contracted to one word "radiosonde," a typical transition in the English language. "Sonde" is the
French word meaning "sounding."
9
A is given by Middleton in his book on invention of
detailed account of the earliest developments in radiosondes
meteorological instruments Middleton gives credit for the first documented radiosonde ascent to a Frenchman
[7].

named Bureau, who made the first observations on June 10, 1929, with a time-cycle device transmitting indications
of temperature and pressure. Others in Germany, Russia, and Finland followed with various types of time-cycle
mechanisms controlling the sequence of observing the sensing devices. Several laboratories in the United States
had developed radiosondes shortly before NBS entered the field.
10
The "Olland principle" is a century-old method of observing data by interpreting angular deflections of sensing
devices in terms of time intervals. It was named after H. Olland of Utrecht, Holland.

11
A summary report of the development and operation of this radio meteorograph was published by Curtiss and
Astin in 1939 [8].

122
 12
stratosphere balloon flights. In preparing for a second flight, this time with "Explorer II."
the Army Air Corps requested the Radio Section to use some of its newly developed UHF
14
techniques to observe radio signals at long and short distances from a balloon-borne
transmitter at altitudes not reached before. Transmitter frequencies were selected at 55 and
15
108 MHz. Harry Diamond and G. H. Lester took part in this program. In advance of the
scheduled flight of "Explorer II," Diamond and Lester made some tests at the Stratosphere
Bowl with a 108-MHz transmitter suspended from three weather balloons and followed the
signals up to the 41,000-foot altitude reached by the balloons. They stated in the Monthly
Report for July 1935: "The tests demonstrated the possibility of obtaining radio data from
the stratosphere by means of weather balloons; a number of meteorological applications are
also indicated." The first attempt with "Explorer II" on July 13, 1935, was postponed due to
a tear in the balloon. Although the UHF radio transmission program was cancelled for the
12
On the made by
first flight the stratosphere balloon "Explorer I" on July 28, 1934, near Rapid City, S.D., a
receiver at the Meadows field station near Washington, D.C., was used to pick up signals from the transmitter
W10XCX mounted on the balloon gondola. It was a test for observing variations in field intensity as the transmitter
increased in height above ground. Any variations of the 13.05-MHz signal were obscured by the diurnal changes
occurring in the ionosphere.
13
"Explorer I" did not ascend to the expected height due to a tear in the balloon fabric. The recorded altitude was
60,613 feet.
14
UHF techniques had been under development by the Radio Section for use as radio aids to air navigation,
including radio landing systems.
15
Harry Diamond entered the Radio Section on July 18, 1927, having been an instructor in electrical engineering at
Lehigh University for several years previous. In December 1942 he transferred to the group that was to become the
Ordnance Development Division.
Author's (WFS) note: Although there is agreement in various accounts of biographical information that Harry
Diamond was born on February 12, 1900, his place of birth is given as either Russia or as Quincy, Mass. Most reliable
would be the place of birth given in Diamond's Official Personnel Folder in the Civilian Personnel Records at the
National Personnel Record Center, GSA, St. Louis, Mo. Diamond's folder indicates that he was born in Minsk, Russia,
and that he became a naturalized citizen of the United States on June 4, 1923.

UHF antennas at rim of Stratosphere Bowl, near Rapid City, S.D., used to receive signals from the 1935 National
Geographic Society—Army Air Corps stratosphere balloon flight. Diamond and Lester used the occasion to pick up
signals from miniature transmitters carried aloft by weather balloons. This experiment initiated the Radio
Section 's extensive radiosonde program.

123
second attempt (this successful flight of 72,395-foot altitude was made on November 11,
1935), the preparations for this venture initiated the extensive radiosonde program taken up
by the Radio Section.
Within a month or so after the weather-balloon experiment at the Stratosphere Bowl,
Diamond and his team began construction on a balloon-borne, lightweight, 200-MHz
transmitter. They passed up the "Olland principle" that had been the foundation for most or
all previous radio meteorographs; other approaches had greater appeal to them. Change in
barometric pressure was observed by the change in a modulation frequency of
approximately 1000 kHz. It was their intent to observe wind speed and direction with two
direction finders on a base line. They also made arrangements with Coblentz and Stair of
the Radiometry Section for equipping the transmitter with a phototube to measure
ultraviolet light at high altitudes. 16

"'Six flights with a modified radiosonde were made by Coblentz and Stair in 1937 to observe the ultraviolet solar
intensities in the stratosphere. A
radiosonde was fitted with a photoelectric cell and ultraviolet filter for these
observations. Below 14 km the ultraviolet light was found to be fairly constant with altitude in spectral quality and
intensity, but they found the amount of ozone increased rapidly above 14 km, and to 19 km, the maximum height
attained for good quantitative measurements.

Earliest form of the radio meteorograph (later called radiosonde) developed by the Radio Section in 1935. An aneroid
barometer indicated air pressure (hence altitude); the rotation of a spiralled bimetallic strip indicated temperature;
each movement modulated the transmitter oscillator. Observation of humidity was to come later.

From the beginning came a series of rapid and progressive steps toward the
development of a highly successful radiosonde brought into fruition several years later. By
January 1936 the Navy Department requested development of radio meteorographs for the
aerological services. In the laboratory, the team of workers now consisting of Diamond,
Dunmore, and W. S. Hinman (later E. G. Lapham joined the team) developed circuitry that
would lead to the final design. 17 They had come to the decision of using a relaxation
oscillator of a voltage-controlled, negative transconductance relaxation
(with selection
oscillator) provide audio-frequency modulation to the transmitter output, with the
to
modulation frequency controlled by changes of resistance in the resistor elements in each
weather-sensing device. The first step was to use an electrolytic resistor for the temperature
sensor. This sensor was developed largely by D. Norman Craig of the Electrochemistry
18
Section. The pointer arm of a pressure element (a sylphon bellows as used in an aneroid
barometer) moving across a resistor gave resistance changes to indicate pressure changes.
At first a hair hygrometer was used and its pointer movement across a resistor provided the
resistance changes to indicate relative humidity. This was to be replaced later by an electric
hygrometer, developed by Dunmore, which proved to be much more satisfactory. A fixed
resistor provided for a frequency in the audio modulation circuitry that served as a

"Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. entered the Radio Section on August 6, 1928. In October 1941 he was assigned to a war-
related Confidential project that later developed into the Ordnance Development Division. Later Hinman became
technical director of the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories.
18
Although early development of an electrolytic resistor as a temperature sensor was by Craig, at a later time
Francis W. Dunmore of the Radio Section filed for a patent on the device on December 22, 1938. Patent 2,210,903
was issued on August 13, 1940, entitled "Method of measuring temperature."

124
reference for the three audio frequencies controlled by the three sensing devices. To
"decipher" the information carried by the several audio frequencies detected in the receive
it was necessary to use an electronic frequency meter at the ground station.

In April 1936 a development project with the title "Radio Meteorograph" wa;
authorized and was funded by the Navy Department's Bureau of Aeronautics. Previously,
the development was a part of the Ultra High Frequency project; but with the new
authorization it was separated and given a Confidential security classification. The services
of the Julien P. Friez Co. of Baltimore, Md. were engaged to assist in some of the instrument
features of the radio meteorograph, and later for ground-station equipment.

Theearliest model (1936) of radiosonde constructed for Radio Section by a commercial firm on a Navy Project. At
upper right is one type of electrolytic resistor (in glass tubing) used as the temperature sensor. The two sections of
hair hygrometer for measuring relative humidity are clearly shown, as well as a side view of the aneroid
barometer. Electron-tube circuitry forms another portion of the chassis.
4. A technical breakthrough

On May was made with a 185-MHz transmitter. Enough

20, 1936, a trial balloon flight
was learned on were sound but many
this flight to indicate that the design features
refinements were needed. The biggest problem was that of sequencing the readings of
pressure, temperature, and humidity. In fact, three methods had been considered which the
team called A, B, and C, and also a modification called the D method. Method A was tried
on May 20 but left something to be desired. July found the team coming up with method E
which eventually proved to spell success. It was a method of switching the three sensors,
each in turn, for transmission of sensor information. Switching operation came from the
pointer of the pressure element. The novel feature was that temperature and humidity were
indicated at the receiver in terms of pressure or altitude instead of by time-sequential
intervals as would be indicated by the "Olland principle" or by any other time-sequential
device.

5. A method of determining upper-air wind conditions

The team had notlost sight of combining weather observations so that wind speed and
direction could be obtained along with pressure, temperature, and relative humidity
observations. This was one reason they were clinging to the design of a transmitter that
would be providing audio-frequency modulation on a continuously radiated carrier. It was in
August 1936 that they observed an interesting phenomenon of very marked interference of
the wave reaching the receiving antenna directly from the transmitter with that reaching it
after reflection from the ground. This observation led to an accurate means of determining
the angle subtended by the balloon with the ground; knowing the height of the balloon
above ground, the distance along the ground to the balloon was known by a simple
trigonometric calculation. With an azimuth-angle direction finder the position of the
transmitter could be determined from a single ground station. Time-related observations
would give wind speed. A disadvantage of the measurement system was the necessity of
moving the receiver or a receiving antenna along a vertical axis above the ground plane and
observing null points in order to determine the subtended angle. This measurement system
19
led to the filing of a patent in December 1938.

6. Further progress on the radiosonde

By midsummer of 1936 a number of steps were still required to bring on a device that
would meet the Navy's requirements for a device to sound the upper air. The hair
hygrometer was sluggish in responding and lost much accuracy at high altitudes where low
temperatures and low absolute humidity were encountered. Dunmore embarked on an
investigation of salt hygrometers (electric hygrometers) that would serve as a resistive
element in the radiosonde circuitry. Eventually this program covered a period of nearly 10
years. Dunmore's quest for an electric hygrometer for the radiosonde reads much like
Thomas Edison's search for producing a filament for the incandescent electric lamp. The
20
technical achievements can be found in two NBS publications [9, 10]. Details of the long
story and of the numerous experiments can be gained only from the Monthly Reports of the
Radio Section.

19
Harry Diamond, Francis W. Dunmore, and Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. filed for a patent on December 22, 1938. Patent
2,434,263 was issued January 13, 1948, entitled "Determining upper air wind conditions by radio direction finding."
20
An electric hygrometer senses the moisture content of the air by changes in resistance of a hygroscopic material
and thereby indicates the relative humidity. Dunmore's improved electric hygrometers for radiosondes consisted of
a thin-walled aluminum tube that would quickly take on the temperature of the air. The tube was coated with a
polystyrene resin for an electrically insulated surface, over which was a bifilar winding of palladium wire. The
surface was then coated with partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate with the addition of a small amount of lithium
chloride. Changes in resistance of this hygroscopic salt between the bifilar winding sensed the moisture content of
the air. This "resistor" was one of the several sensing elements in the radiosonde.

126
Early form of the electrical hygrometer developed by Dunmore for use on radiosondes to determine relative humidity.
Dunmore experimented with this device for more than a decade, bringing about many changes and improvements.
In principle, the electric resistance of a film of lithium chloride indicates relative humidity over a wide range.
Several patents came from this device and it is used quite extensively today.

Complete receiving and recording equipment for the radiosonde as it appeared in December 1936. The electronic
frequency meter at center indicated the audio frequencies controlled by the effective values of air pressure,
temperature, and humidity, thus revealing upper air conditions.

127
 A method E of sequencing and recording readings
satisfactory flight incorporating the
was made on November 9, method appeared to be
1936. Considering all factors involved, the
able to yield accuracies of 1 percent for readings of temperature and humidity. Facilities
were set up in the laboratory whereby flights to high altitudes could be simulated and
calibration of the radiosondes conducted in the laboratory. Thus, there was assurance of a
well-calibrated device before it was launched by a balloon. On one experimental flight
observations were made of cloud height and cloud thickness by incorporating a phototube in
the radiosonde circuitry. This adaptation and these measurements did not become a regular
feature of radiosondes in the future.
Diamond, Hinman, and Dunmore came out with their first publication on the
radiosonde in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society of March 1937 [11]. The
paper had been read initially at the Atlantic City meeting of this Society on December 29,
1936. The published paper appeared in company with several other papers in the same issue
on contemporary developments in radio meteorographs.
In April 1937 the team prepared performance specifications for the Navy for the
purchase of 50 radiosondes. On April 28 and 29 an exhibit on the radiosonde was shown at
the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society at Washington, D.C. The Radio
Section radiosonde was beginning to arrive.

7. Flight testing and a serviceable product

June of 1937 brought on some solid accomplishments. A standard procedure for

calibrating the radiosondes was worked out that incorporated simplifications, yet increased
the overall accuracy of measurement. A receiving station was set up at the Naval Air
Station at Anacostia, D.C. This station was to serve for many flight observations over the
next several years. It was also to serve as a training area for Navy personnel in the early
stages of introducing the radiosonde into upper-air soundings. The first flight was made with
an electric hygrometer as an improvement over the hair hygrometer. Future use of the
radiosonde appeared bright but more refinements were indicated.
In rapid succession came many flights of the radiosondes. Comparison flights with the
regularly scheduled airplane flights for weather soundings were often made. This was
largely a matter of comparison with an established weather service in order to determine
the superiority and economy of using radiosondes. Many multiflights of radiosondes were
made to compare the performance and realiability of readings between a number of the
instruments that were exposed to the same flight and atmospheric conditions. The results
were gratifying both to NBS and to the Navy.
Many flights were made in the spring of 1939, both with balloons and Navy planes,
during the transition period of conversion from the hair hygrometer to the electric
hygrometer developed by Dunmore. It was an uneasy period of experimentation, both for
NBS and the Navy, to accept a potentially superior device for measuring relative humidity.
It meant acceptance of the device on a daily routine basis under the severe conditions of low

temperature and low moisture content found in the upper air and extending its use into the
stratosphere. The time-honored hair hygrometer was finally cast aside during the
transitional period in 1939 and 1940. During the same period the balloon-borne radiosonde
was fast taking over the meteorograph carried by planes.
Service use of the radiosonde began in the Navy Department on June 1, 1938, at the
Naval Air Station, Anacostia, D.C. During the next year the U.S. Weather Bureau, the
Coast Guard, and later, the War Department, set up facilities for upper-air soundings by
means of radiosondes. Some of the installations were aboard ships, where a relatively small
boat could become a useful and effective as well as a mobile weather station.
The Radio Section's team became quite occupied in the planning and assistance in
setting up radiosonde facilities among the various Government agencies that provided
aerological services. Assistance was also given in the training of station personnel. Technical
assistance was given to, as well as received from, the manufacturer of radiosondes. By 1940
the radiosondes were being produced at the rate of 15,000 units per year.

128
This radiosonde was manufactured in large quantities by 1,940. and incorporated improvements developed by the
Radio Section. The batteries, transmitter, and pressure unit were housed in an insulated box to minimize
temperature changes. Temperature tube and electric hygrometer (at rear) were shielded against solar radiation by
double-walled metal tube. Total weight less than 1 kg; cost was $25 in 1940. The finder, after balloon flight,
received a monetary award upon return of radiosonde to Bureau.

129
Pressure unit (left) operated a switching contactor to provide sequencing of pressure, temperature, and humidity
information at indicated altitudes (pressures). Transmitter operated at 65 MHz with two triodes in a single glass
envelope (type 19 tube), one Iriode as the carrier oscillator, the other as the modulating oscillator.

Glass tube (upper component) encloses electrolyte used as a resistance thermometer. On opposite side of panel a group
of electric hygrometers in three sensing ranges indicated a wide range of relative humidity.

130
8. The radiosonde attains technical stature

During the course of its development the Radio Section's radiosonde received good
documentation in the technical literature by the development team. It was also a popular
subject for other writers. By 1940, Diamond, Dunmore, Hinman, and Lapham had published,
in several combinations or individually, 11 papers on the development of the radiosonde plus
numerous reports for the Navy Department and the section files. Moreover, they had
presented many papers before technical groups and had given a number of lectures that
popularized the subject. A lengthy and detailed account of the matured radiosonde was
published in the NBS Journal of Research in 1940 [12].
A description of the operating principles of the radiosonde in the stage of development
as it became widely used by 1940 is beyond the scope of this historical account. For such
information, as well as the details of the components and performance characteristics, the
reader is referred to the publication noted above [12].
The three vacuum tubes used in the earlier models were reduced to one tube that
housed two triodes. One triode served as the 65-MHz transmitter feeding a dipole antenna.
The other triode served as a relaxation oscillator for modulating the transmitter. Although
oscillating at about 1 MHz, it would be periodically blocked (and restarted) at an audio
frequency rate by a resistance-capacitance network that supplied information on
temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. At the ground station the received signal
was fed to an electronic frequency meter. The resulting direct current, proportional to the
modulation frequency from the radiosonde, was fed to a tape recorder. By means of a special
slide rule, the frequency signals were converted to readings of temperature and relative
humidity in terms of atmospheric pressure readings and altitude.
As a balloon-borne measurement instrument to probe the upper atmosphere, the
radiosonde had reached a very acceptable degree of accuracy in performance. Barometric
pressure readings were accurate to ±5 millibars, temperature readings to ±0.75 °C, and
relative humidity to ±5 percent. Below a temperature of -60 °C the electric hygrometer
became unreliable.
Dunmore continued his investigations on electric hygrometers until 1948. In a later
form the tubular hygrometer was built on a small strip of polystyrene. With this
construction the entire humidity range for radiosondes could be covered with a single unit.
From his hygrometer researches Dunmore received two patents. 21 In addition to its
contribution to the marked success of the Radio Section's radiosonde, this electric
hygrometer has had wide application in industry. In all cases it utilized lithium chloride in
an organic binder as the sensing material of a resistor in an electrical measurement circuit.
A novel hygrometer using this principle was reported in 1953 where the sensing element
was small enough to fit into the end of a hypodermic needle. In this extremely small form it
was used by cereal food processors to probe for moisture content in wheat grains.

9. Further developments
In 1946 the Federal Communications Commission reassigned the frequency bands for
22
The lowest of these bands was 400-406
radio meteorological devices such as radiosondes.
MHz. Now working in CRPL, Lowell and William Hakkarinen converted the existing design
of radiosondes to this new band in the UHF region for the Navy Department. The
conversion was aided by some adaptations of a UHF meteorological telemetering system
developed by the Army Signal Corps during World War EL The conversion incorporated
pulse modulation instead of the amplitude modulation of older radiosondes. The conversion
resulted in a much reduced power drain from the batteries, thereby reducing the battery
weight. The pulse system also increased the distance range.

21
The two patents issued to Francis W. Dunmore were:
1) Patent 2,285,421, entitled "Humidity variable resistance," filed June 8, 1940, issued June 9, 1942; and
2) Patent 2,295,570, entitled "Humidity measuring," filed December 22, 1938, issued September 15, 1942.
22
During the war period most radiosondes being manufactured had been converted to operate in the frequency
band of 70-73 MHz.

131
 In 1960 Lowell replaced the active elements of the radiosonde with transistors (except
for the transmitting vacuum tube). Using transistors in a pulse-power amplifier circuit,
Lowell was able to pulse-modulate the transmitter to gain certain advantages over grid
modulation. Another advantage gained was elimination of the 120-volt plate supply battery
and replacing with a low-voltage battery used for transistors. The radiosonde had gone a
long way from its beginnings in 1935 and was kept up to date with the newer technological
developments.
The development of the radiosonde was an outstanding contribution to the fields of
aerology and weather forecasting. In his book, commemorating the 100 years of the U.S.
Weather Bureau, the author, Patrick Hughes, stated:
The development of the radiosonde was an epoch landmark in
meteorological history, leading to many revisions of man's concept of the
structure of the atmosphere under, and in which, he lives [13]. . . .

RADIO DETERMINATION OF UPPER-AIR WIND

VELOCITY BY PHASE-VARIATION METHOD 23

With the expertise gained by the Radio Section in the early developments of
radiosondes (beginning in 1935), the Navy Department again turned to the Bureau (summer
of 1937) for development of radio methods of determining upper- wind velocity. Measurement
of wind velocity was considered to be an important part of the overall observation of the
upper air as a means of reliable weather forecasting. Information gained from accurate
weather forecasting always influences and sometimes determines the planning of military
air and surface actions.
Air navigation, whether by military aircraft or by commercial aircraft, requires
accurate knowledge of wind velocity (the vector of speed and direction) in the upper air. In
order to minimize headwinds, the pilot or flight controller selects altitudes that will reduce
the time of flight and economize on the operation. Accuracy in long-range gunnery also
requires knowledge of moving air strata at the higher altitudes.
The conventional method of measuring wind velocity above the ground was by means of
observing small free balloons with a theodolite. Such observations were limited by visibility
of the balloon, accurate readings of the azimuth and zenith angles, and by assumption of a
given rate of ascent of the balloon. Some form of radio determination of wind velocity would
24
be superior in most or all respects to that of the theodolite method. Several radio methods
were considered. In any of these methods a transmitter would be suspended from the free
balloon.
Early in this new project several reports were sent to the Navy of analytical studies
made preliminary to the actual development of a measurement system. It was soon
determined that a triangulation method involving two stations would yield observations
with rather gross errors of wind velocity. Determination of altitude of a balloon by
measurement of zenith or elevation angle from a single ground station was subject to much
error, particularly if made from aboard ship. From these early studies there evolved a
phase-variation method of determining wind velocity with an acceptable accuracy of
measurement.
On March observations of wind velocity at upper-air levels were successfully
12, 1938,
made by a phase-variation method. The early experiments made by this
for the first time
method were developed and conducted by Dunmore and Evan G. Lapham under the
direction of Harry Diamond.

23
Because no paper was prepared for publication on this project, due to World War II, a rather detailed account is

given here.
24
Blair and Lewis reported on the radio tracking of meteorological balloons by the Signal Corps at Ft. Monmouth,
N.J. in 1931 to determine wind speed and direction [14]. They developed a small balloon-borne transmitter that
operated at a wavelength of 125 meters (2.4 MHz). Two direction-finder loop antennas on a long baseline and a
known rate of rise gave position of the balloon, from which wind speed could be calculated. Observations were made
to a distance of 10 miles.

132
 In its simplest form for this successful test, the phase-variation method required a
ground-based transmitter with amplitude modulation by a single audio signal, and a free
balloon carrying a small re-emitter, a combination transmitter and receiver; with later
usage, this was more commonly called a pulse-repeater or transponder. The balloon receiver
received the radio signal from the ground-based transmitter, extracted the audio modulation
signal which was then used to amplitude-modulate the balloon radio transmitter, and
reradiated this signal at a different radio frequency to the ground-based receiver. The phase
of the audio output from the ground receiver was then compared with that of the audio
modulation of the ground transmitter. Any change in distance between the balloon and the
ground station, due to travel of the balloon, results in a change in phase between the two
audio signals at the ground station. This change could be observed on a cathode-ray
oscilloscope. In its earliest operating form, no provisions were made for measurement of
azimuth and zenith angles to determine wind direction and balloon altitude or to correct for
velocity with respect to horizontal direction.
During the next several years improvements were made in the wind-velocity
measurement system with support by the Bureau of Engineering, the Bureau of Ships, and
the Bureau of Aeronautics, all of the Navy Department. The program was administered
with a Confidential security classification.
It was realized that full usefulness of the measurement of wind velocity would not be
reached until the wind direction could be determined accurately. Several means of
determining the wind direction were possible, but observation of the azimuth angle of the
balloon-borne equipment with a direction finder at the ground station was the most
promising and became the accepted method. It was also found that altitude of the balloon
could not be relied upon by assuming a constant rate of climb, making it necessary to use a
pressure indicating method for determination of altitude.
In June 1941, the project was continued with Edwin F. Florman as project leader, with
the assistance of Victor C. Pineo and Albert H. Boyer and under the direction of Harry
Diamond. 25
One of the most serious problems with the phase-difference method was spurious
frequency modulation associated with the desired amplitude modulation, with decreased
ability to render accurate readings. Improved operation was attained by extensive circuit
modifications, in both the ground-based equipment and the balloon-borne re-emitter, which
resulted in increasing the accuracy of the phase (or distance) measurements. A number of
improvements were also made in the ground-based radio direction-finding equipment at
Beltsville, Md., including an antenna "lobe switching," motor-driven, capacity-coupled
switch, and the mounting of the rotating antenna array within an all-weather radome
enclosure.
Evolving from these various improvements was the development of a field-operation
system for the Navy that was adaptable to both shore-based stations and shipboard use.
Concurrently, a system of measuring wind velocity by a radar technique was being
developed in the Radio Section for the Navy Department. This latter system was quickly
adopted for shipboard use with the Navy's Mark IV fire-control radars (see ch. IX).
The phase-variation project was completed in the early part of 1943. Approximately 50
test flights had been made at the WWV
site at Beltsville, Md. In March 1943, the ground
station equipment was moved to the U.S. Naval Air Station at Alameda, Calif. Here it was
operated on a routine basis of one or two daily flights for more than a year. The balloon-
borne equipment could be tracked to distances of 90 miles with altitudes ranging normally
up to 60,000 feet. At the Alameda Station azimuth angles could be measured with an
accuracy of ±1.5 degrees, distances to the balloon with an accuracy of ±50 meters, and
altitude measurements to ±5 percent. At Beltsville, at altitudes of 30,000 to 40,000 feet,

25
Edwin F. Florman entered the Radio Section on June 5, 1941. He remained with the CRPL in Boulder until 1965
when he transferred to the Defense Communications Engineering Office (Washington, D.C.).

133
 i

Launching a balloon-borne re-emitter (receiver-transmitter) at the Beltsville. Md. field station to determine wind
speed and direction by a phase-variation method. Re-emitter package held on pole to prepare for launching
(package can be seen at treetop line). The parachute will safely lower the re-emitter after bursting of balloon at
high altitude. Building houses the directional antenna and ground-based electronic equipment. A project of the
early 19W's.

wind velocities in excess of 100 miles per hour were measured, indicating the presence of
26
what is now known as the "jet stream."
In its final form this telemetering system used a ground-based transmitter of 250 watts
operating at a frequency of 21.775 MHz, with a sine-wave modulation signal of 10 kHz. The

In a private communication to the author (WFS), received on September 5, 1972, from Florman, leader of this
project, was a copy taken from the project notebook for the date of December 17, 1942, for Flight Test No. 28, which
states:

This was a perfect flight test. The signal was extremely stable and, even though the balloon
disappeared into the clouds within a few minutes after being released, it was followed for a
distance of 61 miles up to an altitude of 62,200 ft. Time of flight was 53 minutes. Wind velocities
up to 120 miles p. hr. were recorded.*
*The underlining was by Florman on the original record.

It is quite evident that the balloon had been carried along in what we now call the jet stream. This flight may

have been one of the first direct evidences of the existence of the jet stream. During World War II the navigators on
U.S. bombing missions over Japan became acutely aware of the effects of the jet stream on high-altitude flying.
After the war various groups began studies on the nature and location of the jet streams around the globe.

134
135
receiving equipment included a sharply directive rotatable antenna array (employing off-
axis lobe switching) with equipment for automatic tracking of the balloon. A receiver and
paper-strip recorder designed for measuring and recording the phase changes, the direction
to the balloon, and the barometric pressure, completed the ground-station equipment.
The balloon-borne re-emitter consisted of a receiver tuned to the ground station RF
signal, and a 75.5-MHz transmitter. The 10-kHz output from the receiver modulated the
transmitter. The transmitter was also modulated by a relaxation oscillator whose frequency
was determined by the pressure-operated barometric switch, providing observation of
atmospheric pressure.
The principle of operation was much the same as with the initial experiments made 5
years earlier in 1938. Distance to the balloon was determined by observing the phase
changes of the 10-kHz modulation signal, transmitted to and received from the balloon, with
respect to the 10-kHz modulation signal of the ground transmitter; each 360-degree change
in phase of the received 10-kHz modulation signal represented a change in distance to the
balloon of 9.3 miles. A sequence of tones from the re-emitter, listened to by the operator and
manually recorded on the strip chart in code, indicated the atmospheric pressure. The
recorder gave an indication of the distance, azimuth angle, and elevation of the balloon,
converted into wind speed and direction or velocity of the balloon.

Automatic weather stations

In the late spring of 1939 the Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, requested the
Radio Section to develop an automatic weather station for installation on islands and other
remote localities. Weather information would be transmitted to distant receiving stations by
radio. It was simply an expansion of services already in use by the Navy with radiosondes.
There were differences, however, in the mode of operation. By using a modulation system
somewhat different from that of the recently developed radiosonde, the receiving system
could be simplified and the cost reduced substantially. Instead of using modulation
frequencies ranging up to several hundred hertz to convey information on the weather
sensing instruments, frequencies in the range of 0.15 to 3 Hz were used. The information (in
the form of slow-rate pulses) could be observed with a very simple tape recorder or the
pulses could be counted by using headphones and a stop watch.

1. Instrumentation and control

The automatic weather station was designed by Diamond and Hinman for observing
barometric pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and
rainfall. By incorporating a phototube in the circuitry, observations of visibility could be
made. The modulating system for pulsing the transmitter differed somewhat from that
designed for the radiosondes. It retained the features of pulsing a 1-MHz oscillator at a rate
dependent upon the time constant of a resistance-capacitance circuit. The variable
resistance of this circuit was determined by the various sensing devices such as the pressure
unit or the electrolytic thermometer. The pulses of no more than three per second operated
a relay that keyed the transmitter with information from the sensing devices. Contacts on
the cup anemometer gave direct keying to the transmitter to indicate wind speed.
Sequencing of the keyed information was accomplished with a rotary switch operated
by a ratchet relay energized by a storage battery (a storage battery supplied all electrical
power). During each transmission period (typically on an hourly schedule) the station call
was given, a reference frequency transmitted that indicated proper functioning of the
modulation system, then coded signals would designate each of the several sensing devices,
after which the pulse rate of the signal from each sensing device would indicate its
"reading."
The experimental station was set up in April 1940 at the Naval Air Station, Anacostia,
D.C.A month of observations showed the design features to be quite acceptable to the Navy.
Accuracy data indicated a satisfactory operating performance. Shortly thereafter Diamond
and Hinman published their account of the work on the Navy project [15].

136
 I

Automatic weather station installed in 1940 at Naval Air Station, Anacostia, District of Columbia. Designed by
Diamond and Hinman, the experimental station transmitted radio information on barometric pressure, air
temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, and visibility of the atmosphere.

As a result of the development of the automatic weather station, based upon their
earlier work on the radiosonde, Diamond and Hinman were issued three patents. 27

2. "Grasshopper"
Growing out of the radio-telemetered Automatic Weather Station, developed by
Diamond and Hinman, was a meteorological observation system that had usefulness in
military operations. Beginning in 1940 the Navy's Bureau of Ships and Bureau of
Aeronautics became interested in developing a method of remote weather reporting from
isolated shore stations. From this first concept came the development of a number of
systems of increasing complexity that were to serve the Navy for remote weather reporting
in inaccessible areas and in enemy territory.
During World War II the team of Lowell and Hakkarinen in the Radio Section
developed the "Grasshopper," an air-launched automatic weather station for the Bureau of
Ships and Bureau of Aeronautics [16]. The device could be launched from a plane as a bomb-
shaped mechanism. An attached parachute lowered the station to the desired landing spot
with minimal mechanical shock to the contained equipment. At launch an electric clock
turned on the electronic equipment and controlled all sequences of operation thereafter.
Upon impact an explosive charge disengaged the parachute; another charge set the station
in an upright position by means of six "grasshopper" legs and a third charge extended the
telescopic vertical antenna to a height of more than 15 feet.

The three patents issued to H. Diamond and W. S. Hinman, Jr. were:

1) Patent 2,283,919, entitled "Art of radiometeorography," filed May 4, 1938, issued May 26, 1942;
2) Patent 2,287,786, entitled "Automatic weather station," filed August 30, 1941, issued June 30, 1942; and
3) Patent 2,322,229, entitled "Pressure switching," filed May 4, 1938, under the title of "Art of
meteorography," but divided and separately filed November 22, 1941, and then issued June 22, 1943, under
the title of "Pressure switching."

137
 In operation, the electric clock turned on and off in sequence the circuits that sensed
temperature, barometric pressure, and relative humidity. The pulse rate of signals produced
from each of these circuits indicated at the distant receiver station the ground level
readings of temperature, pressure, and humidity at the remote weather station.
Output from the pulse-modulated transmitter was about 5 watts at a frequency in the
region of 5 MHz. Reliable range was about 100 miles. Dry batteries were used in the first
model that gave an operating life beyond 15 days, transmitting information at 3-hour
intervals.
A patent was granted Lowell and Hakkarinen for the "Grasshopper" type of remote
28
station.

3. Buoy weather station

Near the close of and after World War II it was but a step from the land station to a
water-borne weather station. The first stage of development by Lowell and Hakkarinen for
the Bureau of Ships was a free-floating automatic weather station mounted in a cylindrical
29,30
buoy [17]. In addition to transmitting data on barometric pressure and air temperature,
this station observed water temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. Observation of
wind direction in a free-floating buoy presented a knotty problem but was solved by using a
modified aircraft-type magnetic compass mounted in the buoy, plus a slave needle that
rotated over 36 resistor-connected contacts to give 10-degree bearings for the wind direction.
With a transmitter output of 20 watts at a frequency in the region of 5 MHz, the
reliable range was 400 miles over a water path. With transmission at 3-hour intervals the
battery pack had a 30-day life.

4. Low-level sounding system — A wired sonde

Although early attempts in France and Germany with telemetry on kite and balloon
wires date back to World War I for transmission (wired carrier-frequency technique) of
meteorological observations, Lowell and Hakkarinen started development on a mobile low-
level sounding system for the Navy Department during World War II [20]. The system was
designed to operate in combination with an Army mobile meteorological station. The system
was not completed during the war and the project was reinitiated by CRPL as a means of
making low-level meteorological observations for tropospheric propagation studies.
Modifications were incorporated in the design to measure temperature, moisture, and
atmospheric pressure distributions and gradients from near ground level and to elevations
of 2000 feet above ground over different types of terrain [21]. Support for the sensing
instruments was from a kite, balloon, or kytoon. An ingenious "gravity motor" provided
circulation of air across the sensing elements, dispensing with a battery-driven motor. The
three-conductor cable served for transmitting the impedance changes in the sensing
elements to the electronic recorder located on the truck, as well as for a tethering cord. The
third conductor was a precautionary measure for grounding the elevated equipment against
build-up of static charges. Sixty-hertz ac energizing of the sensing circuits permitted greater
stability of operation and recorded information that was previously obtained with a dc
energizer.

28
Percival D. Lowell and William Hakkarinen filed for a patent on an air-launched radio-operated remote weather
station on June 20, 1945. Patent 2,555,352 was issued on June 5, 1951, entitled "Air launched radio station."
29
Lowell and Hakkarinen, as a team, continued their development of meteorological sounding equipment with
CRPL until 1949. The "team" and the projects were successively transferred to the Electronics and Ordnance
Division, Electronics Division, Electricity and Electronics Division, and to the Electronic Technology Division.
Lowell retired from NBS in 1961 and Hakkarinen transferred to the Naval Air Systems Command, Department of
the Navy in 1966.
30
Following the success of an automatic weather station housed in a free-floating buoy, the Navy's Bureau of
Aeronautics supported a program for the development of NOMAD (Navy Oceanographic Meteorological Automatic
Device). Lowell and Hakkarinen directed this development for the Navy after transferring from CRPL to the
Electronics Instrument Section, within several divisions in succession. NOMAD was a boat-type automatic weather
station, completed in 1955, that would transmit signals up to 1000 miles distance at a frequency of 5.34 MHz. In
September of 1960 it gave the first indication of the formation of hurricane Ethel while anchored to a depth of 2000
fathoms in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1966 NOMAD was improved by adding a nuclear powered charger to the
batteries, allowing for greater periods of time without servicing the station [18,19].

138
 Radio navigation systems
1. Safety at sea

From the earliest days of practical wireless, its application to promote safety at sea was
paramount to inventors, communication shipping interests, and national
firms,
governments. For the first time man could communicate across trackless seas. However,
adoption of this new means of communication came rather slowly and wireless as a means
of navigation came even more slowly.
Kolster entered the Bureau at a period when some of the Government agencies were
considering the greater use of wireless in their operations. In 1912 he attended the (Second)
International Radiotelegraph Conference in London as a technical advisor. The Titanic had
sunk several weeks before the conference opened. He must have been quite thoughtful on
the subject of safety at sea from this exposure.
In May 1913, Kolster served as a representative of the Department of Commerce on the
Interdepartmental Radio Committee on Safety at Sea. He

strongly advocated that serious consideration be given to the possibilities of

radio signaling as an aid to navigation and that the matter be brought
before the International Conference on Safety at Sea which was held in
London during the year [22].
Beginning in 1913 Kolster and others would be much occupied for the next decade in
the development of radio navigation aids for the Bureau of Lighthouses, Department of
Commerce. Although supplemental to light beacons and fog horns, these radio aids would
soon surpass the time-honored devices for dependability in fog and over long distances. This
long-term project was often referred to as "radio fog signaling."

a) The coil antenna adapted to shipboard use

The coil or loop antenna was not a new development with Kolster but he made
abundant application of its directional properties. 31 Its application to the radio fog signaling
system was the key to success. In 1916 he built a coil antenna for direction-finding
development which was housed in one of the laboratory rooms in the East Building. With an
electron-tube receiver his equipment was sensitive enough to receive signals from European
stations. This antenna served as a prototype for adoption by the Navy as a form of direction
finder and was much used during World War I. It also served as the prototype for a
navigation system to be used later by Kolster on lighthouse tenders. Late in the winter of
1917 Kolster made an inspection of direction finders of his design on seven ships of the
32
Atlantic Fleet located in Cuban waters. He found the installations were far from
satisfactory.
As another phase of the radio navigation system, Kolster developed an automatic radio
beacon transmitter to be located in the vicinity of a lighthouse or on a lightship. The
transmitter would be used to "home" with a directional coil antenna. In 1916 such a
transmitter was installed at the Navesink light station at Atlantic Highlands, N.J. (near
Sandy Hook, to the south of Brooklyn, N.Y.). A direction finder with a coil antenna was
installed on the lighthouse tender Tulip. With a spark transmitter of this period, tests in the
vicinity of the light station were successful and encouraging. But World War I interrupted
the program with the Bureau of Lighthouses. However, direction-finder programs on a
modest basis were carried on by the Radio Laboratory during the war.

The antenna as a direction finder was described by Pickard in 1908. Kolster became interested in radio
coil
direction finders while employed with the Stone Radio and Telegraph Co. of New York City previous to his coming
to the Bureau in 1911.
Earlier, in 1906, Bellini and Tosi of Italy had pioneered in the development of radio direction finders (see ch. I,
p. 10).

i2
Kolster served as a part-time consultant to the Navy Department during World War I, aiding in the adoption of
his direction finder for Navy use.

139
b) The radio compass evolves
Within a month after the cessation of hostilities a conference was held with the Navy
Department to learn of the Navy's experience with direction finders during the war. In
January 1919 several conferences were held with the Navy and with the Bureau of
Lighthouses on the radio compass and on fog signaling. In reviewing its program of safety at
sea, interrupted by World War I, the Bureau of Lighthouses found itself on the horns of a
dilemma. The choice was that of a system of determining the location of a ship's position
(and especially in a fog) by a system developed by the Navy or the system suggested by
33
Kolster. The decision was to develop the method advocated by Kolster (known as the
Bureau of Standards system). The superiority of the system was proven with time.
In the fall of 1919 tests of the direction-finder system were made in the lower portion of
Chesapeake Bay. A transmitter was operated as a radio beacon from each of three
34
lighthouses located in the Bay. Direction-finder equipment was installed on the lighthouse
tender Arbutus. It was located amidships and corrected for metallic parts of the ship in
35
order to give true bearings. The tests were highly successful. They were carried out under
Dunmore's direction with the assistance of others of the Radio Laboratory.
With the Bureau of Lighthouses the Radio Laboratory moved its fog signaling and radio
compass project into the area of the approach to Lower New York Bay (south of Long Island
36
and east of New Jersey) during the summer of 1920. Again, three transmitters (rotating
spark, operating at 1000 meters) were set up as radio beacons. Automatically produced
signals of one, two, and three dots came from the stations, each combination of dots
designating the station location. The lighthouse tender Tulip was again used as the
navigating vessel. Four years after his first tests in the same vicinity, Kolster fitted the
Tulip with a much improved direction finder, now designated as a radio compass, and one
that was carefully calibrated for true readings of direction. The coil antenna was rotated
directly above the ship's magnetic compass and its readings were correlated with the
compass readings. A number of runs were made in the general area of the three radio
beacons. Without previous experience, the captain of the Tulip was able to navigate his ship
with the radio compass, with only small errors, by triangulation on the three radio beacons.
Kolster and Dunmore were able to do the same. The Bureau of Lighthouses pronounced the
results remarkable and extremely satisfactory.

33
By 1919 the Navy Department had established an extensive system of direction-finder stations on the Atlantic
Coast furnishing to ships, upon request, radio bearings of the ship taken by two or more of the land-based stations.
The bearings obtained would be communicated to the ship by radio. Such a system had several disadvantages.
Trained personnel were required at each land-based station to operate the equipment at all times. A station could
take bearings on but one ship at a time. Any signals sent by a ship could divulge its position to an enemy using
radio direction-finder equipment. Also, a considerable amount of time was necessary to complete a radio-bearing
procedure.
With the Bureau of Standards system the beacon radio transmitter was automatic in operation at all times,
requiring no additional operators, only operation and maintenance by the lighthouse keeper. A ship used only
receiving equipment, therefore not divulging its position with transmitted signals. Within a few moments a ship
could determine its position without the aid of land-based personnel.

34
Transmitters of the rotary-spark type were installed at Wolf Trap and Smith Point lighthouses; a transmitter
using electron tubes was installed at the Windmill Point lighthouse (the electron tube was beginning to replace the
spark and arc as a source of RF oscillations).

35
In operation, for maximum accuracy of determining the direction of a signal source (radio beacon), the coil
antenna was oriented to produce minimum signal. This would be a position where the plane of the coil was 90
degrees to the direction of the signal source (the minimum or zero signal in the figure-of-eight directional pattern).
Actually, two minimum and the position of the signal source
signal positions of the coil existed, 180 degrees apart,
would be indicated in either of the two opposite directions. The ambiguity of direction was resolved by adding a
circuit from the antenna to ground that gave the coil a unidirectional characteristic. However, when the coil
antenna was used in this mode it lost much sharpness in sense of direction.
36
Two of the radio beacons were located on the lightships at Fire Island and Ambrose Channel. The third was land-
based at Sea Girt, south of Asbury Park, N.J.

140
One-half-kilowatt spark transmitter designed by Radio Section for automatic and continuous coding of signals. This
and other types of transmitters were used at lighthouses in the Lower New York Bay area for radio "fog signaling"
experiments by the Radio Section and Bureau of Lighthouses, beginning in 1917 and extending to the mid-19'JO's.

141
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142
Composite photograph of radio compass installation on board the Bureau of Lighthouses tender Tulip during the
summer of 1920. The directional loop antenna was mounted above deck, with rotational control and directional
bearing indication and the compass below deck.

143
 Demonstration pj

Model prepared by Radio Section to demonstrate a radio "fog signaling" system —

using a direction finder (or radio
compass) to determine position of ship by triangulation method. Radio direction bearings are taken on two land-
based transmitters.

Various improvements were made to the new navigation system particularly on the
antennas and the automatic keying device. Navigation runs on June 27 and 28, 1921, were
demonstrated to Government officials, representatives of shipping interests, manufacturers
of radio equipment, newspaper and magazine reporters, and Bureau personnel including
37
director Stratton. Navigation errors averaged 1.5 degrees, with a maximum of 3 degrees.
38
The event was publicized in New York City papers.

c) The radio compass becomes a manufactured product

Following the marked success with the radio navigation system in the New York harbor
area, a radio beacon was installed on the San Francisco lightship and at Diamond Shoal (off
Cape Hatteras, N.C., a dangerous shoal area notorious for shipwrecks). On March 27, 1922,
the Bureau issued Letter Circular 35 that stated the advantages and disadvantages of the
two systems, that of having the direction finder on shore or that of having the direction
finder on shipboard. Kolster and Dunmore had previously published Bureau of Standards
Scientific Paper 428 on their radio beacon program [22].
Interest in the new navigation system continued to grow. On May 12, 1922, nine
companies interested in the manufacture of radio direction finders (becoming known as the
Kolster radio compass) met at the Bureau to confer with the Assistant Secretary of
Commerce, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Lighthouses, Director Stratton and others of
the Bureau. On this occasion it was announced that the Department of Commerce would be
installing radio beacons at a number of new locations. It was learned at this conference that
foreign shipping companies were also interested in the new radio beacon system on the U.S.
39
coasts, as some of their ships were outfitted with direction finders of European design.

17
Kolster did not take part in these demonstrations. On January 31, 1921, he had taken a year's leave of absence.
iK
To publicize this new radio navigation system, a working model had been demonstrated at the National Marine
League Exposition at New York City in April 1920 and later in Philadelphia.
19
A variety of direction finders had been developed in Europe, including the direction finder made by the Marconi
Co. of England for shipboard use.

144
 Kolster left the Bureau early in 1921 and Dunmore was placed in charge of the project
and continued in this capacity until it was gradually phased out in the middle 1920's. 1

April 1921 Dunmore, with the aid of the Bureau of Lighthouses, prepared specifications for
the construction and installation of the Radio Direction Finder for Marine Use, U.S. Burea
of Standards, Type B. This specification, along with subsequent revisions, was used for ;

number of years by the Bureau of Lighthouses in its procurement of the Kolster direction
finder. However, by 1923 the Federal Telegraph Co. brought legal pressure upon the Bureau
and the Department of Commerce for infringement upon the patent structure associated
with direction finders and the Kolster radio compass in particular. 41 The available records
on the matter are incomplete and a detailed record is beyond the scope of this account.
Kolster and Dunmore had each been issued a patent on the direction finder. 42
By the mid-1920's at least 150 U.S. vessels, exclusive of Navy ships, were outfitted with
the Kolster radio compass. By that time most of the beacon spark transmitters had been
replaced with electron-tube equipment.
During 1924 and 1925 the Radio Section gave technical assistance to the Navy
Department in evaluating and improving upon its radio navigation system. A study in depth
was made of both the Department of Commerce radio beacon system and the Navy
Department radio compass system. The Navy was gradually solving the problems associated
with the system it had adopted during World War I. Over the years the Bureau of
Lighthouses had encountered relatively few technical problems with the system suggested
and set up by Kolster and Dunmore.

d) Spinoffs from the radio compass program

The success that came to Kolster's radio compass stimulated the development of other
devices for use to promote safety at sea. Early in the program the Radio Section assisted the
Bureau of Lighthouses in the development of radio telephone equipment for communication
between boats and with land-based facilities. Assistance was also given to the U.S. Coast
Guard for similar equipment. In 1925 a small type of direction finder was developed for the
Coast Guard to be used on small boats. This equipment operated at 2100 kHz. With radio
beacons, small boats could locate each other as well as navigate by aid of land-based
stations.

LOCATING AIRPLANES BY RADIO

1. Kolster suggests a triangulation method (April 1917)

Being intrigued by various uses for his direction finder, in April of 1917 Kolster came
up with a method of using it for locating or "spotting" airplanes. He had just returned from
an extensive journey during March on board several battleships plying Cuban waters. The
U.S. Navy had retained him as a consultant to make a study of the direction finders
recently installed on some of the ships. On April 6 the United States declared war on
Germany.
In April the Chief Signal Officer of the Army had suggested an experimental
investigation of using directional antennas to locate airplanes in fog, clouds, or beyond the
horizon. Kolster proposed a method by triangulation, using two or more stations fitted with
directional finders, with a means of communication between them. By simultaneous
observations the airplane could be located and its course followed. The method required, of
40
On January 31, 1921, Kolster took a year's leave of absence and did not return to the Bureau. In 1921 he joined
the Federal Telegraph Co. at Palo Alto, Calif, as a research engineer to pursue further development and the
manufacture of his radio compass. He remained with the company until 1931.

41
Infringement was on the basis of the Bureau specifying certain features in the design and operational functions of
the direction finder for manufacture of the device and procurement by the Department of Commerce for use by the
Bureau of Lighthouses.
42
Frederick A. Kolster filed for a patent on March 31, 1916. Patent 1,311,654 was issued July 29, 1919, entitled
"Radio method and apparatus." The patent was later controlled by the Federal Telegraph Co. While with the
Federal Telegraph Co., Kolster was issued another patent on the radio compass. Francis W. Dunmore filed for a
patent on February 4, 1921. Patent 1,405,905 was issued February 7, 1922, entitled "Radio receiving apparatus."
This patent was licensed to the U.S. Government.

145
course, that the plane be fitted with a radio transmitter (radar was about two decades away,
by which location could be made from a single station and by signal reflection from the
plane's surfaces). There is no evidence that the system was further developed by the Radio
43
Laboratory during World War I.

2. The U.S. Coast Artillery becomes interested in locating airplanes

In 1920 the U.S. Coast Artillery, a branch of the Army, became interested in a new use
of radio direction finding particularly adaptable to coastal defense. It was direction of
artillery fire on enemy ships from coastal positions by radio observation of an airplane
passing over the target. This could be done in any type of weather or in darkness. At the
zero position a signal from the plane would indicate the exact time for shore-based direction
finders to take a bearing on the enemy's position. This signal would be different from the
signal continuously emitted while the plane was coursing in the general area of the target.
By triangulation, using two direction-finder stations and simultaneous observations, the zero
position of the plane could be determined, thus giving the target position.
Late in 1920 the U.S. Signal Corps, acting for the Coast Artillery Corps, requested the
Bureau to develop a direction finder for this special purpose. Such a device would have to
follow closely the movement of a plane and have a bearing accuracy of better than 1/2
degree. Moreover, at times it would have to be adaptable for mobility on a truck body or
railroad car. It was on this project that Lowell, along with C. E. Bohner of the Signal Corps
Research Laboratory (located at the Bureau of Standards), came up with the novel design of
a direction finder that incorporated two coil antennas. The crossed-coil antenna formed a
narrow equisignal path (actually two paths in opposite directions in the simple form) for the
received signal rather than the broader path of the null signal from a figure-of-eight pattern
of the conventional direction finder. It was adaptation of this design of a double-coil or
crossed-coil antenna that was to eventually lead to the directive or localizer beacon for
instrument landing systems for airplanes (see p. 150 and p. 152).
Experiments carried out in the vicinity of Washington during 1921 indicated the
feasibility of the method but the inaccuracy was three to
of the bearing in spotting a plane
five times greater than could be tolerated for accurate gunfire. After a series of tests that
appeared discouraging, the project of Confidential status was phased out. The military had
to wait for the more accurate radar method of spotting the enemy and determining the
range for accurate gunfire.

3. Dunmore's "universal" direction finder

During the mid-1920's Dunmore was engaged in the development of a portable type of
direction finder for the Signal Corps and for the Navy. It was a multipurpose device for
locating the source of radio signals throughout the range of 90 to 7700 kHz. A set of seven
small interchangeable coil antennas and a short vertical rod served as the antenna system.
A set of seven interchangeable coils was used with the superheterodyne receiver to cover the
frequency range. Automatic features reduced controls to one tuning dial, plus a balancing
control to obtain minimum signal when the antenna was properly oriented on a signal
source. The instrument became known as a "universal" direction finder.

4. Dunmore adds to the ideas on locating airplanes

In 1935 Dunmore proposed two methods of locating airplanes in flight by observing
44
radio reflections from the plane. One method was by observing the interference between
reflected waves from a plane and waves received directly from a transmitter. Two or more
observing points were required in this method in order to observe the azimuth motion of the
plane.

43
After the war Kolster prepared a report on the triangulation method of locating airplanes but it was not noted in
NBS Miscellaneous Publication 1^6, "War Work of the Bureau of Standards."
44
Information on these methods is taken from the Radio File.

146
A portable-type direction finder developed by Dunmore in 1925 for the Navy and the Army Signal Corps. It was
known as a "universal" type because of the wide frequency range — 90 to 7700 kHz, using seven sizes of loop
antennas. A single tuning control was one of the many features.

The second method required but one location for transmitting and receiving (similar to
radar) to observe the azimuth position and motion of a plane. A transmitter with a UHF
directive antenna could be used to determine the azimuth angle. The distance in miles
would be determined by observing the time delay of a reflected wave in terms of the peak
value of successive oscillations of a variable modulation frequency. This method of detecting
and observing the position of airplanes by reflected waves was following closely upon the
heels of the radar method being developed by England and by the United States. (See
introductory chapter, p. 17.)
Another method proposed by Dunmore, in 1938, was similar to that of radar, yet it is
doubtful that he had knowledge of the radar systems which by that time were in various
stages of development in the United States and in England.

Radio— The aviators guiding hand

The airplane pilot (and navigator) must orient himself in a 3-dimensional medium in
order to move from a take-off spot to a landing field that may be several thousand miles
distant. Anywhere along the route terrestrial and celestial guide points may be obliterated
45
by clouds, darkness. Radio navigation aids, developed over the years, permit the
fog, or
aviator to fly through the 3-dimensional medium, allowing him to know at any moment
where he is and how to reach his destination safely.
45
In a fog, heavy clouds, or in total darkness the aviator of a bygone era was not completely without some sense of
orientation. altitude of the plane (with Earth as frame of reference) could be observed from panel instruments.
The
A general sense of direction could be obtained from a compass and a fairly reliable indication of height from an
altimeter (hut not a safe aid in mountainous terrain). Although the aviator could observe his air speed before the
existence of radio aids, he had no of observing wind drift or velocity with reference to the Earth when his
way
vision of landmarks was Without means of orientation and navigation, the aviator was helpless when
obliterated.
caught in a three-dimensional opaqueness. It was radio that came to his rescue.

147
 The airmen of World War I did not have radio's guiding hand, nor did those pilots who
first flew the airmail service route between Washington, D.C. and New York City beginning
on May 15, 1918. Thus was the situation in August 1918 when the Aerial Mail Service of the
Post Office Department proposed to the Bureau of Standards the development of a
directional transmitter for guiding airplanes. Kolster already had assisted the Bureau of
Lighthouses in the early developments of a radio guidance system (fog signaling) for use in
fog (see p. 139). But the Post Office had a greater need, that of aiding the pilot to locate the
exact position of the landing field in case of fog or darkness. The Post Office Department
made the proposal at the time the American Expeditionary Force was preparing for its fall
—
offensive in France the armistice was still 3 months away.

1. The Bureau's early systems for airplane landing

a) Induction signaling
In spite of wartime activity in the Bureau and in the Radio Section, Kolster appears to
have been anxious to aid the Post Office in this new problem. On September 3 he sent a
memorandum Bureau's director, Dr. Stratton, suggesting a localized signaling system
to the
for airplane landing. In fact, for severalweeks he had been working on the scheme before
writing the memo. Kolster proposed using an induction signaling system which would
become effective only when an airplane was in close proximity to the landing field. After his
initial experiment of using two coils about 200 feet apart, he was ready to carry on a full-
scale experiment. Dr. Stratton suggested that the experiment be carried out over the
Bureau grounds.
On November 11, 1918, the day of the signing of the armistice (see ch. Ill, p. 60),
Kolster tried out the induction method with an airplane. Six turns of insulated No. 12
copper wire had been coiled around the edge of the roof of the new Radio Building. The coil
was energized at 24 amperes from a 500-Hz generator. Forty turns of magnetic wire in a
large loop on each side of the lower wing of a type JN-4 ("Jenny") plane, furnished by the
Post Office, served as the "searching" coil on the "landing" plane. Both the ground loop and
plane loop were tuned to resonance for strong 500-Hz signals by very large capacitors. A
three-stage amplifier strengthened the signal in the observer's headphones. Signals would be
observed 3000 feet above the Radio Building. The experiment was a success!
After a January 1919 conference on a cooperative program by the Post Office
Department, the Navy Department, and the Bureau of Standards (the Army Air Service was
also interested in the project), the aviation field at College Park, Md. (to the northeast of the
District of Columbia) was selected for landing field experiments. After some initial
experiments, a single turn of wire enclosing an area of 1500 by 2500 feet was used as the
ground coil. But after some rather pessimistic results at frequencies of 500 to 1000 Hz, the
group turned to radio frequencies.

Post Office Department biplane used by Radio Section at College Park, Md. Airfield in early 1919 for landing
experiments. Two coils, one under each lower wing, could pick up the low frequency (500 Hz) induction field from a
large coil encircling the field, with the plane at several thousand feet altitude. A tent in the background served as
a temporary hanger.

148
Motor generator used at the College Park Airfield to energize a 1500 x 2500 ft coil for landing experiments. For field
operation the equipment was driven by a gasoline engine. The large capacitors (upper right) were used to tune the
large coil for resonance at the 500-Hz generator output. A 1000-Hz generator was also used, but the experiments
were abandoned in favor of radio frequency methods of locating airfields in fog or darkness.

b) Landing on a "radiation cone"

After trying RF at 1500 meters (200 kHz) in a large single-turn loop (7000 feet of wire)
with very little success as a landing marker, another of the Radio Laboratory personnel, J.
A. Willoughby, came up with a novel antenna system. He found that by using two horizontal
coils spaced a short distance apart and feeding RF current to the coils in opposite directions,
a cone of radiation formed in the vertical direction with a maximum signal at about 30
degrees to the vertical. Such a signal pattern could serve as a landing marker. Initial tests
in the summer of 1919 indicated that this system was more promising then the induction
system. For an unexplained reason, further testing and the project itself went into early
oblivion, but not before Gregory Breit published a theoretical treatment of this type of
antenna [23]. The radiation pattern proved to be of no practical use for the guidance systems
to be developed by the section a decade later.

C) A TRY AT AN ELECTRICAL ALTIMETER FOR AIRCRAFT

At the request of the U.S. Army Air Service the Radio Section tried its hand in 1922 to
develop an electrical altimeter that would supplement the induction signaling method as an
aid in landing an airplane. Although it was desirable that the device indicate height above
ground during the last 50 feet of approach, success eluded Francis H. Engel in a reliable
indication beyond 20 feet in height above the landing strip.
The system made use of the variation in capacitance between metal screens on the
underside of each wing. In approaching the ground the capacitance between the two large
screens increased. Change in capacitance was indicated on a thermogalvanometer,
calibrated in feet, by the "induced current" method that incorporated a vacuum-tube
oscillator. First tests were on laboratory models. Flight tests were made at McCook Field,
Dayton, Ohio. The altimeter was not incorporated into any of the radio landing systems
developed by the Bureau or by the Army in later years. The capacitance-variation electrical
altimeter would have been impractical to use on the metallic planes of a later period.

149
Interestingly, three devices for this altimeter project were processed through the initial
46
steps in preparation for application for patents.

2. A directive radio beacon is developed for the U.S. Army Air Service
Navigation by homing on a nondirectional radio beacon is subject to wind drift with an
airplane or water-current drift with a boat and a straight course is rarely followed. Homing
on a directional radio beacon of the simple figure-of-eight pattern can be over a fairly wide
path on the maximum signal and with no signal available in a direction at 90 degrees to the
maximum signal. An improved system that would provide a narrow approach path was
desirable.
At the request of the U.S. Army Air Service a program was initiated in December 1920
of using radio as an aid to air navigation. (To a limited extent, the Signal Corps was also
interested in this program.) Several approaches were considered. Based upon a suggestion by
47
Lowell of the Radio Section, Engel and Dunmore began experimenting with the crossed-
field pattern of two coil (loop) antennas placed at an angle of approximately 135 degrees to
48 49
each other to form an equisignal radiation path. '

An initial experiment on the Bureau grounds with two 20-foot square coil antennas (two
turns to each antenna) indicated that Lowell's suggestion was a sound one. The next step
was to carry out a full-scale experiment. Two single-turn coil antennas, each 40 by 150 feet
in a vertical plane, were crossed at an approximately 135-degree angle. These two antennas
were energized with a 2-kW spark transmitter operating at 300 kHz. The dot and dash of the
letter "A" was used on one antenna and the dash of the letter "T" on the other, alternating
from one antenna to the other. With a receiver on a Bureau of Lighthouses tender plying
the waters of the Potomac River 31 miles south of the Bureau grounds, it was found that on
the equisignal line there was a path approximately 11/4 miles wide and that the signal
from each antenna was approximately equal. The hoped-for narrow path of the radiated
directional beam was achieved.
In the fall was set up at McCook Field near
of 1921 the aerial navigation project
Dayton, Ohio, to test the equisignal double-coil radio beacon with an airplane. Again, a large
antenna system was set up with two coil antennas crossed at 135 degrees. This time a 5-kW
quenched spark transmitter was used, operating at 300 kHz. Ground reception was from a
truck cruising along a road that coincided roughly with an equisignal line of radiation from
the antenna system. Reception on crossroads perpendicular to the equisignal line ranged
from distances of 13 to 51 miles from the transmitter. Again, a narrow beam was observed.
Tests from an airplane, using a trailing antenna, showed equally good results. However, to
minimize observed effects of distortion of the field pattern caused by the airplane and the
long trailing antenna, it was necessary to use a relatively short and heavily weighted
antenna to obtain as nearly a vertical orientation as possible. With the short trailing
46
In a list of patents issued to, pending, and applied for, by Bureau of Standards employees, and furnished to the
Chief Clerk of the Department of Commerce by memo on October 31, 1922 (for the newly established
Interdepartmental Patents Board ordered by Executive Order), the following information was given that
applications for patents were being prepared by the Department of Justice for:

Capacity altimeter, by the applicant J. H. Dellinger; Electrical altimeter, by the applicant

Francis H. Engel; Method of indication of aircraft altimeter, by the applicant L. E. Whittemore.

At the request of the authors, a search was made of the files of the Patent Office by the Patent Agent of the NBS
Office of the Legal Adviser, with the result that no patents on altimeters as aids to the landing of aircraft were
found that had been issued to any of these three individuals.
47
The suggestion of a double-coil or crossed-coil antenna was by Lowell of the Radio Section and C. H. Bohner of the
Signal Corps Research Laboratory (see p. 146j. No patent was issued to Lowell on this type of coil antenna that
came into use for air navigation.

48
R. Keen, in his book Wireless Direction Finding (Iliffe and Sons, London, 1947, 4th ed.), states that Scheller of the
Lorenz Co. (Germany) was granted a patent in 1907 for an antenna system with an equisignal path that was formed
from crossing two long horizontal antennas at the transmitter. Keen gives credit to Engel and Dunmore for being
first to use the crossed-coil antenna system to produce an equisignal path for radio guidance.

49
The equisignal path in the 135-degree angle of two figure-of-eight patterns of two coil antennas was considered a
more desirable path (actually two paths in opposite direction) than that of a 90-degree angle. Thus the planes of the
coil antennas were set at 135 degrees rather than at 90 degrees. Selection of this angle of crossed coils gives the
strongest signal strength on a narrow beam of radiation.

150
antenna it was found that a pilot could guide his airplane into McCook Field by means

the radio beacon from distances out to 100 miles. He could home on a straight course and b
free of any changing of direction of his flight path due to wind drift. See reference [24].
This success with the crossed-coil antenna directive radio beacon in 1921 would begin to
reap rewards for NBS in 1926. Beginning in the summer of 1926 the Radio Section adopted
the system developed by Engel and Dunmore (with modifications for greater flexibility of
operation) for the radio beacon of the navigation system being developed by the Aeronautics
Branch of the Department of Commerce. It was the system that became known as the radio
range beacon system and later was incorporated into the instrument landing system (ILS).

Antenna system of two 10-ft square coils that could be oriented on vertical axes to form a directive crossed-coil radio
beacon; located at the "compass house" northeast of Radio Building. This was the original system used by
Dunmore in the spring of 1926 to develop an airfield runway localizer for pilot visual indication of course
deviation. The transmitter consisted of two RF oscillators,
one modulated at 500 Hz, the other at 1000 Hz, each
feeding its own coil antenna, but operating at the same radio
frequency. Course deviation could be noted by the
pilot on a visual indicator controlled by the two modulation frequencies. A receiver located in an open field about
2 miles distance served as the plane's indicator and position in relation to a simulated approach to a radio beacon.

3. Developing an air navigation system

After the successful field trials with Engel and Dunmore's crossed-coil antenna at
Dayton, Ohio, in the fall of 1921, the Army Air Service pursued further development of this
new radio system as a navigation aid for airplanes. During the next few years the Army Air
Service improved upon the technique of signal observation and introduced a goniometer into
the antenna feed circuit to permit orienting the beam directions without moving the
antennas. The schemes were based on 1907 German patents.
Although the Post Office Department took an early lead (before the end of World War I)
in searching for and supporting new developments in radio aids for its planes in the airmail
service, it was slow in adapting these aids to its flying services.

a) The early stage

Following the burst of activity in 1921 for the Army Air Service, there came a period of
several years preceding 1926 when the activities of the Radio Section were but little

151
involved in aiding the aviation industry or the flying services. But the need for its technical
abilitieswas growing. Thus, in the Monthly Report of February 1926 it was stated: "Because
of the interest in commercial air navigation, a study has been started on various aids to
airplanes." At the time, Lindbergh's epoch-making flight from New York to Paris was more
than a year in the future. With the mid-1920's, commercial aviation was beginning to take
the interest of the American public.
Dunmore was completing several projects in the winter of 1925-1926. It was an
opportune time to return to the radio beacon project that was set aside late in 1921. His
ingenuity was soon at work with an innovation to the radio beacon system developed by
Engel and him for the Army Air Service in 1921. The new device was a panel-mounted
visual beacon course indicator by which the pilot could observe his course navigation with
50,51
only occasional glances at the instrument [25].

;>0
The Radio Section's development of the airway beacon system and the instrument landing system brought on a
large number of papers published in the NBS Journal of Research and in outside publications. A number of the
papers were very nearly duplications in the NBS Journal of Research and in the Proc. IRE. Where duplications
exist, preference has been given in the citations to the Proc. IRE because of its greater circulation and greater
availability. Only a limited number of citations are listed in this account. Complete listings on the subjects treated
are found in citation listings in various NBS publications.

61
Up development of the visual indicator, the pilot followed the radio beam course by listening to signals
until the
via headphones. Now he was able to be in continuous aural contact to receive verbal messages on weather, flight
instructions, and other information. Moreover, the aural sytem had technical disadvantages that made it desirable
to go to a visual indicator.
Emerging from Dunmore's experimentation was a small panel instrument on which the pilot observed two
vertical and broad white lines. When the lines were of the same vertical length the pilot was on course. When one
line was longer he would steer the plane in the direction of the shorter line to bring the lines to equal length and
the plane back on course.
The indicator was made of two vibrating metal reeds with whitened tabs on the tips. One reed was tuned to 65
and the other to 86.7 Hz. They were energized into vibration by modulation signals from each of the two antennas
of the crossed-coil antenna of the radio beacon. In order to adapt the course indicator to the direction of
approaching to or receding from a radio beacon, the indicator was simply rotated 180 degrees when required. This
system was found to offset the disadvantages of two other visual systems being developed concurrently by Dellinger
and Haraden Pratt. The disturbing effect of extraneous noise in the aural system was practically eliminated by the
tuned-reed system. It proved to be very successful until replaced by another type of indicator in the instrument

landing system of a few years later.

Earliest vibrating-reed-type visual indicator (type A) designed by Dunmore in 1926 for the radio beacon installed at
the College Park, Md. The two white-tipped ends of permanently magnetized steel reeds can be seen at
Airfield.
middle left. Electromagnets from headphone receivers drove the reeds. One reed vibrated at a 60-Hz modulation
frequency in response to deviation of plane to one side of course, the other at 85 Hz for opposite side of course. The
third reed (right) was used to indicate marker beacons spaced at different distances from airfield. Dunmore
brought out a series of reed indicators, each successive stage an improvement in design and performance, and with
minor changes in the reed frequencies.

152
 ;

During the spring of 1926 action was pending in Congress to improve upon the countn
commercial aviation service. 52 This led to the approval by President Coolidge of the
Commerce Act on May 20, 1926, which, among other measures, authorized the creation of
Federal Airways system that would be marked with light and radio beacons. This act wa
"the legislative cornerstone for the development of civil aeronautics in America."
A month later, on June 22, 1926, a conference was called by the Department of
Commerce to advise the Department on the technical aspects of radio aids to air navigation.
Dr. Dellinger presided over the conference that was attended by representatives of other
Government departments, commercial air transport companies, and several technical
53
groups. Out of this conference came 15 conclusions on steps to take in meeting the
technical requirements of the Air Commerce Act. The Radio Section would play a prominent
role in these programs for the following 7 years.
The Air Commerce Act led to the creation of the Aeronautics Branch in the
Department of Commerce in July, 1926, under the guidance of William P. McCracken, Jr.,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Very soon thereafter its research division
for Aeronautics.
was organized within the Bureau's Radio Thus was born within the Radio Section
Section.
in the summer of 1926 the organizational elements and the means of developing radio aids
for air navigation that within a few years would lead to the very successful development of
the ILS (instrument landing system) for aviation — one of the major all-time contributions by
NBS to technology and to the Nation.
b) Out of the laboratory and into field operations
The early stages of development of a radio air navigation system called for radio
direction beacons, radio marker beacons
to serve as "mileposts," and a radio telephone
system by which the could receive weather information along his route and
pilot
instructions for selection of a landing field [26,27].

1) The field site at College Park, Md.

With these objectives for development clearly in perspective, and with financial support
by the Aeronautics Branch, during the summer of 1926 the Radio Section set about to
develop field facilities at the airport at College Park, Md. (a few miles to the northeast of the
54
District of Columbia). The installation would serve as an experimental station for air
navigation by radio and as a prototype for future stations around the United States. A 70-
foot wood tower served as the apex support for two triangular single-turn antennas modeled
after the design of Engel and Dunmore and installed at Dayton, Ohio in 1921. By making
use of the goniometer adapted by the Army Air Service, the radiated beams could be set in
various directions without turning the antennas. The antennas were fed by a 500-watt
transmitter, operating at 290 kHz (aircraft beacons were assigned the frequency band of 285
to 315 kHz by the 1927 International Radio Convention). To complete the complement of
ground-installed equipment at this first experimental station required a 500-watt radio
telephone transmitter operating in the band of 500 to 550 kHz (later in the 315- to 350-kHz
band), and a 5- watt marker beacon operating at 290 kHz.

°2
The action was Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, who urged the Morrow
initiated at the insistence of
Board to take all steps necessary to placecommercial aviation services on a firm footing. Hoover believed that "the
foundation for military aviation was a strong commercial service." The Morrow Board had been instrumental in
bringing other aviation legislation out of Congress.
53
The Monthly Report of June 1926 stated under the topic of Government Radio:
By a recent Act of Congress the maintenance of landing fields and air routes for civil aviation
has been put under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce. This Section has been
requested to develop as rapidly as possible the various radio aids to aviation. Several conferences
have been held with members of the Department of Commerce, other Government
representatives, and representatives of commercial aviation companies. Mr. Dunmore and the
Section Chief were in Dayton, Ohio, June 6 to 8 inspecting the work which has been done by the
Army on aviation beacons. Work on radio aids to navigation is being expanded as rapidly as men
and materials can be obtained. A report (R520Q) "Use of radio in air navigation", was prepared
by the Section chief.

54
This airport was privately owned (Newman Estate) and was operated by the Brinkerhoff Flying Service. Previous
to its being leased for use by the Bureau, the facility had been used as an airmail field by the Post Office
Department.

153
Seventy-footwood tower radio beacon erected at College Park, Md. Airfield in 1926. Single-wire triangular antennas
in two vertical planes replaced the earlier coil antennas used by Dunmore. A goniometer housed at base of tower
provided for an equisignal beacon that could be rotated in azimuth for the desired directions. The ^-course beacon
was expanded later into a 12-course beacon.

Experimental transmitting equipment at base of radio beacon tower. College Park, Md. Goniometer (mutual inductor
in antenna feed to control direction of transmitted signals) in foreground. Another type of goniometer at right.

Concurrent with the installation of field-site equipment, a laboratory model of a beacon

system was developed and constructed. It could be used for experimental purposes without
resorting to full-scale equipment. Also, flight tests were made of a beacon system installed
by the Ford Motor Co. at Dearborn, Mich, for use by Stout Air Services. This system was a
commercial venture on the part of the Ford Motor Co. and was useful to the Radio Section
as a means of gaining information on radio beacons.
By January 1927, experimental flights were made at College Park testing the radio
beacon and the tuned-reed equipment mounted in a plane. Many improvements were made
during the following months.

154
Radio Section personnel associated with early development of the radio beacon for civil airways, with plane used in
—
the earliest experiments photo, May 31, 1927. Left to right: Dellinger, Dunmore, P. T. Howard. J. Wells, F. G.
Gardner, and C. B. Hempel. In plane: H. Pratt and E. Z. Stowell. Diamond would join the group within 2 months.

With the aid of the Post Office Department, a radio beacon was installed at the Air
Mail Field, Bellefonte, Pa., located on the airmail route between New York and Cleveland.
This site, near the center of Pennsylvania, was selected because of its location on an airway
route and its location in a rugged section of the Allegheny Mountains. The site was in sharp
contrast to the flat terrain at College Park. The area was the scene of several fatal airplane
accidents in the early days of the airmail service. This radio beacon was in operation by July
1927 for experimental purposes.

2) The "night effect" on the radio beacon system

It was in August of 1927 that Haraden Pratt was looking for the possible effects of the
"night effect" upon direction finders caused by signal reflection from the ionosphere (the
horizontal component of reflected signals introduced bearing errors in conventional
05
direction finders). It was not unexpected to find the night effect present when he first took
bearings at about 90 miles distance from the Bellefonte beacon. Later observations indicated
no serious shifting in indicated direction out to 20 miles distance. The beacon was fairly
dependable at 50 miles, but was useless at 125 miles at night. Azimuth errors, beyond 100
miles distance, could be as much as 100 degrees in the reading from the true bearings, but
usually no greater than 25 degrees. The solution to the problem was substitution of a
vertical rod antenna on the aircraft for the weighted trailing wire antenna that was being
used. The vertical antenna (6 to 8 feet above the fuselage) minimized the effect of the
horizontal component of the wave from the ionosphere. Tests began to
reflected or refracted
prove that reliability of direction with the rod antenna was within 2 to 5 degrees. Daylight
reception provided an operating range of 100 miles. A few years later Diamond would come
up with an even better solution.
3) Radio receivers for the airways
High-quality radio receivers were vital components of the equipment being designed by
the Radio Section for use on the Civil Airways. The 1927 International Radio Conference
allocated the 285- to 315-kHz band for radio beacon service and the adjacent 315- to 350-kHz
band for aircraft communication service, both bands for international use. Pratt and
Diamond were assigned this phase of the rapidly expanding program.

55
Haraden Pratt entered the Radio Section March 17, 1927, with the grade of radio engineer. He resigned July 31,
1928, tobecome vice president and chief engineer of the Mackay Radio Telegraph Co. In 1938 he was president of
the IRE and was a director for 27 years. He also held the offices of secretary and of treasurer. On July 31, 1951,
President Truman appointed Pratt to the newly-created post of Telecommunications Advisor to the President, at
the time, the highest appointed position in the communications field.

155
 '.'
mm w m

Harry Diamond with small seven-tube airplane receiver that he aided in designing for radio beacon visual
—
indicators photographed April 6, 1928. Diamond entered the Radio Section July 1927.

Because the receivers operated from the rather short antenna, they had to be especially
sensitive, and consequently they incorporated three stages of RF amplification plus
regeneration. Other design features were rugged construction to withstand vibration, high
selectivity over the band of 285 to 350 kHz, and operation on automatic volume control (a
later feature). After completion of the prototypes, production of the receivers was turned
over to several manufacturers.

4) Wrestling with ignition noise

Ignition noise was not a new problem to the Radio Section in the development of the
Department of Commerce navigation system. It had been encountered back in 1921. At that
time, during the development of several projects for the Army Air Service, Charles T. Zahn
had experimented with the shielding of aircraft engines to minimize the noise at radio
frequencies that was produced by the ignition system. Tests were conducted on an engine
operating in the high-altitude chamber of the Bureau's Dynamometer Laboratory.
With the use of very sensitive receivers on board the aircraft, it was essential that all
portions of the engine associated with the ignition system be very well shielded. Metal
tubing and braided metal cable, joined with interlocking fittings, provided for a complete
metal housing of the spark plugs, magnetos, distributors, and the ignition switch. Diamond
and F. G. Gardner guided the program in cooperation with manufacturers of items that
made up the various components of the ignition system [28]. Results of their efforts were
aircraft engines that were completely shielded to the extent that no ignition noise was
evidenced in the aircraft receivers. It was another facet of development that spelled success
for the total program.

5) The marker beacons

Not only did the pilot need to know that he was on a beacon course, in following a
designated airway, but he needed to know his location along the course. Radio marker
beacons were developed for this purpose, particularly for use in the vicinity of landing fields
or at the intersection of two beacon courses. Transmitters of but a few watts output were

156
used as the beacon signal needed to be radiated only a few miles. The marker beacons
operated at the same frequency as the direction beacon. Several types of antennas were usee
depending upon local requirements of radiation patterns. At first, aural signals were used
later Dunmore developed a 40-Hz vibrating-reed visual indicator for the marker beacon
signal.

c) Improving the air navigation system

During 1927 and 1928 a directive radio beacon system of the aural type was in operation
on the airway between Hadley Field (New Brunswick, N.J.), Bellefonte, Pa., and Cleveland,
Ohio. This had been installed by the Airways Division (Bureau of Lighthouses), Department
of Commerce. Problems were encountered in orienting the beam courses to the airway
directions and with coding of the beacons that resulted in interference. F. G. Kear56 and W.
E. Jackson took a hand in solving the problems and brought the beacon system into
satisfactory operation.
With the rapid growth and passenger service, most of the larger
of the airmail service
airfields required a multiple-beacon course system for the airways converging into one field.
The first step taken by the Radio Section was to modify the design of the directive beacon at
College Park in order to accommodate four courses. Several methods were used including
the use of an auxiliary vertical antenna. From the 4-course beacon a bold step was taken to
develop a 12-course beacon, for the need came all too soon. By May 1929 an experimental 12-
57
course beacon was in operation at the College Park site.

06
Frank G. Kear entered the Radio Section on September 20, 1928, and resigned September 22, 1931. He earned a
doctoral degree at MIT in 1933 with a dissertation
on the elimination of night effect in radio range beacons. Since
1944 he has been a consulting radio engineer in Washington, D.C.
o7
The 12-course directive beacon went through several stages of development before a completely satisfactory
system was attained. The resultant system was that of retaining the double-coil loop antenna, but fed by three RF
power amplifiers through a goniometer of three stator and three rotor coils. Each of the power amplifiers was
switched at its grid input by a three-phase voltage source that energized each amplifier in turn by a displacement
of 120 degrees in time phase. The three phases of a 290-kHz carrier were each modulated at a different low
frequency, viz: 65, 86.7, and 108.3 Hz. The result was 12 beacon courses of equisignal zones ranging from 1 to about
3 degrees in width, with the angles between the 12 courses controllable over a considerable range. This multicourse
system was the development of Diamond and Kear.
For a complete system, the 12-course beacon required an indicator aboard the plane that would be applicable to
all 12 courses, yet reasonably simple to the pilot in its operation. Again, Dunmore made a novel contribution. By
utilizing 3 tuned reeds (65, 86.7, and 108.3 Hz) and a 6-color coding scheme that tied the indicator operation to a
color coding on an airways map, he was able to give the pilot a simple means of accommodating guidance
indications to any 1 of 12 beacon courses of an airways junction, both in approaching and departing from the
junction.

Francis W. Dunmore with one form of the vibrating-reed radio beacon course indicator that he developed for radio
navigation.

157
Dellinger points out features of vibrating-reed type runway course indicator to William P. McCracken, Jr., the first
—
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics (in flying suit) photographed March 20, 1928.

158
4. The Bureau's instrument landing system
Kolster's first effort in 1918 of developing an induction signaling system as an al
landing an airplane began at a frequency of 500 Hz. Later, other methods brought the
operating frequency into the RF region. Within a decade after Kolster's initial work, the
Radio Section was embarking on a radio landing aid that would be operating near 100 MHz.
The fast growing radio industry brought on developments in vacuum tubes and associated
circuitry that made it possible to develop landing aids that were designed at the very
frontier of the radio art.

a) A mission to Europe

In the summer of 1927 Dellinger visited five European countries that were developing
navigational aids and landing systems for aircraft. He found at one airfield in England and
one in France that "leader cables" were being used in the development of landing aids. The
English system, in essence, was much the same as the type Kolster experimented with in
1918 and 1919, that of an induction field in the vicinity of the airfield. It was formed by an
underground cable looped around the airfield and energized at 34 Hz. One French system
used a cable as a guidance system between two airfields. This cable, energized at 1200 Hz,
served the same purpose as the Bureau's radio direction beacon, but at a much greater cost
for the cable system.

b) Assisting in a fog landing system

Early in 1929 the Radio Section entered into a cooperative program in fog landing
experiments with the Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics and with the
Sperry Development Co. A runway localizing beacon and marker beacon were installed at
Mitchel Field, Long Island, for visual indication in the cockpit of a plane. An aural type of
beacon was already in place to serve as the directive or range beacon. The service of Lt.
James H. Doolittle (later General) of the Army Air Service was enlisted by the Guggenheim
Fund to perform a series of landing experiments. By means of newly developed attitude
instruments, including an artificial horizon indicator and a directional gyroscope, plus a
sensitive altimeter that could be corrected for barometric pressure from radio information,
there was available a method of landing a plane under fog conditions. In September of 1929
Lt. Doolittle performed a series of successful hooded landings at the airfield, including
several under heavy fog conditions, the first such landings of their kind. Although progress
was being made at blind landing an aircraft, this combination of the radio beacon, marker
beacon, and cockpit instruments left much to be desired. A radio landing beam to indicate a
more exact glide path would be the answer.

c) The Bureau s radio system of blind landing

Simultaneously with the development work on a fog landing system at Mitchel Field,
experiments were being carried on at the College Park airfield on a radio method of
providing a glide path for airplanes to make precision contact with the airfield surface.
Initial tests in June 1929 with the loop antenna of a marker beacon were unsuccessful. The
lack of success quickly initiated a study and early development of a landing beacon and a
complete instrument landing system [29,30].
Progress in development did not follow at a uniform rate. There was much trial and
error in the experiments performed during the next several years. Until the test pilots were
satisfied and felt confident with the system being developed, the team of workers could not
let up on their labors. By 1933 success with the instrument landing system was assured.
Working on this project were Diamond and Dunmore, assisted by Kear, Hinman, and others.
To make a safe and precision landing by means of a radio guidance system required
three subsystems to coordinate the movement and positioning of the plane to the landing
point after the plane had approached the airfield. These were the runway localizing beacon,
the boundary marker beacon, and the landing beam. Each of these subsystems went through
various stages of development from 1929 to 1933. In the vicinity of the airfield would also be
the directive or range beacon by which the pilot or navigator followed an airway to the
landing field.

159
1) The runway localizing beacon
Required for the runway localizing beacon was a version of the airway directive beacon
scaleddown in size, plus refinements to provide for a precision landing path on the airfield.
Except for the necessary refinements and some changes of the indicating system, this
subsystem was fairly well developed in the directive beacon that had been in use for some
58
time on the fixed airways.

58
The localizing beam at College to operate at one end of the beacon frequency band (285 to 315
Park was designed
kHz) for the directive beacon, thereby bothbeacons could come in on the same receiver. As the pilot approached the
airfield he would switch from the directive beacon frequency to the runway localizing beacon frequency. Since the
beacon was housed at the airfield boundary, the double-coil loop antenna was made small to minimize its
obstructiveness to aircraft. Effective radiation needed to be out to approximately 15 miles.
The design directional characteristics of the antenna were such that the horizontal plane had a pattern of a
very elongated lobe of the form cos n6 ("n" is number of wavelengths and "0" the polar angle, with "n" very large
for a narrow beam). The aircraft would follow along the axis of the lobe or the line of maximum field intensity.
A reed-type indicator was used in the early experiments. Later, a pointer-type indicator was used to show the
on-course location of the aircraft in respect to the beacon. Incorporation of a needed automatic volume control in
the receiving circuit yielded the extra bonus of an indicating instrument that showed the approximate distance, in
miles, of the plane from the airfield.

Distance indicator to show approximate distance of plane from runway (actually, distance from the airfield marker
beacon transmitter).

Early pointer-type runway localizer beacon course indicator. A later development of the vibrating-reed indicator,
differing only in visual display to pilot.

160
2) Boundary marker beacon
Park airfield the low-power boundary marker beacon
In the early design for the College
was antenna and the received signal observed visually on a 40-
fed to a double-coil
vibrating reed. In passing over the marker beacon the pilot observed a "zero" signal. In
later design quite an opposite indication was used with a very long horizontal antenna
located 90 degrees to the localizing beam. Observation was made aurally (reducing the
number of visual indicating instruments to be observed), a "maximum" signal indicating the
crossing of the marker beacon antenna.
3) The landing beam
The early success attained by the team on the landing beam project can be attributed to
two factors, the use of short radio waves and the recent mention of a new type of antenna.
Required was a type of directive antenna that would provide a proper glide path for the
landing aircraft. Such an antenna system had been invented a short time before (1926) by
59,60
Yagi and Uda of Japan [31]. To keep the directive antenna within reasonable size it was
necessary to use a short wavelength transmitter. The frequency selected was 93.7 MHz (3.2
meters). By 1929, high-power (500 watts) transmitting tubes were available at this frequency.
The transmitter circuit was mounted on a horizontal wood beam along with the directive
antenna array. The entire assembly was located at the far end of the landing strip at the
College Park airfield. The broadly tuned receiver was a relatively simple two-tube device
that served, essentially, as a vacuum-tube voltmeter with a pointer indicator (a
mircroammeter). A small dipole mounted above the wing of the aircraft served as the
antenna for the horizontally polarized waves radiated by the Yagi antenna. 1
1'

4) Proving the radio system of landing aids

Many flight tests for each of the subsystems (runway beacon, marker beacon, and
landing beam) had to be made over the period of development. During the summer of 1931
preparations were made for shakedown tests of the complete radio system. For these tests a
"Fledging" plane, a product of the Curtiss Aeroplane Co., had been procured. It was a two-
place open cockpit biplane, fitted with a radial, air-cooled engine. The pilot's cockpit was
provided with a hood for blind flying. A copilot could take over in emergencies during blind
operations. After a number of test flights, using the complete system, Marshall S. Boggs, a
Department of Commerce pilot, with James L. Kinney as check pilot, made the first
completely blind landing on September 5, 1931. 62 This historic flight at the College Park
airfield ushered in a new era in aviation, that of a successful radio guidance system for

09
This high-gain, directional VHF and UHF antenna is now commonly called the Yagi antenna or simply a "Yagi."
It is much used for TV and FM reception and by amateurs.
60
In the discussion of Yagi's IRE paper (see reference [31]) Dellinger stated:

Professor Yagi's remarkable work stimulates thought of a radical order. I venture to suggest that
before many years radio operations will generally be considered divided into two classes,
broadcasting and directive radio. Not only in this ingenious suggestion but throughout a
. . .

wide field of basic possibilities in directive radio, Professor Yagi has done exceptional
fundamental work and has set forth a series of principles which will unquestionably guide much
of the further development. ... In conclusion, I would like to say that I have never listened to a
paper that I felt so sure was destined to be a classic.
61
The design directional characteristics of the transmitting antenna were such that the vertical plane had a
pattern of a very elongated lobe of the form cos nd. The antenna was directed so that the axis of the lobe was at a
small angle above the horizontal. Upon entering the radiation field of the antenna the pilot would select a curved,
by means of the pointer indicator located in the cockpit. By keeping
equal-field-intensity path below the lobe's axis
the pointer at a constant position (pointer horizontal at center of scale) the pilot would be following an equal-
intensity path that was an acceptable glide path for landing the aircraft. A rise of the pointer above the horizontal
position indicated that the aircraftwas above the proper glide path, and below the horizontal position indicated
that the aircraftwas below the path. It was to Dunmore that credit was given for this novel idea.
After early experiments it was found to be advantageous to the pilot to have the two pointer indicators
incorporated into one instrument. By keeping the two pointers intersected at a central spot on the indicator face,
the pilot was on course on the runway localizing beam and on the proper path on the landing beam.
62
Pilot Marshall S. Boggs, who had pioneered in the early test flights at College Park, was killed in an air crash on
January 26, 1933, in the southwestern part of the United States while on other duties.

161
Earliest form of directive antenna array at College Park Airfield for glide-angle or landing beam for blind landing
of aircraft. A 93. 7-MHz transmitting oscillator fed the radiating dipole antennas. Other horizontal antennas
served to direct the narrow landing beam.

Three-dimensional diagram of radio system developed by Radio Section for blind landing of aircraft. Plane
approaches from right.

162
 Early form of landing beam indicator. Used by pilot to follow proper glide angle in a blind landing.

BUREAU OF STANDARDS RADIO SYSTEM FOR BLIND LANDING OF AIRCRAFT .

COMBINED LANDING INSTRUMENT INDICATIONS,

AIRPLANE TO LEFT OF AIRPLANE OVER THE AIRPLANE TO RIGHT OF
RUNWAY AND ABOVE THE RUNWAY AND ON THE RUNWAY AND BELOW THE
PROPER LANDING PATH. PROPER LANDING PATH. PROPER. LANDING PATH.

A = LANDING BEAM AND RUNWAY LOCALIZE-R BEACON

The two pointer-type instruments were successfully combined, alloiving the pilot to easily observe on one instrument
the position of his plane in relation to the runway localizer beacon course and the landing beam. When the two
"
pointers intersected at the central circle, the pilot was "on the beam.

163
Department of Commerce pilot Marshall S. Boggs and Colonel Clarence Young, Assistant Secretary of
(left)

Commerce for Aeronautics, with Curtiss "Fledging" biplane used to make the historic first blind landing by radio
navigation on September 5, 1931, at the College Park, Md. Airfield. Vertical antenna, located behind hooded
cockpit, received signals from the runway localizing beam. Double horizontal antenna above upper wing received
the glide-path signals.

Instrument panel of Curtiss "Fledging" as appeared for the historic blind landings of September 5, 1931. The cross-
it

pointer indicator to show both runway and glide path can be seen above the ball-type bank
localizing beacon path
indicator (just above handle grip of "joy" or control stick). To right of cross-pointer indicator is a reed indicator
that could be used as an alternate indicator of beacon path. Further right is the distance indicator (round, white-
faced dial), graduated to 7 miles, to show approximate distance from airfield.

164
aircraft. Itwas later to be known as the Instrument Landing System (ILS). In May 1932, the
Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce licensed the first pilot with a
Scheduled Air Transport Rating (SATR) for instrument and radio-flight proficiency.
In August 1931, just preceding the very successful blind landing test, the city of
Newark, N.J. requested the installation of a complete radio guidance system at the Newark
Airport. For many months thereafter the Radio Section found itself involved in the
development of this new facility including participation in the many tests to check out the
system. It was during the checkouts that another flight of historic significance was made. In
a demonstration of the entire radio system of navigation and landing, a flight was made
from College Park to Newark on March 20, 1933, under adverse conditions of visibility over
the entire route. With James L. Kinney of the Aeronautics Branch as pilot, and Harry
Diamond and a mechanic as passengers, the plane left College Park in a very low ceiling of
clouds. The pilot followed the beacon course to New Brunswick, N.J. and on to Newark,
flying at an altitude of 3000 feet. The airport at Newark was closed to all air traffic, yet pilot
Kinney landed the plane without difficulty by means of the radio landing facilities, seeing
the runway only during the last 100 feet of descent.
Beginning with the successful flight tests at College Park in the fall of 1931, and
continuing for the next 2 years, the radio landing system was demonstrated to many
Government newspaper reporters, aircraft and airline representatives, and foreign
officials,
visitors.
63
A number
of planes in service by the Aeronautics Branch were fitted with
complete equipment for navigation and blind landing by radio. However, problems
remained. Not all of the directive beacon courses were satisfactory, particularly in
mountainous areas at distances greater than 30 miles from the range-beacon station. A
solution to this problem was achieved by Diamond in 1932 with much success the —
development of a transmission line antenna system for radio range-beacon transmitters to
minimize or eliminate the night effect caused by radiation of horizontally polarized
components from loop antennas (or crossed-loop antennas of range beacons). 64 In case of
strong winds from various directions one runway and one landing beam would not suffice.
Although further developments were needed, the Radio Section program came to a series of
halting actions, beginning in June 1933 and continuing to October as the result of a drastic
economy move that struck the entire Bureau. 65 From a total of 44 persons in the Radio
Section in June the number was reduced to 17 a few months later. 66 Much of the
curtailment was in the air navigation program. By October the only remaining projects of
the program were the landing beam and a study of the lack of dependability associated with
several of the western airway beacon systems. In contrast to the work curtailment, the blind

63
In the following years visual-type radio beacons and the blind landing system of the type developed by the Bureau
were installed in a number of European countries.
64
Previously, Pratt had considerable success in minimizing radio-beacon errors by use of a vertical antenna for the
plane-mounted receiver (see p. 155). However, elimination of errors was not complete. Also, a vertical rod antenna
is subject to ice formation with deleterious effects, although this hazard could be reduced by use of a symmetrical T

—
antenna (either transverse or longitudinal with the fuselage) fitted with a short vertical lead-in a development by
Diamond and Gomer L. Davies.
Diamond achieved success in eliminating the night effect by improvements to several types of directional
transmitting antennas developed in England during the early 1920's. These antenna systems were developed
independently by Alcock, by Eckersley, and by others, to minimize the night effect caused by reflections from the
ionosphere. This was accomplished by minimizing or eliminating the horizontally polarized component of the
transmitted wave. Diamond ingeniously accomplished this by using transmission lines and transformer
arrangements to feed each of four vertical antennas in order to eliminate horizontal radiation from the crossed-loop
antenna system of the range beacon, at College Park, Md., with consequent elimination of the night effect [32]. A
small coil antenna on the plane obviated the need of a vertical antenna or of a symmetrical T antenna.
65
The reader is referred to Cochrane's Measures for Progress, pp. 344-357, "Curtailment by Limitation of Funds," for
an account of the economy actions.

66
Among those of the Radio Section enmeshed in the reduction-in-force action were Frank G. Kear, Gomer L.
Davies, W. H. Orton, and D. O. Lybrand, who almost immediately established the Washington Institute of
Technology. Kear served as chief engineer from 1933 to 1941. The Institute was primarily an organization of 10 or
12 professional engineers engaging in development work. In the early years it was located at the airport at College
Park, Md., where the Bureau's radio beacon and blind landing system had been developed.
It is interesting to note that among the others separated from the Radio Section and the Bureau on June 30,
1933, was Lloyd V. Berkner who later became a world-famed scientist (see ch. VII, footnote 37).

165
landing program was receiving a great amount of publicity in newspapers and magazines.
By July 1934 the 8-year development program with the Aeronautics Branch was completely
phased out. After 8 years the aeronautical radio research facilities at College Park, Md.
were discontinued. All experimental equipment at College Park was moved to the Radio
Building or to the Beltsville site.

5) Postlude to the radio system of landing aids

During the phasing-out period of FY 1933 the team of workers was assisting in the
installation and testing of navigation aids at airports in various parts of the country and two
in particular, at Newark, N.J., and Oakland, Calif. In the same period the studies on the
lack of dependability of several airway beacon systems (known in reports as "bent and
multiple courses") did not yield definite conclusions on the causes. Various corrective
measures were taken with some degree of success.
Aircraft not regularly using the airway radio beacons were not fitted with the special
receiving equipment, yet had need for some device whereby the pilots could home on radio
transmitters. Even a broadcast station would serve to orient a pilot if he lost his bearings in
a sudden change to adverse weather. A reliable direction-finding antenna fitted to a
relatively low-cost multiband receiver would suffice. Toward this objective Hinman
developed such a homing device [33]. A loop antenna was used, with periodic grounding of
67

each end at a rapid rate by electronic control, that gave the desired two-way, yet
unidirectional, pattern. A pointer-type course indicator on the instrument panel provided
visual observation of the pilot's homing maneuvers.
Early in 1931, during the development of the radio landing beam, Diamond and
Dunmore planned for the eventual location of the antenna to be underground near the
center of the airfield. A study and experiments showed that a steeper and more desirable
glide path could be achieved with a dipole antenna at the surface or just below the surface
in a pit. In time, at the desire of the pilots, the curved glide path was brought to a straight
line. Approach lights were also added to the airfields, which made for more accurate
touchdown of the aircraft to the runway surface.
Emerging from all of the later developments came the overall system that was
designated as the Instrument Landing System, or simply ILS. But with the use of radar in
the early 1940's by the military, another equally important system was developed, known as
Ground-Controlled Approach or, simply GCA. For informative accounts of these and other
systems and their development, the reader is referred to a special issue of the IRE
Transactions of Aeronautical and Navigational Electronics of June 1959 [34].

d ) The aftermath of patents in abundance

During the 8-year period of the development of radio aids to air navigation a
surprisingly large number of patents were filed by personnel of the Radio Section, but
mainly by Diamond and by Dunmore. No doubt the number was the largest associated with
any one program in the Bureau's 75 years. Several of the patents were somewhat beyond the
immediate requirements of the Bureau's program with the Department of Commerce, e.g.,
patents on collision prevention.

1) Collision prevention

In the summer of 1933, after the Aeronautics Branch began to curtail its program at
College Park, Diamond and Dunmore started some laboratory experiments on collision

f7
'

Hinman filed for a patent on September 6, 1933. Patent 2,145,876 was issued February 7, 1937, entitled "Radio
direction finder."

166
prevention for aircraft.'' There appears to be no evidence of the patented methods bein*
utilized but the subject is as much alive today as it has been for several decades.

2) Automatic control for landing of aircraft

With Dunmore's turn of mind for ingenious devices it was quite natural that he would
devise some equipment to add to the blind landing system for greater ease of operation.
Thus he invented some automatic controls for landing of aircraft during a blind landing
maneuver. One of his patents was on automatic control of elevation, another on steering
69
during descent and landing.

3) The many patents on radio beacons and blind landing system

No less than 19 patents were issued to personnel of the Radio Section as a result of the
radio navigation program with the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce. In
addition were the several patents, cited above, that were closely related to the Department's
70
program. This creditable list of patents is cited below.

68
Beginning in July 1930 and extending for about 1 year, some initial experiments were undertaken by the Radio
Section on collision prevention of planes within a proximity of 3 miles. Progress was slow because of difficulties
encountered with the ultra high frequency equipment used on board the planes. Renewing the project in 1933, the
first ofseveral schemes of collision prevention used a combination transmitter and receiver, fitted with two
antennas, whereby the device would transmit and receive at half-cycle intervals of an alternating current source.
Signals from a nearby aircraft, fitted with the same equipment, would indicate its presence on a panel meter.*

*It is interesting that about 10 years later Diamond would be a member of a project at NBS that developed the
radio proximity fuze that used a combination of transmitter and receiver to evidence the proximity of a target, but
used a reflected signal rather than one developed by a nearby combination of receiver and transmitter.

Diamond and Dunmore filed for a patent on July 18, 1933. Patent 1,989,086 was issued January 29, 1935,
entitled "Radiowarning signal."
Dunmore's other method involved a short-range transmitter, radiating vertical-polarized waves, and a receiver
with a loop antenna operating as a direction finder, the combination mounted in each aircraft. In general, these
would be tuned to the same frequency on all aircraft, particularly on those flying the same airway.
Dunmore filed for a patent on May 11, 1933. Patent 2,146,724 was issued February 14, 1939, entitled "Radio
system for collision prevention."
Several years later (in 1936 at the request of the Bureau of Air Commerce) Dunmore invented a much more
sophisticated method of indicating the proximity of aircraft. Again each aircraft would carry a transmitter and
receiver. For several years Diamond and Dunmore had been experimenting with the higher radio frequencies, and
Dunmore suggested a wavelength of 3.5 meters (86 MHz) for the proximity indicator. There were several
arrangements to Dunmore's method. The more simple one used but one transmitter and one receiver on each of the
planes using the system. A warning light would indicate the proximity of a plane (within 20 miles) and its altitude.
The pilot receiving this information would then signal the other pilot (by a coded signal) his intention of increasing
or decreasing his altitude, thereby taking a new yet known course to avoid possible collision.
Dunmore filed for a patent on May 10, 1937. Patent 2,157,122 was issued May 9, 1939, entitled "Warning
system for indicating the proximity of aircraft."
69
The purpose of automatic control during a blind landing operation was stated by Dunmore in one of the patents:

Heretofore it has been necessary for a pilot to perform many operations during a blind landing,
taxing his skill to the utmost. With the herein disclosed systems (elevation control) for
automatically controlling the aircraft during the glide, the pilot may merely set into operation
an automatic air speed control and start the aircraft off on a runway localizer course some 6 or 7
miles out from the field, preferably at a predetermined altitude.

Dunmore filed for the patent on March 3, 1936. Patent 2,133,285 was issued October 18, 1938, entitled "Radio
system for automatic control of aircraft, as during landing."
A second corollary patent for control of steering was filed on the same date as that on elevation control, March
3, 1936. Patent 2,137,241 was issued November 22, 1938, entitled "Automatic steering system."

70
H. Diamond. Method of adjusting radio beacon courses. Filed November 24, 1931. Patent 1,910,427 issued May 23,
1933.

H. Diamond and F. G. Kear. Triple-modulation directive radio beacon system. Filed March 9, 1932. Patent
1,913,918 issued June 13, 1933.

H. Diamond and F. W. Dunmore. Course shift-indicator for the double-modulation type radio beacons. Filed
July 6, 1931. Patent 1,923,920 issued August 22, 1933.
F. G. Kear. Radio beacon course shifting method. Filed November 24, 1931. Patent 1,923,934 issued August 22,
1933.

H. Diamond. Twelve-course aural type, triple modulation directive radio beacon. Filed October 29, 1932. Patent
1,961,206 issued June 5, 1934.

167
 References
[I] J. H. Dellinger, "Principles of radio transmission and reception with antenna and coil aerials," Bur. Stand. Sci.

Paper, Vol. 15, 1919-1920, pp. 435-495.*

*At one time Dellinger used the term "aerial" in a limited sense, meaning the elevated conductor portion of a
condenser antenna. He also applied the term to a coil. In later years the term "aerial" was dropped completely by
the Radio Section in favor of antenna.

[2] Frederick A. Kolster and Francis W. Dunmore, "The radio direction finder and its application to navigation,"
Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper. Vol. 17, 1922, pp. 529-566.
[3] John C. Warner, "Experiments with the two-plate condenser antenna," Radio News, Vol. 4, No. 9, Mar. 1923,
pp. 1618-1620.
[4] Francis W. Dunmore and Francis H. Engel, "Directive radio transmission on a wave length of 10 meters," Bur.
Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 19, 1923-1924, pp. 1-16.
[5] Francis W. Dunmore, "Continuous-wave radio transmission on a wave length of 100 meters, using a special
type of antenna," Proc. IRE. Vol. 11, No. 3, June 1923, pp. 243-255.
[6] Frederick W. Grover, "Methods, formulas, and tables for the calculation of antenna capacity," Bur. Stand. Sci.
Paper, Vol. 22, 1927-1928, pp. 569-629.
[7] W. E. Knowles Middleton, Invention of the Meteorological Instruments, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore,
1969, pp. 328-346.
[8] L. F. Curtiss, A. V. Astin, L. L. Stockmann, and B. W. Brown, "An improved radio meteorograph on the Olland
principle," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 22, No. 1, Jan. 1939, pp. 97-103.
[9] F. W. Dunmore, "An electric hygrometer and its application to radio meteorography," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.), Vol. 20, No. 6, June 1938, pp. 723-744.
[10] F. W. Dunmore, "An improved electric hygrometer," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 23, No. 6, Dec. 1939,
pp. 701-714.
[II] H. Diamond, W. S. Hinman, Jr., and F. W. Dunmore, "The development of a radio-meteorograph system for the

Navy Department," Bull. Am. Meteorological Soc, Vol. 18, No. 3, Mar. 1937, pp. 73-99.
[12] Harry Diamond, Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr., Francis W. Dunmore, and Evan G. Lapham, "An improved radio
sonde and its performance," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 25, No. 3, Sept. 1940, pp. 327-367.
[13] Patrick Hughes, A Century of Weather Service, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, Inc., New York, 1970,
pp. 60-61.
[14] W. R. Blair and H. M. Lewis, "Radio tracking of meteorological balloons," Proc. IRE, Vol. 19, No. 9, Sept. 1931,
pp. 1531-1560.

(Continued)

F. W. Dunmore. Pointer type course indicator. Filed October 25, 1932. Patent 1,981,589 issued November 20,
1934.

F. W. Dunmore. Deviometer. Filed April 12, 1932. Patent 1,981,857 issued November 27, 1934.

H. Diamond. Method and apparatus for a multiple course radiobeacon. Filed March 9, 1932. Patent 1,992,197
issued February 26, 1935.

F. W. Dunmore. Method and apparatus for radio beacon course and quadrant identification. Filed February 4,

1933. Patent 1,992,927 issued February 26, 1935.

F. W. Dunmore. Aircraft blind landing beam system. Filed March 3, 1936. Patent 2,104,028 issued January 4,

1938.

H. Diamond and F. W. Dunmore. Automatic volume control for radio receiving apparatus. Filed December 27,
1935. Patent 2,110,761 issued March 8, 1938.
F. W. Dunmore. Course indicator for blind flying and landing. Filed November 10, 1932. Patent 2,119,530 issued
June 7, 1938.

H. Diamond and F. W. Dunmore. Radio guidance of aircraft. Filed August 26, 1935. Patent 2,120,241 issued
June 14, 1938.

F. W. Dunmore. Course indicator for the double and triple modulation directive radio beacons. Filed March 9,

1932. Patent 2,120,245 issued June 14, 1938.

H. Diamond. Radio transmitting and receiving system. Filed April 25, 1933. Patent 2,121,024 issued June 21,
1938.

F. W. Dunmore. Radio beam and receiving device for blind landing of aircraft. Filed August 5, 1932. Patent
2,127,954 issued August 23, 1938.

F. W. Dunmore. Radio system for azimuth indication. Filed May 16, 1933. Patent 2,128,923 issued September 6,

1938.

H. Diamond. Directive antenna system. Filed May 5, 1933. Patent 2,172,365 issued September 12, 1939.

H. Diamond. Method of blind landing of aircraft. Filed August 5, 1932. Patent 2,179,499 issued November 14,

1939.

168
[15] Harry Diamond and Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr., "An automatic weather station," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.t
Aug. 1940, pp. 133-148.
Vol. 25, No. 5,

[16] "An air-launched automatic weather station," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.I, Tech. News Bull., Vol. 35, No. 5, >

1951, pp. 61-63.

[17] "A free-floating automatic weather station," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 36, No. 3, Mar.
1952, pp. 36-37.
[18] E. F. Corwin, J. C. Appleby, and L. J. Allison, "The floating automatic weather stations of the United States
Navy," Weatherwise, Vol. 12, No. 5, Oct. 1959, pp. 192-199.
[19] R. E. Mottern, E. F. Corwin, and A. F. Pyle, "The meteorological buoy program of the U.S. Navy," The Marine
Observer, Vol. 37, 1967, pp. 178-185.
[20] W. E. Knowles Middleton, Invention of the Meteorological Instruments, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore,
1969, pp. 326-328.
[21] P. D. Lowell, W. Hakkarinen, and D. L. Randall, "National Bureau of Standards mobile low-level sounding
system," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 50, No. Jan. 1953, pp. 7-17.
1,

[22] Frederick A. Kolster and Francis W. Dunmore, "The radio direction finder and its application to navigation,"
Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 17, 1922, pp. 529-566.
[23] Gregory Breit, "The field radiated from two horizontal coils," Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 17, 1922, pp. 587-606.
[24] F. H. Engel and F. W. Dunmore, "A directive type of radio beacon and its application to navigation," Bur.
Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 19, 1923-1924, pp. 281-295.
[25] F. W. Dunmore, "Design of tuned reed course indicators for aircraft radio beacon," J. Res. Bur. Stand., Vol. 1,

No. 5, Nov. 1928, pp. 751-769.

[26] J. H. Dellinger and Haraden Pratt, "Development of radio aids to air navigation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 16, No. 7,
July 1928, pp. 890-920.
[27] J. H. Dellinger, H. Diamond, and F. W. Dunmore, "Developments of the visual type airway radiobeacon
system," Proc. IRE, Vol. 18, No. 5, May 1930, pp. 796-839.
[28] H. Diamond and F. G. Gardner, "Engine ignition shielding for radio reception in aircraft," Proc. IRE. Vol. 18,
No. 5, May 1930, pp. 840-861.
Note: This paper includes reference to a Conference on Airplane Engine Ignition Shielding held at the
Bureau of Standards on June 11, 1929, at which 56 representatives of Government agencies, manufact urers,
and laboratories attended (see pp. 858-859). The four-fold purpose of the Conference was stated by the
authors.
[29] H. Diamond and F. W. Dunmore, "A radio beacon and receiving system for blind landing of aircraft," Proc.
IRE, Vol. No.
Apr. 1931, pp. 585-626.
19, 4,

[30] H. Diamond, "Performance tests of radio system of landing aids," J. Res. Bur. Stand., Vol. 11, No. 4, Oct. 1933,
pp. 463-490.
[31] Hidetsugu Yagi, "Beam transmission of ultra short waves," Proc. IRE, Vol. 16, No. 6, June 1928, pp. 715-741.
[32] H. Diamond, "On the solution of the problem of the night effect with the radio range beacon system." Proc.
IRE, Vol. 21, No. 6, June 1933, pp. 808-832.
[33] Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr., "A radio direction finder for use on aircraft," J. Res. Bur. Stand., Vol. 11, No. 6, Dec.
1933, pp. 733-741.
[34] IRE Trans. Aeronautical and Navigational Electronics, Vol. ANE-6, No. 2, June 1959. A special issue on
—
Instrument Approach and Landing early development, current progress, and future plans.

169
 Chapter VII

PROBING THE IONOSPHERE

Pioneer probes of the ionosphere

1. Early conceptions
The unfolding of bits of Nature's secrets, leading to a pursuit of knowledge of the
ionosphere, has resulted in one of the most fascinating and productive fields in physics or,
more Through the years the ionospheric and radio propagation
specifically, in radio science.
projects grew most extensive research programs, to be transferred
into one of the Bureau's
in 1965 to the Environmental Science Services Administration of the Department of
Commerce. Not only was the Bureau's program broad in subject matter and involving
hundreds of scientists, engineers, and technicians, but the whole world served as the
laboratory. In his address to the Boulder Laboratories staff on March 3, 1961, on the
occasion of the 60th Anniversary of NBS, Dr. Dellinger said in retrospect of the propagation
program:

The we began to occupy around 1920 was

greatest of the radio kingdoms
radio wave propagation. While we had done some work in 1912-17 on
transmission formulas and directional transmission and reception, our
work from 1920 on began with a study of fading. The early broadcast
listeners were pleased to receive over great distances at night but didn't
With the aid of a number of
like the great variations of received intensity.
volunteer observers we investigated the fading phenomenon and were able
to work out an explanation in terms of the Kennelly-Heaviside layer.

In order to gain an understanding of the Bureau's participation in and contributions to

ionospheric research and radio propagation, one should view the backdrop of historical
development upon which NBS projected its program. The source of the Earth's magnetism
1

long remained a puzzle to the scientists. It was Gauss who in 1839 suggested that galvanic
currents flowing external to the Earth's surface could be a source of magnetism as well as
the cause of the aurora borealis. In 1860 Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) postulated that the
rarefied gases of the atmosphere at great heights could serve as a conductor of electric
current. His estimate of 100 miles as the beginning of such a region was later found to be
surprisingly close to actuality. Later, in 1878, the Scottish physicist and meteorologist
Balfour Stewart suggested that a conducting layer existed only 5 to 10 miles above the
Earth's surface.

2. Early evidence
Marconi's successful transmission of wireless signals across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901
stimulated much thought on how this was possible over such a long arc of the Earth's

referred to other summaries, including:

1

For further information than covered here, the reader is

A. L. Green, "Early history of the ionosphere," A. W. A. Technical Review, Vol. 7, No. 2, Dec. 1946, pp. 177-228.

Kenneth Davies, Ionospheric Radio Waves, Blaisdell Publishing Co., Waltham, Mass., 1969.

S. S. Kirby, L. V. Berkner, and D. M. Stuart, "Studies of the ionosphere and their application to radio
transmission," J. Res. NBS, Vol. 12, No. 1, Jan. 1934, pp. 15-51.

With several exceptions, the "backdrop" presented here contains no citations to publications.

171
curvature. His discovery, while voyaging on the SS Philadelphia in 1902, that wireless
signals could be received over much longer distances at night than during the day led to
more postulations (and bewilderment) of the mode of transmission. But it was within this
same year that Arthur E. Kennelly (United States) and Oliver Heaviside (England) each
independently suggested that Marconi's success with long distance wireless reception could
be explained by reflection from an electrically conducting layer in the Earth's atmosphere.
Their names were long associated with the ionized layer now more commonly referred to as
2,3
the ionosphere.
Austin's observations from U.S. Navy vessels, beginning in 1909, of radio signals over
long distance led to the development of the Austin-Cohen transmission formula in 1911 (see
ch. II). The exponential term of the equation contains an attenuation factor that expresses
loss of energy in the ground wave and in the sky wave. Austin attributed loss of energy in
the sky wave to absorption in an ionized region of the upper layers of the atmosphere. Later,
Austin became much interested in the effect of diurnal and seasonal variations in the
Kennelly-Heaviside layer upon transmission of radio signals by the sky wave.
Marconi's long-distance transmissions of 1901 and 1902 were explained by some as being
due to refraction by the atmosphere. Based upon an earlier ionization theory of Lorentz
(Netherlands), Eccles (England) in 1912 suggested transmission by refraction through an
ionized layer as well as by reflection from a higher layer. The same explanation was
supported later by Larmor (England) in 1924.
It appears that the first experimentally observed evidence of the ionosphere was by Lee

de Forest in 1912. With a Poulsen arc (continuous waves) transmitter, de Forest observed an
interference phenomenon over the San Francisco-Honolulu transmission circuit operated by
the Federal Telegraph Co. This he attributed to interference between the direct wave and a
wave reflected from an ionized layer which he estimated to be 62 miles above the ocean
surface. In 1915 Leonard F. Fuller, another engineer working for the same company,
reported on a nighttime interference phenomenon (caused by an ionized layer) while
determining the optimum wavelength for transmission between San Francisco and
Honolulu.
Over a short period of about 3 years, beginning in 1920, three widely different types of
observations were made that gave experimental evidence of the ionized layer(s) in the upper
atmosphere. Beginning in June 1920, the Bureau of Standards, with the cooperation of the
American Radio Relay League, initiated a series of programs extending over a period of
several years to study the characteristics of the fading of radio signals. From the beginning
of the program it was believed that fading was due to interference between the direct (or
ground) wave and waves reflected from the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. However, reflections
from fog or masses of industrial fumes were not ruled out. Pickard in 1924, and others, also
made fading observations. Some observations were conclusive in indicating the Kennelly-
Heaviside layer; others were less conclusive.
In 1921 T. L. Eckersley of England reported on his observations of nighttime errors of
radio direction-finding apparatus during the latter part of World War I. With the use of a
double-coil antenna (a horizontal loop and a rotating vertical loop), Eckersley concluded that
the nighttime errors were due to interference from abnormally polarized waves reflected by

J
The term "ionosphere" first appeared in the literature in 1931 as a more simple expression of "Kennelly-Heaviside
layer." It was used by Johannes N. Plendl (then of Germany) as the German term "ionosphare" in his first two
similar papers on "Concerning the influence of the eleven-year solar activity period upon the propagation of waves
in wireless telegraphy." It first appeared in the February 1931 issue of the DVL Jahrbuch 1931. An English
translation of the second paper appeared in the March 1932 issue (Vol. 20) of the Proc. IRE, with the term
"ionosphare" translated as "ionization sphere," whereas the then unfamiliar "ionosphere" would have been a more
simple term to have been used in the translation.

Note: Correspondence in 1961 between Dellinger and Thomas J. Carroll (formerly of the Central Radio Propagation
Laboratory, and in 1961 of the Bendix Corp., Baltimore, Md.) on the first use of the term "ionosphere," and 1961
correspondence between Dellinger and Plendl confirming first usage of the term, is found in the Radio File under
the title "Ionosphere."

The term "ionosphere" was first used by the Radio Section in 1933, replacing "Kennelly-Heaviside layer"
which had been used for a few years previously.
Just preceding the printing of this historical account, an author (WFS) surprisingly learned that R. A. Watson-Watt
!

had used the term "ionosphere" in an English journal in 1929. See Watson-Watt, "Weather and Wireless," Quarterly
J. Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 55, 1929, p. 278 and p. 301.

172
the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. This would be verified in later years by observers within
NBS Radio Section.
Evidence of a conducting layer in the upper atmosphere from Marconi's long-wave
transmissions in 1901 and 1902 was more strongly evidenced by his "short-wave'
transmission at 100 meters reported in 1924. This was over a path length equal to half the
circumference of the Earth between England and Australia. There was evidence later that
the radio signals were transmitted over one path part of the day and over a path on the
opposite side of the Earth another part of the day, depending upon daylight and nighttime
conditions of the ionosphere over the transmission paths.

3. Experiments of 1925 that revealed the ionosphere

It was not until 1925 that proof by designed experiments indicated the presence and
approximate location of the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. Moreover, there were indications that
4
the layer structure was not confined to a single layer. E. V. Appleton and M. A. F. Barnett
of England devised two methods of probing the ionosphere using frequencies of about 770
kHz. In one method they used (in winter of 1924-1925) a carrier frequency of 770 kHz,
frequency modulated very slowly at rates extending to a period of 30 seconds, to obtain
interference between the direct wave (ground wave) and the reflected wave (sky wave) [1].
This method yielded a height of about 85 km, but some observations indicated a layer height
of more than 200 km. Within a short period of time Appleton definitely observed the
5
existence of three layers in the Kennelly-Heaviside region. In the second method, called the
angle-of-incidence or angle-of-arrival method, a vertical antenna and a loop antenna were
used to observe both the ground wave and the downcoming wave reflected from the
conducting layer [2]. The height was determined to be between 85 and 115 km.
Concurrently with the investigations of Appleton and Barnett was the development and
6
use of a new technique of probing the ionosphere by Breit and Tuve of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington [3,4]. Their pulse method of observing reflected signals had the
rudiments of early radars and was destined to be the basic technique of most of the
equipment that would be developed during the next few decades for ionospheric
observations. Some experiments by Breit and Tuve early in 1925 with "chopped" signals
from several broadcast stations gave no conclusive evidence of reflections from the
conducting layer. During the same period the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory was

*
Later, in 1941, Appleton was knighted as Sir Edward Appleton. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in
1947 "for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere, especially for the discovery of the so-called
Appleton layer" (E layer). He was president of URSI from 1934 to 1952, and attended the American meetings in
1927 (Washington) and 1957 (Boulder). As founder of the Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics in 1951, he
served as Editor-in-Chief until his death in 1965. Appleton was the recipient of many honors and awards.
5
In answer to a query from Dellinger of NBS in a letter to Sir Edward Appleton, dated February 13, 1943, on
naming the layers of the ionosphere, Appleton stated in his letter of March 20, 1943:

I was very interested to have your question on the early history of the nomenclature for the
ionosphere layers. The story of how I came to give them the names D, E and F is really a very
simple one. In the early work with our broadcasting wavelengths, I obtained reflections from the
Kennelly-Heaviside layer, and on my diagrams I used the letter E for the electric vector of the
down-coming wave. When therefore in the winter of 1925 I found that I could get reflections from
a higher and completely different layer, I used the term F for the electric vector of the waves
reflected from it. Then about the same time I got occasional reflections from a very low height
and so naturally used the letterD for the electric vector of the return waves. Then I suddenly
realized that must name these discrete strata and being rather fearful of assuming any finality
I

about my measurements I felt I ought not to call them layers A, B and C since there might be
undiscovered layers both below and above them. I therefore felt that the original designation for
the electric vector D, E and F might be used for the layers themselves since there was
considerable latitude for the naming of any layers that might come to light as a result of further
work. I am afraid that that is all there is in the story.

The above information is contained in a Letter to the Editor by Richard Silberstein of the Central Radio

Propagation Laboratory, published in the Nos. 3/4 issue, Vol. 13, (1959) of the Journal of Atmospheric and
Terrestrial Physics, p. 382.

Dr. Gregory Breit was a member of the Radio Section from 1918
(i
to 1921, then joined the Department of Terrestrial
Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington.

173
successful in pulsing a short-wave radio transmitter. The combination of a crystal-controlled
master oscillator and a 500-Hz modulation of the transmitter amplifier tubes gave a pulsed
train of signals that had reasonably good frequency stability. At a distance of 8 miles from
the transmitter (NKF, Naval Research Laboratory at Bellevue in southeast Washington,
D.C.) Breit and Tuve recorded the train of pulsed signals of the direct or ground wave and of
the reflected wave on photographic film in a drum-type oscillograph. The first transmission
was on July 28, 1925, at a wavelength of 71.3 meters (4210 kHz). The conducting layer was

I t

Equipment used by Breit and Tuve in early experiments of observing reflection of radio waves from the ionosphere.
Their earliest successful observation was on July 28, 1925, of pulsed signals at 71.3 meters (4210 kHz) transmitted
from the Naval Research Laboratory, Bellevue, Washington, D.C, with ground wave and reflection wave recorded
8 miles distance at laboratory of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington.

estimated to be at a height ranging from 80 to 160 km. Later, with more sharply formed
pulses, and more extensive observations, they found several ionized layers ranging in height
from 80 to 225 km, and changes in heights as observations were made at different times
during the day and night. They, as well as others taking up the study, were finding that the
Kennelly-Heaviside layer was not a simple structure, nor did it remain stable from day to
night and from year to year. This complexity was to be the source of intensive study by
—
hundreds of scientists the world over and NBS would play a major role in searching out
the secrets of the ionosphere. NBS would distill the wrested secrets into engineering
information that would make maximum use of the ionosphere as a communication medium.

4. From the simple to the complex

The experiments of 1925 indicated the existence of several layers of ionized gases in the
upper atmosphere, each having its own mode of reflecting radio waves. Concurrent with
these experiments, the theoretical investigations of Appleton, and of H. W. Nichols and J. C.
Schelleng of the Bell Telephone Laboratories (published early in 1925), indicated that the
Earth's magnetic field must be taken into account in the propagation of radio waves
through the ionosphere. Nichols and Shelleng showed that the plane of polarization is

174
rotated by an amount that depends on the density of free electrons, on the magnetic field,
and on the frequency (the effect reverses at about 1400 kHz, at the gyro frequency). Double
refraction of the wave is caused by the magnetic field at right angles to the direction of
transmission and produces two components or waves of different polarization and absorption
(the ordinary and the extraordinary wave).
In 1927 Breit, followed later by Appleton, suggested that radio fading at the higher
frequencies could be due to small variations of the Earth's magnetic field. In 1928 Appleton
and Ratcliffe observed the circular polarization of waves reflected from the ionosphere. For
their experiment they used three loop antennas.

The Bureau s early interest in radio propagation

1. How it began
Austin's close association with the Bureau by his leadership of the U.S. Naval Wireless
7
Telegraphic Laboratory (1908-1923) located on the Bureau grounds, brought his researches
into identification with those of the Bureau. Some of his research programs were published

'
Known by at least five different names during its existence on the Bureau grounds from 1908 to 1923. After
resigning from the Navy in 1923, Austin continued work at the Bureau as a member of the Electricity Division,
until his death in 1932, as head of the Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission Research (see ch. II, pp. 36-37).

The relation of solar and magnetic activity to long distance radio transmission is indicated by these 1924-1930
observations of Austin and colleagues (of the Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission Research, associated with
the Radio Section (see ch. II, pp. 36-37). Monthly averages of signal levels from two low-frequency transmitters
(Bordeaux. France, 15.9 kHz; Nauen, Germany, 234 kHz) show fairly close correlation with magnetic activity and
less correlation with solar activity. Austin stated in a publication that, "The deep drop of both magnetic and
signal curves in November (more rarely in December) is especially striking. " The effect of early winter North
Atlantic transmissions had often been noticed by others.

175
as Bureau literature. It was thus that much of his early radio propagation studies is listed
and referred to as Bureau programs. In actuality, they can be considered as closely
associated with the radio work of the Bureau and, without the least doubt, his researches
had a marked influence on the Bureau's radio projects. This is certainly true of his early
propagation studies, beginning in 1911, that led to the Austin-Cohen formula of radio
transmission (see ch. II, pp. 34-35). As early as 1912 Austin observed that radio signals in
the winter were usually several times stronger than in summer, and that night signals were
stronger than those received during the day. During the 1920's Austin became much
interested in the causes and effects associated with the vagaries of radio propagation and
8
atmospheric disturbances, resulting in many publications on these subjects.
Austin readily accepted the concept of an ionized layer in the upper atmosphere as the
cause of much of the observed phenomena associated with radio propagation. On the day
before his death in 1932, he said to Dr. Briggs
Imust earnestly beg of you to see to it that the Bureau continues my signal
measurement work, at least until such a time as all workers are agreed
that other observations, such as those on Kennelly-Heaviside heights, can
take the place of signal intensity measurements for correlation purposes.
Added to the very unusual Bureau was another, and again a
relation of Austin to the
Navy relationship, that set the embark on its long and extensive
stage for the Bureau to
program in the field of radio propagation. Late in 1918 Lt. Commander A. Hoyt Taylor was
9
selected to head the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory to be located on the Bureau grounds.
Early in 1919 Taylor was studying the reliability of direction finders with long
wavelength radio signals as a guidance system for Navy planes on transatlantic flights. His
signal source was the Naval Radio Station at New Brunswick, N.J., operating at 13,600
meters (22 kHz). Although he found very small bearing errors in the daytime, the radio
compass showed variations in bearings as great at 90° at sunset and sunrise, and with great
variation in signal strength under nighttime operation. In a Bureau paper Taylor explained
the variation in compass bearings as being caused by the reflection and refraction of waves
from an ionized layer at high altitudes [5].
Under the direction of Kolster, who was much oocupied with the development of the
radio compass, a program was initiated in the Radio Laboratory to check the observations of
Taylor with another direction finder. The U.S. Army Signal Corps was also interested in the
project because of its own program on direction finders. At the same time, Dellinger was
completing an extensive paper that related to coil antennas.
10
A direction finder was
installed at a field site located in Kensington, Md. Thus the Bureau's receiver was located a
distance of 5 1/2 miles to the north of the Navy's receiver placed on the fourth floor of the
East Building on the Bureau grounds. A 24-hour observation of the New Brunswick
transmitter (approximately 200 miles distance) taken on March 21-22, 1919, at each
receiving station, showed a very marked similarity of the two records for variations in the
compass bearings with time of day. Previously, there had been assurance that local
disturbances and any effects of the surroundings were no cause for error in direction
bearings at either of the two stations. Thus, the errors, which reached a maximum of nearly
50 degrees in each direction from the true bearing, were attributed only to reflection from
the ionosphere.
8
During the period from 1923 to 1932 Dr. Austin and two of his assistants published about 25 papers on subjects
relating to radio wave transmission and the effects of solar activity on transmission. Most of these papers were
published in the Proc. IRE. This was during the period when Austin was head of the Laboratory for Special Radio
Transmission Research, located on the Bureau grounds.
Typical of the subjects on which Austin was writing are the following:
Some transpacific radio field intensity measurements (1925)
Long distance receiving measurements in 1924 (1925)
Long wave radio receiving measurements at the Bureau of Standards in 1930 (1931)
Solar activity and radiotelegraphy (1932)

'Upon the formation of the Naval Research Laboratory in 1923 at Bellevue, Anacostia, in southeast Washington,
Taylor was selected as superintendent of the Radio Division.
"'Dellinger had been preparing a paper on "Principles of radio transmission and reception with antennas and coil
aerials,"which was submitted as a Bureau publication on June 18, 1919 (see p. 115, ch. VI). In treating the Austin-
Cohen transmission formula in his paper, Dellinger considered the absorption of power in the wave in transmission
over water or land as absorption in the ground wave only and did not mention absorption in a sky wave.

176
 It fell to the lot of L. E. Voorhees, associated with Kolster, to make the observations a
11
the Kensington site. An unpublished report, dated August 8, 1919, entitled "The variatic
of direction of long electromagnetic waves with time" provides the information on what can
probably be considered the Bureau's first recorded and reported (but not published)
observations of radio propagation that showed distinct evidence of reflection from the
12
ionosphere.

11
L. E. Voorhees transferred to the Radio Laboratory on October 16, 1918, from the Heat Division. A year later, on
September 30, 1919, Voorhees left the Radio Laboratory.
1J
The unpublished paper by Voorhees in the Radio File states that a 100-turn coil antenna on a 5-foot square frame
was used at the Kensington station.* A compensating circuit maintained symmetry of the coil capacity to the
ground. In contrast to reception from the New Brunswick station, signals from the Navy Station (17,000 meters,
17.6 kHz) at Annapolis, Md., 30 miles away, showed but little variation in bearing direction, either night or day.
Voorhees attributed the variation in bearing direction

... wave between stations, thus diminishing the amount of wave

to reflection of part of the
affecting the receiving antenna. Such reflections and refractions make it necessary to suddenly
change the position of the direction finder coil aerial in order to obtain a zero signal. ... we get
the largest variations in direction at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C. land
Kensington, Md. field station) at sunset, when the stations pass from earth's penumbra into
umbra at about 9:30 p.m., when the stations pass from earth's umbra to penumbra at about 3
a.m., and at sunrise.

(Note: This would be in March, when the observations were made. I

Since the nature of the disturbing element is so complex and varying it seems next to
impracticable to attempt to use long wave transmission for direction finding purposes . . .

It would remain for some years to come before the Bureau would give fuller explanation to the disturbing
effects of ionosphere reflections upon radio direction finders and radio navigation systems. In sequence, the
observations and explanations were by:
Haraden Pratt in 1927 on the night effect on radio beacons for air navigation (see ch. VI, p. 155).
(1)

World War II research by Diamond, Lifshutz, and Poast, also by K. A. Norton, on errors in high-frequency
(2)

direction finders caused by waves reflected from the ionosphere (see ch. IX, p. 317 ).

(3) World War II cooperative research program by the Radio Section and others on correlation of direction-
finding errors with ionosphere measurements (see ch. IX, pp. 318-319).

'A very brief and generalized account of the work by Taylor and Voorhees was given in the April 15 and 19, 1919,
issues of theBureau of Standards Confidential Bulletin.

Direction finder at Kensington, Md. field station in 1919, being operated by L. E. Whittemore. A cooperative program
(engaged in by L. E. Voorhees) with the Navy revealed large errors in directional bearings caused by the
ionosphere. The received signals were from transmissions of long wavelengths (e.g., 13,600 meters, or 22 kHz).

177
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179
2. Fading tests as a cooperative program
The fading or variation of intensity (sometimes called the "swinging" of radio signals)
associated with night reception was a commonly experienced characteristic of radio signals
from the time of Marconi's observation in 1902. The cause of fading was the source of error
in the direction finder bearings observed by Taylor and by Voorhees in March 1919. It is
apparent from the writings and early propagation work of Dellinger that this subject had a
fascination for him as well as creating a deep-seated desire to better understand the physics
of the phenomena involved.
During the fall of 1919 and extending into the winter, some transmission tests were
made, as a cooperative project with the Johns Hopkins University, between Baltimore and
Washington, a distance of about 40 miles. Unmodulated and modulated waves at 820 meters
(375 kHz) were used. Although the tests were made to check transmission formulas,
apparently nothing unexpected resulted from the tests.

a) THE INITIAL FADING TESTS

In March 1920 correspondence began with the American Radio Relay League (A.R.R.L.)
on a cooperative project phenomena, and particularly that of
to observe radio transmission
fading. On
April 7 a conference was held with officers of the A.R.R.L. to plan the project.
Previously, the Bureau and A.R.R.L. had independently been contemplating a cooperative
and large-scale approach to observe the effects and to study the possible causes of fading.
For the Bureau the program was under the guidance of Dellinger, L. E. Whittemore, 13 and S.
14
Kruse.
Fading was a common occurrence at the longer distances at the amateur wavelengths
below what became the broadcast band. The first round of tests took place in June and July
1920. Among the amateurs these were known as the QSS tests. The test region was 1
'

confined to the northern part of the United States east of the Mississippi Valley. The first
tests were hampered by summertime static. Seven transmitters (five spark and two electron
tube), operating at 250 meters (1200 kHz), at widely separated locations were used, with 51
recording stations spread over the entire region. The typical receiving station was a
regenerative receiver with two stages of audio amplification. A standardized form was used
by each recording station to indicate the degree of fading by drawing a curve on a scale of
16
10. Weather data were also noted. All transmissions started at 10 p.m. E.S.T. by listening
to the time signals from the Navy Arlington station NAA. —
It fell to the lot of Kruse to analyze the recorded data. The average distance of received
signals was 400 miles. There was no definite correlation of fading characteristics on a time
scale in terms of the observations of a single transmitter by a number of receiving stations.
However, three definite patterns of fading were observed: (Da very abrupt type, appearing
mainly in New England, (2) a less rapid and less abrupt type that was general over the
entire region, and (3) a very slow type that was general. There was no definite relation of
transmission characteristics to the weather. Kruse reported the initial tests of the program
in the September, November, and December 1920 issues of QST (the official organ of the
A.R.R.L.).

Laurens E. Whittemore, an instructor of Physics at the University of Kansas, joined the Bureau in July 1917.
After taking a very active part for 6 years in the affairs of the Radio Section, he transferred to the Department of
Commerce on September 14, 1923, to become the full-time secretary to the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory
Committee (IRAC). Less than a year later he transferred to the Bureau of Navigation within the Department.
Later, he joined the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., becoming staff engineer. Whittemore was vice
president of the IRE in 1928.

"(Robert) S. Kruse entered the Radio Laboratory on February 24, 1919, and resigned February 17, 1922, to become
technical editor of QST, the official organ of the American Radio Relay League. Later he became a consultant and
technical writer.
1
'
As a question, the abbreviation QSS is "Are my signals fading?"; as an answer it is "Your signals are fading."

The recording signal intensity ranged from no signal to very strong. The signal format was, after sending the
alert signal of QST (have you received the general call?), the words "Bureau of Standards ARRL fading test," then
the letters of the alphabet, each repeated five times, the entire alphabet repeated five times, first forward and then
backwards.

ISO
b) Fading tests on a quarterly schedule
With some degree of progress and with further improvements in the testing procedur e
fading tests were conducted in October, then in January and April of 1921. It was on
November 2, 1920, that KDKA
initiated commercial broadcasting on a scheduled basis.
Interestingly, its chief engineer, Frank Conrad, was operating station 8XK at Pittsburgh on
250 meters, using electron tubes, as a participating transmitter in the Bureau of Standards
and A.R.R.L. fading tests.
Transmissions at 200, 300, and 325 meters were added to the tests, also transmissions at
sunset and at noon on special tests. Several methods of synchronizing the signals of pairs of
stations were tried in order to compare the fading of signals from two nearby sources.
Dellinger, Whittemore, and Kruse reported the fading tests in 1923 in a Bureau of
Standards Scientific Paper [6]. The general conclusion reached was

that fading caused by variations in the absorption of radio waves as they

is

travel along the Heaviside surface. Fading and very great transmission
distances with short waves occur only at night, because in the daytime the
waves do not reach the Heaviside surface. The variations are apparently so
local in their character that the transmitting or receiving area over which
17
the fading is uniform is very small indeed.

c) Writing about the ionosphere

Two years before the paper by Dellinger, Whittemore, and Kruse was published as a
Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper, Dellinger and Whittemore had a paper on fading
published in June 1921 in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences [7]. This paper
had been presented before the Philosophical Society of Washington on January 29, 1921.
The topic covered in this paper makes for interesting reading after a time interval of more
than 50 years. One is taken back to a time when little was known of the ionosphere not —
even direct evidence of its existence. Yet the Bureau-A.R.R.L. fading tests indicated the
effects of a "Heaviside surface" that had much to do with long distance transmission of the
shorter waves and with the fading of signals. Dellinger and Whittemore stated:

The theory here given may only be a rough approximation but it has the

advantage of giving a clearer picture than has been available. The inter-
relation of radio phenomena and the atmosphere's electrical condition is
very close. Subordinate in importance to the atmospheric conductivity are
the other electrical properties, the solar constant, and the terrestrial
magnetic and meteorological conditions.

After stating the "complexity of the problem," they said:

... A complete study of the problem would require about 500 separate
researches, each of them on a large scale. The completion of some of these
researches would cost millions of dollars ....
This statement, made in 1921, viewed in retrospect was, indeed, an understatement in terms
of the magnitude of the researches that were to come both from the Bureau and outside.

17
In the early 1920s the term "Heaviside surface" was used by the Radio Section. Later, at about 1930, the more
universally used term "Kennelly-Heaviside layer" came into the Bureau's publications. Dellinger in writing on
radio transmission commented in the February 1926 issue of Radio News on "Facts and fancies of radio wave
transmission," that:

Heaviside did not know much about the phenomena of radio wave propagation and did not
postulate a layer. What he did do was very valuable and still stands, namely, the suggestion that
at a certain height in the atmosphere a conducting surface can exist which can effect and assist
the propagation of radio waves. Beyond this he did not go, and it seems to me that the expression
"Heaviside surface" is in accordance with Heaviside's ideas, but that the expression "Heaviside-
layer" is not. Since, furthermore, the recent theories of Larmor and of Nichols lead to the
existence of numerous levels rather than a single level in the atmosphere which facilitate the
propagation of waves at particular frequencies, even the expression "Heaviside surface" is no
longer very useful.

181
 After a discussion on "Intensity and fading of signals at night," the authors said:

This theory of night wave transmission is strikingly like the explanation of

the flight of the projectile from the German long-range gun. In both cases it
is now realized that there exists a region of the upper atmosphere of

surprising low opposition or resistance.

This analogy led to a most interesting newspaper article by Dellinger, published in

18
1925.

d ) A STUDY OF CONDITIONS AFFECTING DISTANCE RANGE

A broadcast listener of the early 1920's soon became aware of the vagaries of radio
transmission such as: fading, interference, and atmospheric disturbances. In pursuance of
further studies on fading the Radio Section took a new approach, that of a statistical
observation of a single broadcast station. The pioneer station, KDKA, operated by the
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. at East Pittsburgh, Pa., was selected as the
transmitter. C. M. Jansky, Jr., consulting radio engineer, and a member of the Radio Section

w During the early years of broadcasting many popular and semi-popular feature articles appeared in the
newspapers, and especially on the "radio page" or in supplements. The larger papers had their radio editors. Over
Dellinger's name in a lengthy article in the New York Times of Sunday, September 13, 1925, appeared the headline:

"Hope to Cure Fading By Corkscrew Waves" with the subtitle: "Concerts Shot High Into the Sky,
Like Long-Range Gun That Bombarded Paris, May Overcome Wavering Signal Intensity Radio —
'Roof Discussed."

Dellinger possibly wrote the headline but it is doubtful that he composed the subtitle — newspaper editors have
their strategems of catching the eye of the reader.
The most interesting portion of this newspaper article is that section in which Dellinger said:

In 1920 the Bureau of Standards introduced the idea that waves may be transmitted either along
the earth's surface or along the upper atmospheric conducting surface, and used this idea to
explain the superiority of long waves in the day and shorter waves at night, and also worked out
from this an explanation of the prevalance of fading and great transmission distances at night.
This explanation, published in 1921, cleared up many of the peculiarities of radio transmission
that had previously been a mystery. It was the basis of the numerous discussions of the double
tranmission path (ground waves and upper air waves) which have appeared since.

The simile of a radio roof or ceiling of the sky, with waves reflected as from the dome of a
whispering gallery, was not used in the bureau's explanation and does not give a true picture of
what happens. Probably a better picture is that set forth in the original publication, radio wave
transmission being compared with the German long-range gun which bombarded Paris at a
distance of seventy miles.*

"This long-range gun of 8.26-inch caliber, built by the Krupp works, was used by the Germans to fire on Paris
during the spring of 1918 from a distance of 76 miles. It was often referred to as "Big Bertha," a name used
previously by the Germans for a large howitzer-type gun.

The rarefied higher portions of the atmosphere which permitted the projectile to fly toward
Paris with little resistance played the same role that the upper electric strata of the air play in
radio transmission as by their particular conditions of ionization they permit radio waves of
particular frequencies to travel enormous distances around the earth. And just as the Germans
aimed the gun at a very high elevation so as to put the projectile quickly up into the little
resisting portions of the atmosphere so we are nowadays using new forms of antennae to shoot
high frequency radio waves upward instead of starting them out horizontally.

Reading Dellinger's article a half-century later leaves one in a quandary. There is no evidence that the Radio
Section had been experimenting with antennas in the early 1920's that would radiate radio waves in a manner to
simulate the launching of a projectile from a long-range gun. Such an antenna would be of the helical type, first
developed in 1947 by Kraus.** With such an antenna it is possible to radiate a circularly polarized radio wave
whose plane of polarization will rotate in a corkscrew fashion and with a narrow-beam directional characteristic or
"trajectory." Secondly, the passage of time has indicated that use of a circularly polarized wave, propagating in a
corkscrew fashion, has no particular merit in overcoming the effects of fading of radio signals. It was learned some
years later, by several investigators, that the Earth's magnetic field reacts with radio waves and rotates the plane
of polarization during propagation in the ionosphere.
In retrospect, we should probably view Dellinger's hope of curing fading by radiating corkscrew waves as
"hopeful" thinking.

**The end-fire long helical antenna was invented by Kraus in 1947. See: John D. Kraus, "Helical beam antenna,"
Electronics, Vol. 20, Apr. 1947, pp. 109-111.

182
staff at intermittent periods during the early 1920's, conducted the study. 19 Cooperating
the project was the Westinghouse Co., the A.R.R.L., and the University of Minnesota.
Approximately 100 observers, at various directions from the station, made more th
8000 observations of transmissions from KDKA over the period from August 1, 1922, to
August 1, 1923. Data were logged on two special forms with more than 20 categories of
information requested. First transmissions were at 833 kHz (360 meters) and later
transmissions on the reallocated frequency of 950 kHz (316 meters), at a power of 1000 watts
to the antenna. Most observations were analyzed and evaluated on a monthly basis. It was
not unexpected to find that atmospheric disturbances were strongest during the summer
months. Magnitude of fading was fairly uniform throughout the year, but with some
indication of an increase during the fall months. Of most significance was the clear
indication that at distances from 100 to 200 miles the signals were less reliable than at
lesser distances and at greater distances (from 200 to 450 miles). This verified the opinion
"that signals from distant stations are often of greater intensity than signals from stations
of similar power but located comparatively near the observer, has often been expressed" [8].

e) Playing a role in an Arc tic expedition— 1923-1924

The MacMillan Arctic Expedition of 1923-1924 was fitted with the first short-wave radio
equipment (200 meters) for use in the arctic region. The 80-foot schooner Bowdoin plied
arctic waters for more than a year and wintered in northern Greenland. With the
increasing interest in radio wave propagation and, particularly, the fading and distance
tests, this expedition gave opportunity for observation in a polar region.
Dellinger represented the Bureau on the Committee on Earth Currents and Polar
Lights, American Geophysical Union, for study of fading and the effect of the aurora on
radio signals. In cooperation with the American Radio Relay League and the Department of
Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution, the Radio Section gave data handling
assistance to the Expedition for observation of radio propagation.
Observations in the Greenland region, mainly at 200 meters, indicated that fading was
bad and that reception of signals was less in distance when the Sun's path was
at all times
above the horizon. There appeared to be no effect on radio signals by the aurora.

f) The cooperative fading program of 1925

At a period when manpower in the Radio Section was near a low point and interest in
radio wave phenomena was running high, the personnel roster was bolstered by the addition
20,21
of a worker, T. Parkinson, as a research associate. During 1924 a cooperative project was
set up that included 23 laboratories selected as observation points to record special
transmissions from the broadcasting stations WGY
(General Electric) at Schenectady, N.Y.
and KDKA (Westinghouse) at East Pittsburgh, Pa. This was a large-scale program from
which it was expected to obtain much new information on the puzzling aspects of fading
phenomena. The recording stations ranged from the island of Bermuda to Lincoln,
Nebraska, and from Washington, D.C. to Ottawa, Canada, but were concentrated in the
northeastern section of the United States.
The recording method used was that developed by G. W. Pickard several years earlier.
The majority of the observers used a superheterodyne receiver with rectifier output, and a
galvanometer recorder with paper tape on a revolving drum. (The recorder was a
development of H. S. Shaw, who financed the research associate program in the Radio
Section.)

19
M. Jansky, a professor of radio engineering at the University of Minnesota, was a member of the Radio Section
C.
as a consultant at irregular periods during the early 1920's.He was president of the Institute of Radio Engineers in
1934. With S. L. Bailey, he formed the radio consulting firm of Jansky and Bailey in 1930 at Washington, D.C. He
has engaged as a radio consultant in many Government operations and conferences.
20
The term "Radio wave phenomena" was used extensively by the Radio Section during the 1920's as the subject or
title to cover the projects on fading, distant reception, atmospherics, etc.

Taintor Parkinson entered the Radio Section as a research associate on February 6, 1924, and remained until
21

February 15, 1930. His salary, until July 1928, was paid by the American Section of the International Union of
Scientific Radio Telegraphy (URSI) with the financial support from a radio engineering enthusiast, H. S. Shaw. Jr.,
of Newton Center, Mass. and later of Exeter, N.H.

183
Taintor Parkinson recording the fading of radio signals in 1926 with portable-type equipment. He was employed in
the Radio Section for 6 years beginning in 1924, first as a research associate, then as a Bureau employee. Salary for
more than 4 years was paid by a benefactor, the funding administered by URSI (see footnote 21, p. 183 Parkinson
1.

engaged in transmission studies, particularly fading phenomena.

184
 and Taintor Parkinson measure the field strength of a distant high-power radio station with early-
Dellinger (seated)
type equipment. Use of a loopantenna was considered "standard" procedure for making such measurements. Photo
taken September 4, 1925. A year later the Radio Section developed its first field-intensity (strength) meter (see ch.
V.p. 111).

185
1) Radio waves and a solar eclipse
On the morning of January 24, 1925, there was a total eclipse of the Sun across
southern Canada and northeastern United States, with 95 percent totality in Washington,
D.C. With the public interest in radio broadcasting and the special interest of engineers in
radio wave propagation, it was relatively easy to stir up enthusiasm and cooperation for the
first large-scaleobservation of the effects that a solar eclipse can have on propagation.
Certain effects had been predicted more than a decade before. Under the general direction
of G. W. Pickard, a consulting engineer of the Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co. of Boston,
Mass., a number of radio stations, many laboratories, and many broadcast listeners
(associated with a project sponsored by the periodical Scientific American) took their parts
in the cooperative program [9,10]. Staff members of the Radio Section played their roles in
preparing observation forms, enlisting the cooperation of laboratories, and in taking
assignments for the Bureau's observations of the radio phenomena associated with the
22
eclipse.
The result of the many observations confirmed the expected effects; that a total eclipse
brings on a condition of the ionosphere that is intermediate between daylight and nighttime
transmission and is akin to the conditions of sunset and sunrise.

2) A potpourri of fading tests during 1925, 1926

Following the eclipse tests, fading observations during sunset periods were made in the
Bureau's program during four 10-day periods spread at intervals over the calendar year. In
December 1925, a 24-hour run was made of WGY
(Schenectady, N.Y.) operating on 790 kHz.
Also, in August, station WGY
was used to determine if fading fluctuations were affected by
transmitting power. With a power ratio of 50 to 2.5 kW there was no evidence of any effect
of high power on fading.
Observations were made on a number of radio stations at different distances, some from
the Kensington field station, some by a mobile receiver-recorder installed in a new
automobile truck. Other laboratories in the cooperative program were making similar
observations, to be analyzed and correlated with the Bureau's observations.
For several months recordings of transmissions of four Philadelphia broadcast stations
were made at noon and night at the Kensington site. The four stations were operating as
two pairs in synchronized operation at frequencies of 590 and 760 kHz. No definite
conclusions were reached on the fading characteristics of four transmissions over a common
land path (the night transmission paths could have differed to some extent).
By 1927 Dellinger, Jolliffe, and Parkinson had the data of the 23 cooperating
laboratories organized and analyzed, and had reached some definite conclusions on the
nature of the transmitting medium that had so recently come to the notice of the many
millions of broadcast listeners. Without a doubt these conclusions had a definite impact
upon the thinking of the Radio Section and on the programming of the propagation projects
for years to come. An insight into the viewpoint of a half century ago can be gleaned from a
23
reiteration of these conclusions [ll].

22
In the spring of 1918 (during World War I) the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of
Washington, proposed a cooperative program with the Radio Laboratory to make radio observations of the total
eclipse of the Sun of June 8, 1918 (crossed the United States from State of Washington to Florida). Dellinger noted
in the weekly report of May 20-25, 1918: "that we could not undertake observations during this eclipse, but that
similar work would be very desirable to take up in the future and should be done upon a cooperative scale with
other institutions." The Radio Section would have to wait 7 years until it took part in the observation of a total
eclipse.
23
1. There a degree of regularity in the average intensity during conditions of fading which has not
is

hitherto been suspected. The ratio of average night to day intensity has a logarithmic relation to
distance. This relation gives quantitative indication that the earth absorption effective in the
daytime disappears at times at night and permits calculation of the absorption coefficient.

2. There is a series of maxima and minima of fluctuation with respect to distance from the
transmitting station. The first maximum occurs at about 100 km.

3. The preceding conclusions, taken together with the dying away of the ground-transmitted
wave, indicate that the fading of several minutes period is due to variable absorption in the
upper atmosphere, and that the fading of several seconds period observed at distances less than
about 200 km is largely due to interference between the ground-transmitted wave and the wave

186
 Studying the transmission of radio waves"
By 1927 the multi-laboratory program on the fading tests of 1925 was analyzed and
published. Although a number of conclusions had been reached (see footnote 23) from the
cooperative program, Bellinger and his associates must have realized that they were but

which has traveled to the Kennelly-Heaviside layer and undergone variable changes of intensity,
phase, and polarization.

4. There is some evidence of correlation between direction shifts and fast fading. This
corroborates the conclusion just stated as to the role of interference in producing the fading of
several seconds period, since some of the same interference effects would also be manifested as
direction shifts.

5. The average of a number of records made on several days at any receiving locality during the
sunset period shows a rise in average intensity, starting about an hour before sunset, then (with
the exception for north-south transmission noted below) a decrease slightly before or during
sunset at the receiving point, and then a rise to a night value, reached usually an hour or two
after sunset. This value may not be the night maximum, which may occur many hours later. In
case of north-south transmission the limited evidence isthat there is no lessening of the rate of
increase during the sunset period. All of this is in accordance with a theory advanced by
Kennelly and by Nagaoka.

6. There is similarly an increase in the fluctuation, beginning about one hour before sunset,
usually with a decrease at or near sunset at the receiving point, and then an increase to a night
value, which also fluctuates.

7. Except for the general diurnal correlation just stated, there is no correlation between
intensity and fluctuation changes.

8. The maximum diurnal intensity appears at about the same time (during the three hours just
preceding sunrise, in December) at all receiving points within 500 km of the transmitting station.
(This conclusion is based on a single 24-hour observation period).

9. There is no consistent correlation between fading and weather conditions, as shown on

weather maps covering the test periods.*

10. Theresometimes a special periodic type of fading, beginning about 15 to 20 minutes after
is

sunset, of great regularity, the periodicity ofwhich shows a correlation with the distance
between the transmitting and receiving points, and which is evidently due to an interference
phenomenon.

11. The effect of a solar eclipse is to produce fading conditions intermediate between those of
night and day, similar to sunset conditions.

12. Changes of transmitting power do not affect the characteristics of fading.

*Author's (WFS) note: There was fairly widespread belief during the 1920's that radio transmission at broadcast
frequencies was affected by weather conditions. One tenet held by some observers was that the strength of signals
and fading characteristics were related to the patterns of barometric pressures over the transmission path. But
known to every broadcast listener was the fact that reception was clear and distant reception was good in the
absence of atmospheric disturbances or "static." Many years later we were to learn that atmospheric conditions do
affect the transmission of radio waves of very short wavelength.

During the period from 1927 to 1944 the Radio Section used for the various titles of its major project on the
transmission of radio waves the following:

Radio wave phenomena (used earlier for some of the fading tests)
Study of radio fading, atmospherics and related phenomena
Character and cause of variations of radio wave intensity and direction
Character and cause of variations of radio wave intensity
Variations of radio wave intensity
Radio wave intensity
J l

Beginning in 1930, a major project on the ionosphere was set up in the Radio Section (see p. 206). Thereafter,
because of the closely related nature of the two major projects of the "ionosphere" and the "transmission of radio
waves," the subjects of: laboratory operations, personnel assignments, and reporting of progress, often interlinked
the two major projects. This close relationship and interlinkage of the two major projects continued through the
years until the programs changes after 1944. It was aptly expressed in the Annual Report of 1940:

The processes of radio wave transmission continued by continuous recording of

to be investigated
radio wave intensities from distance and by vertical-incidence ionosphere
stations
measurements. These two types of investigation complemented one another in supplying
information on the physical structure of the ionosphere and on applications to practical radio
transmission problems.

187
scratching the surface of a great body of knowledge of the transmission medium that
surrounded the Earth. So it was that in the winter of 1927-1928 they took stock of what they
had been learning and made plans for future programs. As a result, the Radio Section
brought out a special series of reports entitled, "Monthly Report on Status of Work on Radio
Wave Phenomena." Beginning with the January 1928 report, these were distributed for the
next 3 years to the laboratories that cooperated in the 1925 program. The reports had no
status as a Bureau publication. 26
The first and rather lengthy report was prepared by Dellinger. Thereafter, the monthly
reports were written by T. Parkinson, the section's research associate and later a Bureau
27
employee. Included within the broad program of this major project was the development of
field intensity instrumentation and measurement techniques (see ch. V, pp. 111-112). In the
main stream of activity by 1928 were those projects relating to fading that came as an
outgrowth of the cooperative measurements conducted in 1925 and published in 1927 (see
28
pp. 183-187). These projects covered a variety of investigations. Dellinger stated that this
program
has for its aim the increase of knowledge of radio wave transmission
phenomena, the development of methods and apparatus for their
measurement, and the promotion of cooperative study of the problems
involved.

Before the year 1928 closed out a related but new and vigorous program was under-
way — that of studying the ionosphere itself as a medium of transmission.

1. Equipping for transmission measurements

a ) Field stations— One, two, three, four, five, six
By the mid-1920's only a limited amount of instrumentation was at hand in the Radio
Section to make observations of radio transmissions. There were further limitations when
used for observation of weak signals when operated on the Bureau grounds because of local
interference. By 1926 the Section's Chevy Chase Experimental Station on the Brookville
Road in Chevy Chase, Md. proved inadequate for the newer programs and a site was selected
on a farm near the (then) small community of Kensington, Md., 5 miles to the north of the
Bureau grounds. 29 30 The new site offered much in the reduction of manmade interference
'

31
although it was no escape from atmospheric noise. The new site was occupied in May 1926
and was developed for a variety of projects, with several small buildings constructed to
32
house equipment, plus a selection of antenna structures. By September equipment was
installed for making fading records.

26
A complete set of the reports, extending over a period of 3 years, is contained in the Radio File.

27
See p. 183 and footnote 21.
2x
monthly reports, dated January 31, 1928, Dellinger had stated that by the end of 1926 it
In the first of these
appeared that further problems in fading could be attacked most fruitfully by laboratories working more
independently than in 1925. On November 1, 1926, the Bureau sent to each of the cooperating laboratories a
suggested program of semi-cooperative research entitled "Some Problems of Radio Wave Phenomena Requiring
—
Observations." Six problems were enumerated all six were investigated by the Radio Section. The cooperation was
largely that of broadcasting stations supplying special broadcast transmissions in addition to their scheduled
programs.

"'Almost nothing appears to have been recorded on the use of a field site in or near Kensington, Md. 5 1/2 miles to
the north of the Bureau grounds. However, there is evidence that the site was in the Capitol View subdivision and

near the present junction of Stoneybrook Drive and Capitol View Avenue to the southeast of Kensington. The site
was used during 1919 for study of coil antennas, primarily as radio direction finders. This was the first of many
field sites to be used or established by the Bureau in many parts of the world for the next 50 years for radio
investigations.

"A with antenna masts and a small wooden building was erected early in the summer of 1921 on the
!

field site
Brookville Road near Shepard Street (to the northeast of Chevy Chase Circle, approximately 3 miles airline
distance from the Bureau site), Chevy Chase, Md.
:il
On September 19, 1925, the Bureau issued Letter Circular 182 entitled, "Electrical interference with radio
reception." Years later, after the formation of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, the Bureau made
extensive studies of radio noise and interference.
32
The Kensington field station was on Saul Road to the west of Connecticut Ave., the location being in the
southwestern part of the suburban town of Kensington, Md.

188
189
On July 23, 1926, Delhnger (left) and Crittenden (chief of Electricity Division) inspect the newly purchased radio
truck at west entrance to East Building. The truck was to serve as a mobile laboratory for many years.

An automobile truck (Stearns) was procured in the summer of 1926 and outfitted with
receiving and recording equipment, accompanied by suitable antennas to serve as a
"mobile" field station. The mobile laboratory not only allowed selection of distance from a
transmitter but permitted a choice of "quiet" spots of low radio noise. This truck was the
forerunner of the many that would be used by the CRPL for field operations many years
later.
The rapidly expanding program in the study of radio transmission, augmented by the
ionosphere program, brought on a need for more field stations. In 1931 two new field sites
were selected, one near Beltsville, Md., primarily for transmitters, the other at Meadows,
3,5
Md., primarily as a receiving station. They were both occupied by the Radio Section in
1932. Gradually the facilities at Kensington were moved to these new sites until the station
was abandoned in 1933.

''The Beltsville facility was located on the Experimental Farm of the Department of Agriculture, northeast of
Washington and 13 miles northeast of the Bureau grounds. In December 1932 it became the site for Station WWV.
Until abandoned in 1966, the site served many uses for the Radio Section.
The Meadows field station, located southeast of Washington and 14 miles southeast of the Bureau grounds, was
used by the Radio Section until February 1943 when the facilities were moved to Sterling, Va., to the northwest of
Washington, The 450-acre Sterling site was taken over by NBS in June 1943. The site later became part of Dulles
International Airport. The Meadows station became a part of the site of Andrews Air Force Base.

190
Air view of March 8, 1933, to a northerly direction, of the Meadows field station, near Meadows, Md., southeast of

Washington, D.C. and 14 miles southeast of the Bureau grounds. The 200-acre site was owned and used by the
Bureau from 1932 to 1943. Along the straight white strip (formed from burying the power cable) from center
toward upper right can be distinguished faintly three small white frame buildings that housed equipment for
transmission and ionosphere studies. Nearby are many wood poles that supported antennas. Entrance to site was
from the upper right corner of photo. The former Bureau property is now centered on the runways of Andrews Air
Force Base. At this airfield come and go high government officials of many countries.

b) Receiving equipment
As sources of radio transmissions the Bureau simply depended upon the many
broadcasting stations and other transmitters that were available over the years. A number
of these stations took part in the cooperative programs.
By the mid-1920's the Radio Section was fairly well equipped with receiving apparatus,
including the Shaw-type fading recorders, for observing radio transmissions (primarily
fading observations) on a relative scale, but lacked the capability of measurement of field
intensity in terms of known electrical quantities (especially, today, as field strength in
volts/meter). In 1926, at the request of the Department of Commerce, the section developed
a field intensity meter for use by the Supervisors of Radio as a means of determining
interference and measuring radiated power. From that time to the present the development
of instrumentation for field strength has continued within the Bureau.
The radio wave transmission project benefited from the early developments of field
intensity instrumentation. In the late 1920's commercial-type receivers, accompanied by
recorders, served as instrumentation for fading measurements. By 1932 more sophisticated
equipment was designed and assembled by Kenneth A. Norton and Stephen E. Reymer as a
continuous recorder of field intensity. The equipment proved to be very useful in
transporting in the special truck over long distances as a mobile laboratory for
measurement of field intensity. The equipment had a frequency range of 540 to 20,000 kHz
and a signal voltage rangeof 1 to 300,000 microvolts. Novel features were immunity to
changes in power-supply voltage and a logarithmic scaling of the recorder. The latter

191
feature permitted the compression of enormous changes in field intensity to a single sweep
of the recording pen. The complete system could be calibrated in terms of known values of
field intensity. Four of the new recorder systems were installed at the Meadows field
station.

2. Enter S. S. Kirby
The Section's Monthly Report of June 1926 stated, under the subject of Personnel:

Mr. S. S. Kirby joined the staff on June 12 as assistant scientist and will
work on radio wave phenomena.
And thus began Kirby's extensive career with the Radio Section until his death in 1941, at
which time the Monthly Report stated:
The Section suffered a severe loss in the death of Mr. S. S. Kirby January
16.

For a number of years Samuel S. Kirby pioneered in, and had immediate direction of,
the two projects, "Transmission of radio waves" and "Ionosphere phenomena." He also was
involved in related projects such as, "Radio field intensity." He was the author and coauthor
of a number of published papers, as well as many of the section's unpublished papers. He
was also a member of a variety of technical committees.

Samuel S.Kirby observing the fading of radio signals. Photograph taken within a month after he joined the Radio
Section inJune 1926. In the next 15 years, until his death in 1941, Kirby took a major role in the study of radio
transmission and the ionosphere. He was the father of Robert S. Kirby of the Central Radio Propagation
Laboratory.

192
3. The Radio Section initiates its own measurement program
During the 6-month period of January to June 1927 night observations were taken c
the Kensington field station of signal reception from stations WJAX (890 kHz), Jacksonville
Fla., and WBBM (1300 kHz), Chicago, 111. The purpose was to determine possible correlation
of field intensity with sunspot activity. Analysis of the data indicated definite correlation on
the basis of 7-day-period averages of the field intensity with 20-degree central zone figures of
sunspot numbers. It was satisfying to find the results in good agreement with the data of G.
W. Pickard taken of the Chicago station at Newton Center, Mass. There appeared to be
ample proof of a definite correlation of the intensity of night signals from distant stations
and sunspot numbers.

4. A point of view in 1927

In the Annual Reports for the period of 1927 to 1929 the Radio Section expressed its
programs and accomplishments with a rather predominating theme of the correlation of
radio transmission with natural phenomena such as sun-spot cycles and the vagaries of the
Earth's magnetism. Yet for quite a period the section published but little on its observations.
However, an interesting point of view was written down by Dellinger that came into print in
the spring of 1927 in the Proc. IRE. It was a discussion on a paper by G. W. Pickard
published in the Proceedings with the title "The correlation of radio reception with solar
34
activity and terrestrial magnetism."
In writing on Pickard's paper Dellinger commented [12]:

Mr. Pickard's paper marks a definite step advance in our knowledge of

in
the mechanism of radio transmission. It not generally appreciated to
is

what an extent this question of radio wave vagaries is the outstanding

problem of radio engineering today. It is not too much to say that this
subject is the major and typical subject of the present era of radio
development.

. . . We
have no cure for fading, atmospheric disturbances, wave direction
and other forms of interference and disturbances of reception. At the
shifts,
beginning of the decade (1921-1930) we did not even know what caused
them. There was very little information as to the laws of their behavior,
much less of the laws of their production. For those scientists and engineers
who are concerned with fundamental progress, this subject of wave vagaries
was clearly a problem which had to be met and so it has remained.
. . . Numerous
investigators have been doing pioneer work and assembling
much valuable data giving the characteristics of fading, wave intensities,
atmospheric disturbances, wave polarization, etc., as a function of various
conditions such as time of day and year, frequency, weather, distance,
topography, terrestrial magnetism, etc. Among the numerous things that
stand out as a result of this work, one conclusion of interest, is that there is
no important correlation between radio conditions and weather. Among the
principal elements of the new knowledge are the role of the ionized upper
portions of the atmosphere and the phenomena of very high
frequencies. . . .

It is not my
purpose in a discussion of this paper to give a summary of the
knowledge of radio wave phenomena as it stands today. How fruitful
. . .

it will be to have this demonstration that the variations of electrical

condition on the sun give rise to some of the characteristic radio wave
variations, only time can tell. It can certainly be concluded that it will give

34
Pickard (a consulting engineer for the Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co. of Boston, Mass.) was very active in the
study of radio transmission phenomena. During the 1920's the Radio Section carried on several cooperative
programs with Pickard.

193
 impetus to further studies and analysis not only of radio wave phenomena
but also the phenomenon of related sciences such as terrestrial magnetism
and astrophysics.
This was the point of view of Dellinger and his associates in the spring of 1927. Their
contributions and of others to follow in the Radio Section and in the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory to the study of radio wave phenomena would unfold with the years.

5. Learning of fading at broadcast frequencies — Separating directional

components, planes of polarization
During 1928 the section's research associate, T. Parkinson, conducted a series of
experiments at the Kensington Md. field station to learn more of the fading characteristics
35
of waves at broadcast frequencies [13]. He selected WJZ at Boundbrook, N.J. (660 kHz) at
300 km distance, and WBAL at Baltimore, Md. (1050 kHz) at 50 km distance as the two
principal transmitters to be observed. Others at greater and lesser distances and at various
frequencies over the broadcast band were occasionally observed. He found evidence of fading
at distances as short as 13 km.
:, ,

See p. 183 and footnote 21.

Building No. 2 and west antenna tower at Kensington, Md. field station. This building was used as a general
laboratory and workshop area. Building No. 3 (not shown) housed the field-intensity recording equipment.

194
Field-intensity recording equipment in Building No. 3, Kensington, Md. field station. Recorders at right,
temperature-controlled receivers at center (note heavy wood housing to stabilize temperature). This equipment was
much used in early transmission studies.

Parkinson worked with four types of antennas, oftentimes operating them

simultaneously in pairs with two receivers, in order to separate directional components and
planes of polarization of the radio waves. His study was being made at a time when many
experimentalists were using various methods to probe the ionized region of the upper
atmosphere, and many theories were being advanced on transmission and on fading. His
experimental techniques were not unique but he made good use of the available tools to
carry on the Radio Section's desire to learn more of the puzzling features of fading in the
broadcast band. Parkinson was particularly interested in the intensity changes that have
periods ranging from a few seconds to several minutes.
We can sum up Parkinson's study in his own words:
It was concluded that, in addition to the more commonly accepted causes,
there may be a number of indirect rays with varying paths and with
rotating planes of polarization which give rise to the variations in intensity
of the received signal. Some of the conclusions are consistent with those of
other workers in the field, but new explanations are necessary for some of
the data.

Some of the explanations would be forthcoming within a short time, within the Radio
Section itself, others would require the passage of years.

6. Shuffling combinations of observations

For a period of several years various combinations of observations were tried as

of obtaining a better understanding of fading in particular and wave
possibilities
transmission in general. The earlier work was at broadcast frequencies, later work at higher

195
frequencies extending up to 25,000 kHz. In any one combination, observations were made
simultaneously in order to observe fading effects of two or more conditions at the same
instants of time. Parkinson's observations follow:

a) Simultaneous fading records for same transmission path but different

frequencies. Two or more distant stations located in the same vicinity
but operating at different frequencies would be selected for
observation, with the several receivers in close proximity (within 15
feet or so). Usually, variations of field intensity, caused by fading, were
not simultaneous.
b) Simultaneous fading records of same transmission, with two receivers
separated by short distances (40 to 165 ft). No evidence of variation in
field intensity, caused by fading on simultaneous recordings. Broadcast
stations ranged from 200 to 960 km in distance.
c) Simultaneous fading records of same transmission, with two receivers
36
separated by considerable distances (out to several miles). Under this
condition the two recordings could be quite different, indicating
different transmission paths, especially from sky waves.
d) Fading records from two transmission paths, each from two widely
separated transmitters in synchronized operation (same modulation
and transmitter frequency). The synchronization of broadcasting
stations in the early 1930's gave opportunity to the Radio Section to
record the fading characteristics of signals with identical modulation
on the same frequency but the signals radiated from widely separated
transmitters, such as New York and Baltimore. Fading due to wave
pattern interference of the two signals was usually observed, both at
night and day. Distortion of the resultant signal could often be
observed, especially in areas where the two signal levels would be
equivalent or approximately so.

7. The Bureau's first worker to the Antarctic

Lloyd V. Berkner of the Radio Section was selected to serve as a radio officer with the
1928-1930 Byrd Antarctic Expedition to Little America. 3
For a period of time (June to
'

October 1929), during a winter layover, Berkner had the opportunity of studying long-
distance transmission and fading of radio signals from a receiving site near Dunedin, New
Zealand. Most of the transmitters were located in the United States; all were operating in
38
the frequency range of 9000 to 15,000 kHz [15].

''The fixed position was the Kensington field station, the mobile station was a receiver-recorder mounted in the
automobile truck. An ingenious system for synchronizing the two recorders utilized a 60-Hz modulated transmitter
(1700 kHz) at the Kensington site. A receiver-amplifier on the truck demodulated and amplified the 60-Hz signal
which, in turn, supplied the same (synchronized) ac power to a clock motor driving the recorder as was driving the
motor on the recorder at the fixed site [14].
Lloyd V. Berkner entered the Radio Section on May 9, 1928, transferring from the Bureau of Lighthouses to join
the Byrd Antarctic Expedition which sailed from New York City on August 25, 1928. He left the section on June 30,
1933, going to the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution where he continued ionospheric
studies. In 1950 —
Berkner proposed that in 1957-1958 there should be a third International Polar Year 25 years
after the second.The proposal resulted in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1959. He was president of the
International Scientific Radio Union (URSI) during the years 1957-1960. Berkner was president of IRE in 1961, and
president of the International Council of Scientific Unions during the period of 1957-1960. He received many
awards and honorary degrees before his death on June 4, 1967.
,s
Berkner observed that usually there was a decrease in signal intensity as the long transmission paths became
wholly lighted by the Sun. There was a rise in signal intensity as the path became partially dark, with the highest
frequencies showing the first evidence of increased strength. (Berkner would understand the nature of this
dependency upon frequency several years later when studying data taken from ionosphere recorders.) A steady fall
in intensity would occur after a maximum was reached, with the highest frequencies preceding the lower
frequencies. There was evidence of changes in transmission paths under certain conditions, a circumstance noted
by others some years earlier. While sailing to Little America he found evidence of correlation between magnetic
disturbances and loss of signal strength along certain transmission paths, but with lack of correlation along other
paths at the same time.

196
 .

During four sailings between New Zealand and Little America, Berkner observed the
transmissions of many broadcasting stations spread over the world. A number of U.S.
stations at a distance of more than 12,000 km were heard fairly consistently after sunset at
the ship when the transmission path was in total darkness. This reception was characterized
by slow fading with periods of 3 to 5 minutes, in contrast to the rapid flutter of the high
frequency transmissions.
It was Berkner who was in the vanguard long in advance of those from the Central

Radio Propagation Laboratory that later carried on research in the Antarctic.

8. The Bureau informs the radio public on distance ranges

On January 25, 1932, the Bureau released Letter Circular 317, "Distance ranges of radio
waves," that informed the radio public on the distance ranges of practical radio
communication. Two graphs indicated distance ranges (in kilometers) in relation to the

APPROXIMATE- DISTANCE- RANGES OF RADIO WAVES

THROUGHOUT THE FREQUENCY RANGE; FOR,
SIGNIFICANCE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE. GRAPHS
SEE. EXPLANATIONS ON PAGE. 3.
3000O

ztooo
24000
2X000 I ill
aoooe mmm
18000 mar

& oar ^nii

iiiiiniiiiiniii

wmmmm %m
\m>mmmmm\
mmmsmsssms
mmmmmrn^.
cio «o. x60 400 see isoo 30ee> 5ooo 7000 9000 izooo tGooo so 000
tb AO IOO 300 600 I0OO 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 I4000 I8000

. mV USEFUL. DURING SUMMER..

USEFUL. DURING WINT%.R..
7/////S

Wfo USEFUL. THROUGHOUT THE. YEAR.

WIDTH OF SHADED BOUNDARIES INDICATES
VARIATIONS OF AVERAGES REPORTED BY DIFFERENT
OBSERVERS. „
'
* ' - . RADIO N* I2.I*
JAN. 4,1932.

Approximate distance ranges in latitude of Washington. D.C. for practical radio communication with average
background interference, during day. Published in Letter Circular 317, January 25, 1932, along with graph for
night condition.

197
 "

frequency of transmission, one for day conditions, the other for night. The relatively small
difference between summer and winter conditions was taken into account.
In reviewing the graphs, with their estimates of distance ranges, more than 40 years
later, one must keep in mind that they were based upon information available through 1931.
Not until more data became available with ionosphere recorders did it become possible a
number of years later to predict radio wave propagation on a more reliable, and on a world,
basis. To view the situation at the time the Letter Circular was published (1932) we can
read:

With present knowledge of propagation conditions, it is impossible to

postulate any generally applicable formulas or any tables or any charts
which could be used to determine distance range over any given path
accurately. The attached graphs give average distance ranges as observed
by a number of experimenters to occur most frequently over a number of
transmission paths.* Through certain frequency ranges, available data
were so inconsistent as to require extrapolation which may be considerably
in error. Wide variations of distance range and skip distance must be
accepted as normal.
*
Fourteen references were cited, of which two were publications by the Bureau.

The graphs were based on the lowest field intensity which permitted "practical'" or
"useful" reception in the presence of actual background noise. The limiting field intensity
39
(strength) was taken to be 10 microvolts per meter in the broadcast frequency range.
Eight years later (1940), and with much more information available, the data were
recalculated, and published as a second Letter Circular (LC615) on the distance ranges for
radio waves. A third circular (LC658) was published August 5, 1941, with the more specific
title of "Radio distance ranges, summer 1941 and winter 1941-42.
4
"
There turned out to be a
large demand for these pamphlets. Shortly thereafter, with the country's entrance in World
War II, the circular was classified as CONFIDENTIAL.
As a prediction service to radio amateurs the Radio Section prepared graphs on
minimum and maximum useful distances for publication in the periodical QST on a
quarterly schedule. Predictions were for the different hours of the day and for each month.
The frequencies ranged from 2 to 28 MHz. The first graphs were published in the September
1940 issue. With the country's entry into World War II the service was discontinued after
the January 1942 issue. (See p. 234 for additional information.)

"While adequate for radio communication, a field strength of 10 microvolts per meter would be much too low for
high quality reproduction of musical programs in the presence of static such as on a summer night.

'"By 1941 the Radio Section had amassed a great amount of data on radio wave propagation and had learned how
to predict usable communication services under different conditions of time of day and night and the time of year,
also taking into account the effect of the sunspot cycles. In the preparation of Letter Circular 658, published August
5, 1941 (cited above), 26 published papers were referenced, 10 of which were authored by members of the Radio

Section. An interesting table of field intensities required for reception was a part of the paper and is reproduced
here.

The attached graphs show the limits of distance over which practical radio communication is
possible, both radio-telegraph (CW) and radio telephone (phone). They are based on the lowest
field intensity which permits practical reception in the presence of average background
interference or noise. For the broadcast frequencies this does not mean satisfactory program
reception. Field intensities required for CW reception were taken to be about one-tenth of those
required for phone reception. The limiting field intensity is different at different frequencies and
times. The following table gives limiting field intensity values typical of those used in

determining the distance ranges, based on data in a number of papers listed in References at end
hereof. This assumes the use of a good receiving set.

Table 1. Average Field Intensities Required for

Good Radio-Telephone Reception

0.1 Mc 1.0 Mc 5.0 Mc 10.0 Mc

Summer day 60 /xv/m 10 /Liv/m 10 /uv/m '3

/xv/m
Summer night 170 90 15 1

Winter day 25 1 2 1

Winter night 100 15 4 1

198
 — 1

O.Oi 0 04 01 o.; 04 0.6 2. 3. 4 6 8 10 12 20 24 30

1.

—iZOOOC
• 2000
r F 4- 4- 4-

i
-

T 1 "j

1 j

1
IPCOC
1 1

4 eooc
i |

10000 - I j . -I.

I-
i
j

"Oi'O . j _. L i
i

i-
i
_ - -4
4 oc :
| [
i-—
f1~ ;

_ --4-
j

8i00 i - - . ._ j. _ . .1 j. -._ ~- T

i
'2000
| i

-—
I,i
i

L- - .-.-4.
700C -
-i

];:;.; i :

_J .-_!- 10000
GCTOfe: •
+•• i— r i"
' . .. j_ .... i -
•.<••
i *\. i
i

!
i
1

j 1 !
3000
i

j i
! i

8000
T - 4
'

5000 •JrV !

i
!
1
V
1

i
7000
40 "0 5$r- •
- * t
i

-
f
f

1 1
1
I

i;

:
i .fa
I5C0>- •: !V.'-

lOCO

300
'
l
- f:

6C0

300 j-*

200 r

100 — I

p.
i-

6J --
1

j~
" ^.^O^V, RANGE 1
.00

40 60

20 -L

I 0
2C
0 )l 0 04 0; 02 04 06 16. 20 24 30

MEG/ CYCLES

r
UMMER 1941 DAY
Predicted approximate distance ranges in latitude of Washington, D.C., for practical radio communication with
average background interference, during day of summer 1.941. Published in Letter Circular 615, October 25, 1940,
along with graphs for day transmission in winter, and for night in summer and winter 1941.

199
9. Data in abundance from transmission recordings
With the use of four field intensity recorders operating over a period of several years at
the Meadows field station, it was possible for Norton, Kirby, and Gordon H. Lester to
acquire an enormous amount of data on radio transmissions in the 550- to
1500-kHz
41
broadcast band [16]. This "steam-shovel process" acquired transmission data on 300
broadcasting stations in the United States, plus recordings of Hawaiian stations. Many of
the measurements were taken after 2 a.m. during Federal Radio Commission frequency
monitoring schedules. By applying some rather arbitrary treatment, it was possible to
compress the data into a manageable form for plotting and to arrive at several meaningful
equations of expressing field intensity in terms of radiated power and of distance.
The three found no large changes of received field intensity with season or frequency
(within the broadcast band), although signals were slightly weaker in the summer. Signals
received during the day at distances greater than about 600 km were due to sky waves and
could be predicted by a formula. Variation of field intensity at night with distance appeared
to be determined primarily by directive characteristics in the vertical plane of the
42
transmitting and receiving antennas.
These observations were made during a period when WLW
(700 kHz) Cincinnati, Ohio,
was experimenting with 500 kW of radiated power (not permitted to continue because of the
blanketing effect on adjacent channels).

10. Searching out a geographic anomaly

Observations of low frequency (16 to 24 kHz) radio transmissions across the North
Atlantic by Elbert B. Judson in 1931 and 1932 indicated the anomaly of considerable
attenuation of signals across the path compared with transmission paths in other parts of
43
the world. This was interesting enough to Dellinger that he initiated a program to make
extensive observations at broadcast frequencies. After some preliminary arrangements with
several European broadcast authorities, observations were started in January 1935 to record
the field intensities of several European broadcast stations at the Meadows field station
between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m. Because of the very weak signals it was difficult to make
recordings or even to make aural observations. In contrast, signals from several Argentine
stations at a much greater distance were received at considerably higher levels. The
observations were continued for several months after which the European signals were lost
because of an overlap of the time of darkness across the Atlantic and the late evening
programs of American stations which caused interference. Thus began a series of
observations that would continue for several years of transmissions at broadcast frequencies
from two continents in different directions (one to the east, one to the south). Yet in the first
year of observation some interesting information had been gathered, as stated in the
Monthly Report of March 1935.
The observations on received intensities of European broadcast stations
made in January and February by RCA Communications Inc. and Bell
Telephone Laboratories, as well as by Messrs. Kirby, Judson and Lester
here, were analyzed by the Section Chief. A report was sent to Mr.

11
Kenneth A. Norton entered the Radio Section on July 15, 1929, and took a 9-months leave of absence during the
school year of 1930 1931 to attend Columbia University. He resigned on December 16, 1934, to enter the
Engineering Department of the Federal Communications Commission. He rejoined NBS in 1946 to take an active
role in various projects of the CRPL.
Gordon H. Lester joined the Radio Section on September 8, 1930, and was first associated with propagation
projects. In 1935 he became engineer-in-charge of WWV, until 1950.
42
In 1934 Kirby published a report on the field intensity and distance characteristics of a high vertical antenna
used for broadcasting at 1080 kHz, located at Charlotte, N.C. He found that the vertical antenna produced a ground
wave twice the field intensity of an L-antenna. With capacity loading at the top of the mast, fading was reduced
somewhat within a 150-km radius. With the vertical antenna the amplitude of night fading was reduced
considerably within a 150-km radius, but was more rapid than at greater distances.

Elbert B. Judson was an assistant to Dr. Louis Austin from 1919 to the time of Austin's death in 1932. He joined
41

the Radio Section on July 1, 1932, and resigned February 16, 1936, being associated with the ionosphere
measurement studies.

200
 Braillard of the International Broadcasting Union (Brussels, Belgium), who
arranged the emissions. The results substantiate the existence of a
remarkably excessive attenuation in transmission across the North
Atlantic.

The tests were continued months from November through February for the next
in the
four years, observations at the Meadows
field station being made by Kirby and Newbern
Smith during the small hours of the morning. The use of more sensitive continuous
recording equipment increased greatly the amount of data obtained. Five years of
observations gave ample evidence of an anomaly in radio transmission over two different
paths. A number of European laboratories participated by making measurements upon
received field intensities of North and South American stations. The Argentine government
joined in a cooperative program with the Bureau for the extended study which resulted in a
published paper by Dellinger and A. T. Cosentino, of the Ministry of the Interior, Argentina
[17]. In their words:

This work has definitely established the fact that radio transmission
between South America and either North America or Europe is relatively
free from influences that seriously impair transmission between North
America and Europe. This difference in transmission conditions is
enormous. For the time of year at which the measurements were made
(northern winter or southern summer), this study has shown that the
received intensities for transmission between North America and South
America average approximately 25 times the intensities (28 decibels)
between North America and Europe, that the received waves are only
about 1/15 as variable, and that ionospheric storms depress the intensities
of radio waves transmitted between North America and Europe but have
little effect on the other transmission paths.

The authors explained the anomalyas being due to ionospheric storms in the general
vicinity of the north magnetic pole and auroral zone and thus on the North Atlantic
transmission path. Moreover, as they stated:

The effect of ionospheric storms upon radio transmission between North

America and Europe is magnified by the fact demonstrated in this work,
that the radio effects of ionospheric storms at broadcast frequencies persist
for several days after the magnetic effects. Thus the North America-Europe
transmission path is almost never free from the effects of recurring
ionospheric storms, while the transmission path between South America
and either North America or Europe is little affected thereby.

See appendix G for a commentary on this anomaly-

11. Scads of data for a variety of purposes

Beginning in 1935, Kirby and N. Smith extended the field intensity recording program
at the Meadows including around-the-clock operation at various frequencies.
field station,
This program yielded extremely valuable data, continuing until the 1950's at Sterling. Over
this period the field intensities (in microvolts per meter) of several dozens of transmitters
were recorded, some continuously, others at certain times of the day, and others at certain
periods of the year. Frequencies ranged from the lower portion of the broadcast band (600
kHz) above 25,000 kHz. Distances ranged from 25 km for
to WWV
at Beltsville, Md. to 6700
km for Berlin stations in Europe and 8400 km for Buenos Aires in South America.
S. S. Kirby, Newbern Smith, F. R. Gracely, T. R. Gilliland, A. S. Taylor, and others were
using these recordings to seek solutions to the many problems that were confronting the
Radio Section on the vagaries of radio transmission. Only a brief listing of the problems that
were being studied during this period must suffice in this account. The number and
complexity of the problems were formidable, indeed, for the few workers involved.
By 1940 this group had listed no less than nine problems or projects of diverse nature
that were "supported" by data taken from automatically recorded information and listening

201
 44
observations of field intensity at the Meadows site. Treatment of the data over a period of
years led to many publications and to papers presented at scientific meetings. But some of
the problems would take many years to solve.
Much of what was learned from these
projects supported by the field intensity data
found its way in abbreviated form into reports on radio propagation to the Institute of Radio
Engineers and the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI). Dellinger served on radio
propagation groups of URSI and other international organizations and conferences. He
served as Chairman of the IRE Committee on Radio Wave Propagation for several years
beginning in 1938. K. A. Norton also served on this committee.

Studying the ionosphere

1. Sounding the ionosphere

a) GlLLILAND PIONEERS THE BUREAU'S IONOSPHERE MEASUREMENTS
Cooperative work in 1925 on investigation of the Kennelly-Heaviside layer with Dr.
Gregory Breit (formerly of the Radio Section) of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism,
Carnegie Institution of Washington, led to a long association of the Radio Section with this
laboratory on radio propagation studies. 46 With Breit and Tuve's historic achievement in
1925 of the development and use of the first ionosphere (oscillograph) recorder to test the
existence and measure the height of the conducting layer (ionosphere) (see pp. 173-174), the
Radio Section was easily motivated to develop its own equipment to sound the ionosphere,
47
following the method of Breit and Tuve.
In the summer of 1928, several months after he entered the Radio Section, Theodore R.
Gilliland began to assemble and modify some equipment that was similar to the apparatus

44
The Annual Report of 1940 listed the following problems awaiting solution or completion of those partially solved:

(1) General study of the diurnal, seasonal, and year-to-year variations of ionosphere
characteristics and maximum usable frequencies.

(2) Variation of radio field intensities with frequency, distance, time of day, time of year, and
over paths in different parts of the globe.

(3) Correlation of transmission conditions over medium and long paths with vertical-incidence
ionosphere data observed at Washington.

(4) Ionosphere irregularities and their effects on radio transmission (such ionosphere
irregularities as sudden ionosphere disturbances, ionosphere storms, sporadic E-layer, scattered
reflections, and prolonged periods of low-layer absorption).
(5) Determination of ionosphere conditions over extended regions from the data of long distance
radio transmission.

(6) Investigation of the validity of including the Lorentz polarization term in equations for
ionization density.

(7) Variation of intensity of ground-wave at broadcast frequencies.

(8) Relation of true to virtual heights of the ionosphere layers.

(9) Eclipse effects and recombination coefficients in the ionosphere.

''Over the period from 1930 to 1944 the Radio Section used for the various titles of its major project on the
ionosphere the following:

Measurement of height of Heaviside layer

Study of heights of ionosphere layers
Phenomena of the ionosphere
Ionosphere phenomena
46
The laboratory facilities of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism were located slightly over 1 mile from the
Bureau grounds.
11
This method was referred to as the group retardation or pulse method. It has similarities to radar of later years.
The investigations by the Radio Section, using this method, were referred to in the early developments as "radio
echo signal research."

202
 48,49
used by Breit and Tuve. The project was an outgrowth of some of the radio fading
measurements. By November 1928, Gilliland had sufficient equipment put together that he
could make photographic observations with an oscillograph of "retardation of signals
arriving by indirect paths" from the conducting layer. Initially, distortion of pulse signals in
the equipment proved to be a problem (as was the case with Breit and Tuve) but a direct-
current amplifier feeding the oscillograph element cleared up the trouble.
As with Breit and Tuve, Gilliland had the cooperation of the Naval Research
Laboratory, located in southeastern Washington (Bellevue, in Anacostia), to furnish pulsed
signals that could be recorded as reasonably sharp and distinct reflections from the
conducting layer. The transmitting station NKF operated at 4435 kHz.
50

Gilliland visually observed and photographically recorded (with a system similar to

Breit and Tuve, using a Duddell galvanometer-type oscillograph) reflection signals from
NKF at various times from February to June 1929 at the Radio Building, a distance of 13.5
km from the transmitter. Some of the observations were for a 24-hour period. Daytime
recordings indicated an ionized layer that varies in height between 200 and 330 km. His
main problem was that of local interference and in June he moved the equipment to the
Kensington, Md. site, a distance of 20 km from the Navy transmitter. By now the Navy was
transmitting signals at 8100 kHz, in addition to the 4435-kHz signals. In October the Navy
had to discontinue operations of NKF.
4
- Theodore R. Gilliland entered the Section on May 16, 1928. During the school year of 1930-1931, he received an
M.S. degree in communication engineering at Harvard. He remained in the Radio Section until 1944. Later, in
1949, Gilliland established the CRPL-NBS ionosphere field station at Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, being the
Engineer-in-Charge until 1963. He retired from NBS in 1963.
49
A detailed historical account of the development of vertical-incidence ionosphere sounding by the Radio Section,
and later by the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, will be found in NBS Technical Note 28 by Sanford C.
Gladden [18]. Included is information on the many field stations operated by CRPL and its predecessor, the IRPL.
3,1
In the laboratory language at the time, these signals were called interchangeably, "pulses," or "peaks," or "jabs."
Gilliland often used the latter term.

Equipment designed and assembled by Gilliland and used by him in early 1929 at Radio Building, Washington, to
observe pulsed signals reflected by ionosphere with transmitter operated by Naval Research Laboratory at
Bellevue, southeast Washington. Photo shows equipment at the Kensington. Md. field station where it was moved
inJune 1930. Receiver (left), amplifier (middle), and oscillograph (right). Continuous recording on oscillograph
was at single frequencies, 4435 and 8100 kHz.

203
b) GlLLILAND GETS A SCHEDULED IONOSPHERE MEASUREMENT PROGRAM UNDER WAY
On January 1930, the Navy transmitter, NKF, was back "on the air" to give
13,
assistance to the Bureau on a cooperative ionosphere measurement program. The new
transmissions were at 4045 and 8650 kHz, with a much improved and sharpened pulse signal
developed by a multivibrator circuit pulsing a 20-kW output stage. The pulse width was
approximately one-half millisecond at a rate of about 30 per second. Gilliland had made
improvements with his receiving and recording equipment housed in a new building at the
Kensington field station. During the 5-month period from January 16 to June 19, 1930, the
Navy and the Radio Section operated on a scheduled program [19]. 01

''
Gilliland's first paper on ionosphere measurements was published in the November 1930 issue of the NBS
Journal of Research, and later in the January 1931 issue of the Proe. IRE. During the 1930's many papers of the
Radio Section were published as nearly identical papers in both of these periodicals, a practice frowned upon today.
Where duplication occurred, preference is given in the literature citations associated with this chapter to the Proc.
IRE because of its greater availability.

In 1928 Gilliland began assembling and modifying equipment similar to that used by Breit and Tuve several years
earlier. On December 11, 1931, Gilliland appeared for this news photograph with his continuous ionosphere
recorder for observations at single frequencies. His multi frequency recorder was developed in 1932.

204
 Gilliland reported in the March 1930 Monthly Report
that his 11:30 a.m. recording?
4045 kHz showed a height km. 52,53 At 8650 kHz the heights
of the conducting layer at 225
were 287 km for the morning, and 290 km in the afternoon. After sunset he found the heigh t

to increase. At sunrise it abruptly returned to normal daytime height. There was evidence
occasionally of a lower layer at about 120 km for the 4045 kHz transmissions. In a magnetic
storm during March 11-17 the virtual height rose to 250 km at 4045 kHz and 440 km at 8650
kHz. On April 28, the day of a partial solar eclipse at Washington, D.C., the layer height was
lower (202 km) than usual in the morning and higher than usual in the afternoon. Gilliland
concluded his March 1930 Monthly Report by stating:

It is planned to extend the study to other frequencies in order to

understand more completely the distribution of ionization, and to continue
the observations over a considerable period of time so that seasonal
variations may be studied.

Little did Gilliland realize at thetime how involved he and his colleagues would become
during the ensuing years with the various projects in probing the ionosphere.
52
Gilliland stated:

By measuring on the oscillogram the interval of time between the reception of the ground wave
and the sky wave, it is possible by simple calculation to determine the apparent height in the
atmosphere which the wave reached. In this method of calculation it is assumed that reflection
takes place from an ionized layer in the upper atmosphere. Actual reflection as from a mirror
does not take place, but a gradual bending or refraction occurs, due to increase of ionization with
heights so that the actual height reached by the wave is somewhat less than that given by the
calculation.

Over the 5-month period Gilliland observed a low height of 219 km at 4045 kHz (except 202 km during solar
53

and a high of 450 km. He found no particular correlation with changes in sunspot activity or Earth's
eclipse)
magnetism (except during magnetic storm), but believed this was due to observations not being taken over a long
enough period.

Building No. 1 and east antenna tower at Kensington, Md. field station, located 5 miles north of Bureau grounds.
Site occupied from mid 1920 s until facilities were moved at various times to the Beltsville, Meadows, and Sterling
stations. The early ionosphere reflection observations were made in this building for several years, beginning in
1930.

205
c) An early cooperative program on the ionosphere
Concurrently with his first program on sounding the ionosphere, Gilliland carried on a
cooperative program with Tufts College of Medford, Mass., with the collaboration of the
Naval Research Laboratory and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie
Institution of Washington. Working on the project with Gilliland were P. A. de Mars,
professor of electrical engineering at Tufts College, and G. W. Kenrick of the Radio Section
54
[20]. This trio reported its early ionosphere observations at the April 1930 meeting of the
American Section of URSI in Washington, D.C. 55
Transmissions on 4045 and 8650 kHz from the Navy NKF station were observed by the
three laboratories. In addition, a 1410-kHz transmission was provided by Tufts College at its
Lexington, Mass. station, WLEX. This frequency was specially chosen for observation. 56
Because of the oblique transmission path, giving a complex pattern of multiple reflections to
the recordings, the Bureau had great difficulty in determining ionosphere heights from the
1410-kHz transmissions from Lexington. However, at Tufts College, over a transmission
path of but 15 km for the ground wave, it was definitely observed that several strata of
ionized layers existed, as postulated by Appleton and Eckersley of England.
4
'

Dr. G. W. Kenrick was appointed a consulting engineer to the Radio Section on April 17, 1930, being an associate
professor of electrical engineering at Tufts College. Previously he had pioneered in some ionosphere observations at
the University of Pennsylvania. He left the Radio Section on June 30, 1931. In 1929 at the University of
Pennsylvania Kenrick met Newbern Smith and interested him in Kennelly-Heaviside layer studies later, Smith —
presented a paper on the ionosphere at an AIEE meeting at Lehigh University.

This report appears to be the earliest account to the public made by the Radio Section in its then budding
program of the ionosphere by direct observation.
,b
In 1925 Nichols and Schelleng of the Bell Telephone Laboratories had pointed out that the frequency of 1.4 XlO 6
Hz (1400 kHz, 214 meters) is a "critical" frequency at which there is maximum absorption of the radio wave energy
by the free electrons of the ionosphere. Later this became known as the "gyro frequency."

Typical 1410 kc pattern as received at Kensington, "Id.,

during night period, (.3:33 A. II., April 13, 1930). Note
small peak, large peak, and then series of snail peaks.

?'ay~i£, 1930,' lAiu )-cs.

1410 kc as received at Tufts Colle-- at 3:1.3 A.M. H.3.T.,

May 13, 1930. Note extreiely complex dawn patterns.

These early observations of the ionosphere are two of a group of recordings made of pulse transmissions at 1410 kHz,
from WLEX (operated by Tufts College). Lexington, Mass. on a cooperative program of the Bureau, Tufts College,
Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Naval Research Laboratory in 1930. A frequency of 1410 kHz was selected
as the critical frequency postulated by Nichols and Schelleng in 1925 (see footnote 56')- At 600 km distance
from Lexington the signal pattern observed at Kensington, Md. field station showed evidence of several
transmission paths caused by the ionosphere. At 15 km from Lexington the signal pattern at Tufts College usually
showed fairly sharp pulses reflected from the ionosphere but, at times, particularly at dawn, an extremely complex
pattern existed, indicating reflections from several layers of the ionosphere for short periods of time.

206
 Although their published report the Bureau and Tufts College indicated a
in
continuation of the cooperative program beyond the preliminary stage, no work was
reported further.

d) The Bureau acquires its own system for ionosphere measurements

Early in the summer of 1930 the Navy found it necessary to dismantle the pulse
transmitter at station NKF, leaving the Bureau without a source of pulse transmissions
suitable for measurements of height of the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. Thus it was that by
July 1930 the Radio Section had developed and constructed its first pulse transmitter for
operation at its field facility at Potomac Yards (railroad) on the north side of Alexandria,

Va. Being in the same general locality as the former Navy transmitter, allowed for direct
comparison with the earlier measurements. Although the Bureau transmitter was less in
power (500 watts), more and different frequencies were available, ranging from 590 to 10,000
kHz. With further development, pulses were sharpened to about two-tenths millisecond
pulse width, which increased the accuracy of height measurement.

The Radio Section set up its first pulse transmitter (right) for ionosphere measurements in these unpretentious sur-
roundings at its field facility at Potomac Yards (railroad) on the north side of Alexandria, Va., operation beginning
July 1930. Previously, dependence was upon a pulse transmitter operated by the Naval Research Laboratory across the
Potomac River from Alexandria. At right, can be seen reels for handling the variable length antenna. Reception of
signals was at the Kensington, Md. field station, about 20 km distant. By 1932 a pulse transmitter was in operation
at Beltsville, Md. and the Potomac Yards station abandoned.

207
 Associated with Gilliland in the measurements made throughout most of 1930 were
Kenrick and Kenneth Norton. Gilliland's coworkers were able to add much to the
interpretation of the observations [21]. Most important in their findings was the definite
existence of two ionized layers in the daytime in the frequency range of 3 to 5 MHz.
Beginning on June 1, 1931, the Radio Section began issuing weekly "URSIgrams" of
"cosmic data" collected by Science Service, including Kennelly-Heaviside data on noon
ionosphere heights at selected frequencies. This information was published quarterly in
Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity. (See p. 234 for detailed information.)

e) Improving the ionosphere recorder—The continuous recorder

In the spring of 1931 Gilliland took steps to improve the ionosphere instrumentation.
First, was to minimize frequency change while pulsing the transmitter by placing the
"chopper" in a low-power amplifier circuit to produce the "jabs" or pulses. But far more
important was the development of an automatic recorder to give a continuous height record
of the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. Heretofore, the oscillograph recorded the layer height for a
fraction of a second only for each observation. Desired was a continuous recording of the
height with time, say for a 24-hour period. Then only would it be possible to get a better
understanding of the diurnal characteristics of the layer. Without an automatic method for
continuous recording, Gilliland estimated that six workers would be required over a 24-hour
period to obtain the desired information. With the aid of Kenrick (then of Tufts College) the
7
two developed and installed a prototype recorder at Tufts College. Recordings were first
made at Tufts College in the summer of 1931 at a frequency of 4045 kHz over a ground
distance of 5 km.
Gilliland and Kenrick concluded in a short account of their development that:

... to insure the continuity of records, it appears probable that problems

arising in the interpretation of these records are likely to be of paramount
importance. Thus, the complex records obtained in the presence of "split
peaks," multiple reflections, and other intricate phenomena, greatly
complicate the work of interpretation of the records. Re-enforced and
interpreted by supplementary records taken by the oscillographic methods
previously employed, however, continuous records of this kind represent a
distinct addition to the methods heretofore available for study of Kennelly-
Heaviside layer phenomena.

Indeed, this and later instrumentation revealed many of the secrets of the ionosphere.
After some preliminary experiments with the automatic continuous recorder in the
summer of 1932, Gilliland set up a combination transmitter and receiver-recorder at the
Bureau's Beltsville, Md. field station. With the equipment consolidated into one assembly, it

was possible to drive the "chopper" (pulse rate of 15 per second) in the transmitter and the
revolving mirror in the recorder from a common shaft of a synchronous motor, thus
eliminating phasing problems between the two motors when the transmitter and recorder
were separated, as in previous installations. During the winter months from November 1932
to March 1933 Gilliland obtained a large number of recordings of virtual heights of the
ionosphere at a frequency of 4100 kHz [22]. At this frequency he found that in the morning
and afternoon the virtual heights of the F layer to be about 240 km. Around midday the
reflection often split into two components, the one at 240 km usually disappearing, the other

''To obtain a continuous recording the "chopper" in the transmitter was driven by a synchronous motor. With
another motor the rotating mirror in the recorder rotated in synchronization with the chopper. Thus the ground-
wave pulse would appear at a fixed point, while pulses reflected from the Kennelly-Heaviside layer would change
in position if the layer height changed. A continuous record was obtained by recording on a moving strip of
photographic paper.* Layer height(s) would appear as a line parallel to the ground-wave line unless the height(s)
changed with time.
Stationary lines, caused by power frequency disturbances, were a disturbing factor in interpreting the early
records, but were converted to drifting lines by using a gear ratio of 127 to 64 on the synchronous motors.

* and used by t he Radio Section operated with recording material of

All the early oscillograph recorders developed
sensitized photographic paper of 4-inch width.The record could be read easily without enlargement. Not until 1940
was 35 mm motion picture film used. Choice of using film in 1940 was not altogether wise. The nitrate film
deteriorated and turned out to be a hazard. Many months of data in the 1940 s had to be destroyed without copying.

208
 —
DIRECTION OF FUL^ULNCY CHAMCC
1

DIRXjCTION
_
Of- (t«X
1

AUCNCV CMAMCL.

1
JANI .4 A92>Z, MAR.. 1, 192%
1 •3O0 PH.- 3' 19 P.M. E-40RM — 3 0OPM.
1

|^

1 i

•
1

2000 3000 4000 2000 3COO <*ooo

FRLOULNCY IM KJUOCYCULS
TTie /irs£ ionogram in the form of a continuous curve (fitted to observed readings as points on graph) published by the
Radio Section,showing the relation of virtual height of the ionosphere to frequency in vicinity of Washington, D.C.
on afternoon of January 4, 1932. Observations were made by manual operation of transmitter frequency changes
(mostly at 100-kHz increments) and visual readings of receiver output. Automatic operation would come a short
time later (see figures on p. 211).

rising to 300 km or more, but lowering to 240 km at sunset. At night the E layer would
usually appear, but both the E layer and the F layer could disappear and then reappear
irregularly. Gilliland indicated that much more needed to be learned to understand the
ionization processes of the upper atmosphere.

f) The multifrequency automatic ionosphere recorder

The continuous recorder was an important step toward an even more desirable
instrument, that of a method of recording virtual height over an extended frequency range.
Such a method would yield information on the characteristics of the ionosphere as a
function of frequency and would give a quick and direct indication of critical frequencies,
08
the importance of which was to grow during the next few years. In March 1932 Gilliland
planned the development of a continuous automatic recorder that would give the virtual
height as a function of frequency. A year later equipment for a frequency range of 2500 to
4400 kHz was installed at the Beltsville field station and the first recordings made on April
59
20, 1933. Gilliland reported on the development in a paper presented at a meeting of the
American Section of URSI at Washington, D.C. on April 27, 1933. Later he published an
account of the development and of measurements made in May 1933 [23].

58
The critical frequency is that frequency at which a radio wave just passes through the ionized layer at vertical
incidence. It is commonly used as a measure of the maximum electron density in the layer.

Gilliland to record the reflected wave as a function of frequency was an adaptation

59
The equipment developed by
of the earlier equipment designed for continuous recording at a fixed frequency. Tuning capacitors in the
transmitter and receiver were revolved by cams (of experimentally determined curvatures) from a common shaft.
Rate of rotation gave a change of tuning rate of 200 kHz per minute, or a sweep of the tuning range of 2500 to 4400
kHz in 9.5 minutes, or about 6 sweeps per hour. At least three of these recorders were constructed.

209
Radio transmitter (front) and receiver with recorder (rear) for automatic recording of virtual heights of ionosphere.
This automatic multi frequency recorder (or ionosonde), with a frequency range of 2500 to 4400 kHz, was
first
developed by Gilliland in 1932 and installed in Building No. 3 at the Beltsville. Md. field station, and later
moved to the Meadows, Md. field station.

Beginning in 1932, this modest structure (Building No. 3) at the Beltsville, Md. field station provided the field
laboratory for the Bureau's first automatic multi frequency ionosphere recorder that became the progenitor of all
Bureau ionosondes that were to follow. The accompanying transmitter was also housed in this building. Later, the
recorder was moved to the Meadows station.

210
 The Radio Section now had within its grasp a basic tool for the study of the ionosphere,
although the full potentialities were not realized at the time. Forty years later, the sw
frequency automatic ionosphere recorder, usually referred to as the ionosonde, remains as
powerful and basic tool for sounding the ionosphere, whether for new investigations or for
obtaining information on routine predictions. Truly, Gilliland pioneered a most useful
measurement instrument. The principle upon which this ionosphere recorder operated soon
would be adopted by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the British Radio Research
Board, Australian Radio Research Board, and Harvard University.
In using the multifrequency recorder at the Beltsville field station in May 1933,
Gilliland was able to observe more clearly, than by previous methods, the structure of the
ionosphere. In these observations over the frequency range of 2500 to 4400 kHz he usually
found three ionized layers or strata in the daytime, the E layer at a virtual height of about
120 km, the Fj layer at about 200 km and the F 2 layer at 280 km and higher. In sweeping ,)0

through the frequency range various changes in virtual height were observed and the
critical frequencies were in obvious evidence. Diurnal changes of the virtual heights and
transitions of reflections from one layer to another could easily be read from the recorder.

b0
In noting his recordings Gilliland had adopted the system used by Kirby, Berkner, and Stuart (after Appleton) in
a Radio Section paper that was being prepared concurrently. Expressions of the extraordinary ray and ordinary ray
(caused by splitting of the radio wave into two components by the Earth's magnetic field) with single and double
prime was the notation of Appleton and Builder of England. Other notations have been used, including the
letters
subscripts "o" and "x" for the ordinary and extraordinary wave, respectively.

- 800

-700

z
-600 S
-l« .

-SOt m
<s\

-400 o
0 * •it

-900 1 J 4
£
0-
f0 £
1A
-100 'v.
o
<o •A

-100

-o In o U>
(AE6A- 1
|

CYClE.6 to o ° 3

first iono,;ram made with The second ioaograra made with

a multi-frequency a multi-frequency

automatic ionosonde automatic ionosonde

First and second recordings (ionograms) made by Gilliland on his newly-developed automatic multifrequency
ionosphere recorder (ionosonde/. Recordings made at the Beltsville, Md. field station on April 20. 1933. The
original recording, made on sensitized photographic paper of 4-in width, is in the Radio File.

211
 15 30 L.5.T. 15=39)6
L I

800 -

700 -

600 -

500 -

4-00 -

300 -

200 -

I 00 -

o o 1
i

o o o o
O o o o
O O
sfc;

N tO
FREj3.UL.HCY i_N kc PER SECOND
MAY 8. 1933 .

Early recording taken by Gilliland on multi frequency automatic recorder, showing daytime observation of
ionosphere, with notation of the several reflections and the critical frequencies. Reflections at the several layers are
indicated by E, F, and F, F/' is reflection of ordinary ray from F, layer. F,' is probably reflection of extra-ordinary
.

ray from Fj layer. fE denotes critical frequency of E layer, fF1 " denotes critical frequency for ordinary ray in F,
layer. Upper right reflection is multiple of the F trace. ,

Gilliland continued to make

extensive observations with the equipment at this location
for a year, until April 1934,and further observations at a later period [24]. From hourly
observations much detailed information was gathered. He found that late in the afternoon
the F, and F 2 layers tended to merge with a virtual height of an F layer at 240 km and
higher. At night the E layer would disappear with the decreased ionization. In the winter
Gilliland found the critical frequency of the F layer decreasing to a minimum by midnight,
then increasing to a maximum at about 4 a.m., but dropping to a second minimum before
sunrise. There was also evidence of a sporadic type of E layer which might appear at any
time, but was usually associated with summer.

g) The portable ionosphere recorder that became the CRPL Model A ionosonde
From the time of use in 1933 the multifrequency automatic ionosphere
its initial
recorder, designed by Gilliland, performed years of yeoman service to the Radio Section. Yet
it was bulky and refinements were in order. In May 1939 Gilliland (and joined later by A. S.

Taylor) began detailed planning for a portable-type (for vehicular transportation) ionosphere
61
recorder that could be transported for expeditions as well as for general purpose use. It
was rushed to completion late in the winter of 1940 for observation of an annular eclipse on
April 7, at Fort Clark in southern Texas (see p. 217). Later, in October, the equipment was
used to observe a total eclipse in Brazil (see p. 217).

Taylor entered the Radio Section on July 12, 1938, and was assigned to the project on "phenomena of
1,1
Archer S.

the ionosphere." He was associated with the ionosphere projects until his leaving the section on May 12, 1943.

212
The 1-kW pulse transmitter for ionosphere research in the frequency range 1750-25,000 kHz, installed in 1933 in
Building No. 2, Beltsville, Md. field station. Signals were received at the Meadows, Md. field station, 25 km
distant.

Model B ionosonde or automatic multifrequency ionosphere transmitter and recorder (left) set up in 1.934 at the
Meadows, Md. field station. At right is the power supply and control unit. Initially, the frequency range was 500 to
2500 kHz (somewhat wider than the broadcast band), but was later extended to 16 MHz in a number of bands that
were automatically switched. Output peak power was approximately 5 kW.
In 1943 the Model B ionosonde (so designated in 1946) was moved to Beltsville, Md., and a few months later to
the new Sterling, Va. field station. On January 30, 1947, the equipment met an "ignoble" end by "self-inflicted"
fire caused by a malfunctioning component.

213
 The new design incorporated many desirable features based upon the growing
experience with the 1933 multifrequency recorder and the later expansion of frequency
ranges [25]. The new equipment had a frequency range of 700 to 14,000 kHz which could be
62
swept in 1 minute. The recorder now operated with 35-mm positive film.
The new ionosphere recorder, designed primarily for field measurements, became
known as the CRPL Model A ionosphere recorder in 1946. At that period of time the
recorders were renamed ionosondes, hence the Model A became known as the CRPL Model
A ionosonde.

transmitter consisted of two units, each with two frequency ranges, with a total range of 700 to 14,000 kHz.
''"'The

Peak power output was approximately 2 kW. Four antennas were required. Switching of frequency ranges of the
antennas was automatic through relays and switches for a continuous frequency sweep within 1 minute. Pulses of
about one-tenth millisecond at a rate of 20 per second were initiated by a thyratron rather than the former
"chopper." Cam-operated tuning capacitors in the transmitter and receiver kept the general tuning in step with
frequency change. However, a variable oscillator, common to both, kept the receiver automatically and precisely in
tune with the transmitter by a beat-frequency technique.
The recorder utilized a Duddell galvanometer-type oscillograph and a rotating mirror of the same kind as used
on the former recorder. The photographic paper for recording was replaced by 35 mm
positive film at a great
reduction in size of handling components and in cost of operation.
For field operation the ionosphere recorder operated from a 32-volt storage battery power source, with a
gasoline-engine driving a generator for charging. A rotary converter energized the equipment with 60-Hz
alternating current. A tuning fork controlled the frequency of a 60-Hz power supply for timing lines and timing
operations.

Portable or mobile transmitter and ionosphere recorder mounted in trailer, developed by Gilliland and used by him
for total eclipse of sun, October 1, 1940, at Patos, Brazil. In 1946' this equipment became known as the CRPL Model
A ionosonde (or ionosphere recorder).

214
2. The ionosphere begins to yield its secrets

a) Widening the frequency range of observation

Following Gilliland's development of the Radio Section's first ionosphere recorder:
team under the direction of S. S. Kirby began probing the ionosphere with equipmeni
designed for wider frequency coverage than Gilliland's original apparatus. During the period
from September 1930 to April 1933, Kirby, L. V. Berkner, and D. M. Stuart made
observations of the virtual height of the ionosphere and a study of the variation of height.
Over the period observations were made as low as 590 kHz and as high as 12,000 kHz. The
first observations were made at the Kensington field station with the transmitter at
Potomac Yards, north of Alexandria, Va., at a distance of 20 km. Some transmissions were
also received from the Navy station, NKF, in southeast Washington. With the development
of field stations near Beltsville, Md., and at Meadows, Md. in 1932, a transmission path of 25
km was established between the two sites, the transmitter at Beltsville, the receiver at the
63
Meadows station.
Although the team was primarily interested in the critical frequencies of the several
layers of the ionosphere under day and night conditions and with the seasons, the
multifrequency automatic recorder was not available until their project was being phased
out. Observations usually were made at frequency increments of 100 kHz, a complete run
taking 30 to 60 minutes, consequently effects caused by sudden changes in the ionosphere
could be missed. There was abundant evidence of several layers and they were able to
determine the relative electron densities at the critical frequencies. The team found the
critical frequencies of the E and Fj layer to be highest at noon in the summer and lowering
both diurnally and seasonally as the angle of the Sun's rays with the vertical increased. The
F 2 critical frequency was greatest on a summer evening and greater on a winter noon than
on a summer noon. The published observations covered the frequency range of about 2000
kHz to an upper limit of 12,000 kHz [26]. However, the equipment was capable of going
considerably beyond this range, both at low and high frequencies.

b) Progress in the making

Moving into 1934, progress by the Radio Section in gathering information on the
ionosphere was proceeding on an ever-widening front. The Annual Report for 1934 stated
that:

the collection of over a year's automatic records at the frequencies 2500 to

4400 kc probably represents the most complete and significant set of data
on the ionosphere in existence.

By 1935 the Radio Section stated in the Director's Annual Report to the Secretary of
Commerce that:
Measurements made throughout the year of the heights and critical
frequencies of the ionized layers of the upper atmosphere which are
responsible for long-distance radio transmission, constitute the most
complete body of data in existence on this subject. . . .

Among the observations made and conclusions reached during FY 1934 were:

Daytime E-layer ionization densities followed in phase with the ionizing

force of the sun, thus establishing with high probability that the ionization
of the E layer in the daytime is due to ultraviolet light.

Diurnal variations of the E critical frequency during the daytime were

found to vary as the fourth root of the cosine of the zenith angle of the sun.

F2 layer ionization densities may increase or decrease at any hour of the

night.

63
The field station on the Experimental Farm of the Department of Agriculture at Beltsville, Md., northeast of
Washington, D.C., became the site of station WWV for many years. The multipurpose field station at Meadows,
Md., southeast of Washington, became the site of the Andrews Air Force Base in 1943.

215
 The complex reflections received at frequencies above F 2 critical frequen-
cieswere believed to be returned by another poorly defined higher layer
which may be called the G layer.
During the early morning periods of November 16 and 17 (1933) special
ionosphere observations were made to see if any effect of the Leonid
meteorite showers could be noted. No phenomena were observed which
were believed to be caused by the Leonid showers.

In later years various investigators observed the reflection of radio waves from meteor
trails in the ionosphere, and attributed the sporadic E layer due at least partially to the
presence of meteor particles.

c ) Solar eclipses and the ionosphere

1918, Over the years the Bureau has observed the effects of one of Nature's most
1919, —
dramatic events the total solar eclipse. 64 In the spring of 1918 the Department of
1923 Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, proposed a cooperative
program with the Bureau to make radio observations of a total eclipse, but the
project did not materialize (see footnote 22). Again, in April 1919, the National Re-
search Council requested that attention be given to radio observations at the time of
the solar eclipse (partial in the United States) of May 29. Nothing appears to have
been recorded on any observations, if they were made.

In 1923 Dr. Louis Austin, of the Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission
Research located on the Bureau grounds, observed radio transmissions during the
eclipse of the Sun on September 10 that had a totality path across a portion of
southern United States.

1925 The Radio Section took part in the cooperative project, directed by G. W. Pickard (a
well-known consulting radio engineer), of observing radio transmissions during the
eclipse of the Sun that was total in northeastern United States on January 24 (see
p. 186).

1930 Observations made Md. field station on April 28 of the annular

at the Kensington,
eclipse that crossed the United States and Canada showed no indication on field
intensity records of changes or disturbances in radio transmissions during the time
of the eclipse.

1932 The section had to wait until 1932 before it carried out its own program of
observing the effects of a solar eclipse on radio transmission. By then the section
had developed the kind of equipment that was necessary to make quantitative
measurements on the ionosphere. Observations were made by Kirby and Berkner
at Washington, D.C. (with three transmitters at the Beltsville field station and two
receivers at the Kensington field station), where the eclipse was 90 percent total.
Gilliland and Norton took equipment to Sydney, Nova Scotia where 90 percent
totality would take place on the opposite side of the path of totality from
Washington. The primary purpose of selecting this observation point was to check
the suggestion by Professor Sidney Chapman (England) that the E layer was
ionized by corpuscles emitted by the Sun (Sydney, Nova Scotia would be in an area
where the effect could be studied to substantiate Chapman's suggestion).
Observations were made on the afternoon of August 31 of the eclipse at
Washington and at Sydney, with a continuous recorder (at single frequencies) and
visually with a specially designed cathode-ray oscillograph [27]. Each of the two
teams found that ionization of the E layer decreased to about 30 percent of normal
value at the eclipse maximum, and ionization of the F, layer to about 40 percent.

,:i
Photographs of the total eclipse of the Sun were taken by Dr. Irvine C. Gardner, Chief of the Bureau's Optical
Instruments Section, on several expeditions. On June 19, 1936, he took the first color photographs of a total eclipse
with a special 14-foot camera of his design, that was constructed by the Bureau. The 1936 expedition was to the
Kazak region in Asiatic Russia. The camera was used by Gardner in 1937 on Canton Island in the South Pacific.
Later, he accompanied two expeditions to Brazil, the first in 1940, the second in 1947.

216
 These values were in agreement with observations made by other groups
significant changes occurred in the F 2 layer. Also, there was no evidence at eithe
Washington or Sydney that ionization of the E layer is caused by corpus-
emitted by the Sun. Yet, in the coming years much of the phenomena associate<
with the ionosphere would be explained as the effect of corpuscles from the Sun
entering the outer regions of the Earth's atmosphere.

1935 The eclipse of the Sun at Washington, D.C. on February 3, although only 35 percent
of totality, was of special interest because of the possibility of a clearer indication of
the effect of an eclipse on ionization of the F 2 layer in the winter than in summer.
This eclipse was studied by Kirby, Gilliland, and Elbert B. Judson, using the newly
available multifrequency automatic recorder for the frequency range of 2500 to
4400 kHz. Above and below this range they had to use recorder equipment at single
frequencies with manual control.

The team observed that ionization in the E layer was reduced to 0.85 of normal at
the maximum of the area of the Sun's disk being covered. Ionization of the F, layer
was reduced to 0.88 of normal with a time lag of about 20 minutes, but poorly
defined because of poor definition of the F layer in the winter. A time lag of 9.5
x

minutes was observed for the F 2 layer. The team came up with several viewpoints
on the nature of recombination of charged particles in the total ionization process.

1936 The solar eclipse of June 19 that crossed Siberia in totality was observed at
Washington by Kirby, Gilliland, Smith, and Reymer. Observations were made of
the critical frequencies of the E, F and F layers, and the virtual height of the F 2
1( 2

layer over a 4-day period from June 17 to 19. A severe magnetic storm at the time
of the eclipse obliterated any changes of the ionosphere that may have otherwise
been observed. Magnet ograms from the nearby Cheltenham, Md. Magnetic
Observatory of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey indicated the severe storm
disturbances. Correlation of conditions of the ionosphere with the magnetic storm
corroborated earlier observations made by the Radio Section.

1940 Late winter of 1939-1940 found Gilliland and Taylor rushing a portable-type
multifrequency ionosphere recorder to completion for use on an eclipse expedition
to southern Texas and later to Brazil (see p. 212). An annular solar eclipse occurred
on April 7 in southern Texas, and Gilliland and Taylor took the equipment to Fort
Clark for a 10-day period spanning the eclipse event. Observations also were made
at the Meadows, Md. field station. The observations largely confirmed those made
of the 1935 eclipse at Washington.

Gilliland accompanied the joint National Geographic Society-NBS expedition to

Patos, Brazil (Paraiba State, in northeastern Brazil) to record the total eclipse of
the Sun on October 1. Observations were made over a 14-day period spanning the
eclipse. The Radio Section was particularly interested in the ion density before,
during, and after the eclipse in the E, F,, and F 2 layers, and also the rates of ion
recombination. Analysis of the recordings and calculations indicated anomalies in
the expected and the observed results. The observation of a definite decrease in ion
density occurring at the same time the Moon obscured a large sunspot was
considered significant as a possible means of identifying the source of certain
ionizing radiation within given areas of the Sun.

217
 0830 0900 0930 1000 1030 1100 1130 1200 1230 1300 1330 1400 1430 1500
GREENWICH MEAN TIME LOCAL
NOON

Gilliland's observations of ion densities in ionosphere layers before, during, and after, total eclipse of October 1, 1.940,

observed from station at Patos in northeastern Brazil. Ion density reached a fairly sharp minimum in the E and
F, layers at time of total eclipse which lasted 282 seconds (between 2nd and 3rd contacts noted on graphs). Dashed
curves show calculated values by N. Smith of ion density for assumed values of recombination coefficient a.

Newbern Smith provided an assist to the two expeditions by furnishing critical

frequency predictions in advance that could be adapted to the paths of the two
eclipses.

1947 Lyman J. Briggs, then recently retired as director of

In the late spring of 1947, Dr.
NBS, Geographic Society-Army Air Force Eclipse Expedition
led the joint National
to Brazil. Accompanying the expedition were James M. Watts and Franklin Krai of
the Field Operations Section (CRPL). They were equipped with the prototype model
of the newly developed Model C ionosonde. With the new equipment it was possible
to make time-lapse records on movie film for later projection to speed up a viewing
of ionosphere reflections.

218
 The eclipse occurred on May 20 and was observed by the expedition near
Brazilian village of Bucaiuva, located on a semiarid plain about 400 miles north of
Rio de Janeiro. The path of the total eclipse ranged from Santiago, Chile to th
Kenya Colony in East Africa.

Several years later (1950) in writing on the variation of electron density in the F
layer during the eclipse, Jacob Savitt, of the Upper Atmosphere Research Section,
found that the recombination and attachment coefficients of free electrons varied
systematically with height and were in general agreement with other
investigations. Best agreement of observation and theory was obtained at a height
of 260 km, assuming the attachment process (with neutral particles).

1950 Grote Reber (Upper Atmosphere Research Section) and E. A. Beck (Tropospheric
Propagation Research Section) participated in the Naval Research Laboratory
Expedition to observe the total eclipse of September 11. This eclipse traveled a path
in a southeasterly direction across eastern Siberia, across the Bering Sea, and over
the Pacific Ocean toward Hawaii. The expedition installed its equipment on Attu
Island, the most westerly in the chain of the Aleutian Islands. As could be
expected, "observations" were made during a severe rainstorm of the inhospitable
climate.

Observations were made with a radar antenna of 10-foot diameter, measurements

of solar radio intensity being taken at 3-, 10-, and 65-cm wavelengths. Observations

of change in intensity were taken over a period of 2 hours before to 2 hours after
the totality of 73 seconds. There was an unexplained rise of about 10 percent in the
intensity at the time of first contact and the last contact of the Moon's disk with
the Sun. The intensity decreased to about 30 percent of normal during totality, the
change being very gradual before and after totality.

1955 On June 20 Vernon H. Goerke (Upper Atmosphere Research Section) conducted

Sun in the vicinity of Baguio on the
radio observations of a total eclipse of the
island of Luzon, Philippines. His findings confirmed with greater accuracy the
scanty results of previous observations on eclipses that in the recombination of ions
in the D layer of the ionosphere there is a very short relaxation time.

1958 On October 12 a total solar eclipse passed over the Danger Islands (northeast of
Samoa Islands) in the Central Pacific and its effect upon the ionosphere was
observed with a C-2 ionosonde by Garth H. Stonehocker (Sun-Earth Relationship
Section) and Leo W. Honea (stationed at Maui, Hawaii). A paper published in 1960
by CRPL personnel revealed interesting and new information on photochemical
rates in the equatorial F 2 region from the eclipse by a new method of analyzing the
electron-density data [28].

1963 The effect on VLF signals propagating over short paths by the total eclipse of the
Sun on July 20 across Alaska and Canada was observed by the CRPL at Hanover,
N.H. The project was conducted by James H. Crary and Dennis E. Schneible.
Observations showed that the response in the D region to ionizing radiation does
not necessarily reach a minimum at time of maximum optical eclipse but may
show variations associated with locations of active x-ray producing regions.

The CRPL also analyzed vertical incidence radio soundings taken at time of eclipse
at 22 locations across North America. The analysis showed a well-marked and
consistent geographical pattern of variation of the ordinary-wave critical frequency
of the F 2 layer with eclipse time.

219
". . . my tumbled down —
shack by a" South Sea shore one of the Danger Islands, northeast of the Samoa Islands
in the Central Pacific. Garth H. Stonehocker and Leo W. Honea of the CRPL, occupied this "shack" during 11
days of observation of the effects on the ionosphere of the total solar eclipse of October 12, 1958. Housed with them
was a C-2 ionosonde and its associated equipment, plus a complete amateur radio station. Radio antennas
"
occupied the immediate "premises.

d ) Taking part in the Second International Polar Year

Fifty years after the First Polar Year of 1882-1883, the Second International Polar Year
was staged for the period 1932-1934. The ionosphere measurement capability of the Radio
Section had matured to the extent that a definite contribution could be made to the
international program. The project was directed by S. S. Kirby.
Observations were made at the Beltsville and Meadows field stations for Washington-
based data. Measurements of virtual heights of the ionosphere layers were made at 2050,
4100, and 8000 kHz at noon and midnight (local time) on the scheduled "international day"
of each month. Also observed were the critical frequencies of the E and F 2 layers. Although
not on the planned program, during the latter part of the Polar Year nearly continuous
observations were made in the frequency range of 2500 to 4400 kHz on the newly developed
multifrequency recorder. A severe magnetic storm was observed for a period of several days,
with an abrupt disappearance of echoes at 4100 kHz for several minutes on February 24,
1933.
The "Polar Year Report of the National Bureau of Standards," of August 7, 1934, was
presented at the General Assembly of the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI) in
London on September 14, 1934, by the American delegation.
Although much information was gathered by the Radio Section during the Second Polar
Year, a number of years would have to pass before there would be a more detailed
understanding of the ionosphere.

220
e) A NEW COSMIC PHENOMENON
1) The early months of observation by Dellinger and others
Scattered among the observations, recordings, and measurements on radio transmission
that had been compiled in 1935 (and that bore the label, "constitute the most complete body
of data in existence on this subject ." see p. 215), was some evidence of a
. .
type of
ionosphere disturbance that had eluded the Radio Section heretofore. The subject was first
noted in the Monthly Report for July 1935 that a "peculiar effect" had been observed. It was
stated that:

Through correspondence with French and American engineers, it was

established that a peculiar effect occurred on May 12 (1935), when at noon
GMT all high-frequency signals decreased to zero and remained out for 15
1
minutes, both in France and the U.S.A.''*

The Monthly Report of August 1935 stated:

Further correspondence brought to light additional information on the

sudden fadeouts mentioned in last month's report as having occurred May
12. The same phenomenon has been occurring at approximately 54-day
intervals, twice the period of the sun's rotation. It affects all high-frequency
transmission in the sun-lighted half of the globe. This warrants further
study.

Observations at several radio communications stations and by radio amateurs showed

that fadeouts of approximately 15-minute duration had occurred on March 20, May 12, and
July 6 (1935).'" Dellinger predicted the next fadeout for August 28 to 30. At 6:20 on the
evening of August 30 (EST) the sudden drop in field strength of signals received by the
Radio Section at the Meadows field station was noted.
Letters were sent by Dellinger to the periodicals, Science and Physical Review (letter
dated September 21, 1935), mentioning the next probable date of occurrence of a sudden
fading out of long-distance, high-frequency signals [29,30]. In his letter to Physical Review he
stated that the 15-minute fadeouts generally occur during periods lasting from several hours
to several days when there are considerable fading periods accompanied by terrestrial
magnetism disturbances and fluctuating Earth currents. He made the suggestion that the
sudden fadeouts were probably due to some solar emanation that lasts for only a few
minutes.
In his letter, Dellinger suggested that those concerned with such observations make
continuous recordings during the predicted fadeouts and communicate with the Bureau on
their observations. (Subsequently, reports were received from radio operators,
communication companies, radio amateurs, and others, cooperating heartily in the study.)

'"This title was borrowed from that of a communication by Dellinger to the periodical, Science. It appeared in the

October 11, 1935, issue as the first public announcement of Dellinger's calling attention to a newly observed radio
transmission phenomenon. The announcement preceded a somewhat more detailed account that appeared in the
periodical, Physical Review, just 4 days later (see references [29] and [30]).

" Dellinger related in a letter to the editor of PhysicalReview (see reference [30]) that a correspondent in France
brought to his attention that high-frequency signals received at a station near Paris had suddenly disappeared at
1157 G.m.t. on May 12 (1935), and that after several minutes of complete silence the signals slowly regained the
normal intensity by 1215 G.m.t. Dellinger also learned, upon inquiry, that at the time of disappearance of signals at
Paris the same occurred with signals received at the stations of RCA Communications, Inc. at Riverhead, N.Y. and
the Bell Telephone Laboratories at Necong, N.Y.
In a later account Dellinger relates in more detail the circumstances of how he became aware of this newly-
observed phenomenon [31]. In June 1935 he received a letter from Dr. R. Jouaust, who was Secretary of the French
National Committee of URSI. Dr. Jouaust referred to a statement made by a Mr. Gamier of the Compagnie Radio-
France located at Villecresnes, to the southeast of Paris, that general fading occurred on all short-wave receptions
from 1157 to 1215 G.m.t. on May 12, 1935. Dr. Jouaust inquired if a similar fading was observed at the same time in
the United States.
67
A radio operator at Atlanta, Ga., reported that on November 28, 1934, beginning at 11:10 a.m., CST, a sharp
fadeout occurred for a 30-minute period on a number of high-frequency transmissions, but not in the broadcast
band. This report was the earliest on record in the files of the American Radio Relay League of a sudden and
complete fadeout at high frequencies during the daytime.

221
 Based upon the averaged 54-day interval that he had observed between fadeouts,
Dellinger predicted the next fadeout to be during the period of October 21 to 25 (1935). One
can well imagine the anticipation on the part of the Radio Section and of many radio
operators in preparing for the predicted event. But on this occasion the phenomenon was
not of the same kind at all; it was on a far greater scale than the 15-minute fadeouts
observed previously. It was of the kind that was later to be called an "ionosphere storm."
Beginning on October 10 there was an increased sunspot activity with a gradual increase of
the critical frequency in the F 2 layer. By October 23 the critical frequency had reached
12,600 kHz, the highest that had ever been recorded by the Radio Section at Washington.
Radio operators found that daytime transmissions were unusually good during this period of
increasing critical frequency. Then on October 24 a complete reversal took place. The
critical frequency of the F 2 layer dropped to about one-half (6400 kHz) of the day before, and
the virtual height increased to 460 km from the previous 250 km. Transmissions at the
higher frequencies dropped out completely. By the next day, October 25, conditions returned
to those of October 23, and then gradually to normal conditions. Accompanying the
ionosphere disturbance was a magnetic disturbance of considerable intensity on October 23
and 24, reported by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The magnetic disturbance was on a
worldwide scope on October 24. The solar, ionosphere, and magnetic events of October 1935
left many unanswered questions. Among these was the observed 54-day period of the sharp
fadeouts, which was twice that of the 27-day period of the rotation of the Sun; simply a
"fortuitous" event as described by Dellinger.
An interesting circumstance in terminology came about at an early date in the naming
of this "peculiar effect" as it was called by Dellinger in the Monthly Report of July 1935. It
was sometimes referred to as a sudden "fading out" of signals (and of short duration), and
sometimes as a "wiping out" of the signals. The appellation of the "Dellinger effect"
appeared very early, first in the December 1935 issue of the radio amateur periodical, QST
[32]. In a staff-written article, entitled "A new radio transmission phenomenon," it was
stated: "This 'Dellinger effect' is an intriguing thing, and we amateurs can help in its
ultimate identification." Thereafter, QST used the term a number of times especially in
editorial introductory notes.
The term "Dellinger Wipe Out" appeared as a title to a paper in the November 1936
issue of the T and R Bulletin of the Radio Society of Great Britain. The paper relates to two
theories of ionization in the F layer in explanation of the phenomenon of sudden fadeouts.
The term "Dellinger effect" was used in the text. Other terms that appeared in the
literature were: radio fadeout, sudden fadeout, sudden ionospheric disturbance, solar flare
disturbance, and similar expressions. Although fadeout appeared to be the most commonly
used in the earlier years, the term "Dellinger effect" was used, on occasion, over the many
(>

years. Gradually, however, the term "sudden ionosphere disturbance" or "SID" has come
to be the accepted term, and certainly is descriptive of the causation of sudden radio
fadeouts. Yet biographical sketches of Dr. Dellinger will usually ascribe his study of the
"Dellinger effect" as his greatest scientific achievement.

68
Of rare usage has been the term "Mogel-Dellinger effect" for the sudden fadeout of radio signals. In his paper
published in the July 1939 issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, Dellinger commented that he had learned
that T. L. Eckersley (England) and H. Mogel (Germany) had observed the simultaneous occurrence of radio fadeouts
in 1928 without attributing them to any specific cause.
In his paper entitledSudden disturbances of the ionosphere," published in the November 1937 issue of the
'

Journal of Applied Physics, Dellinger acknowledges the observations made, and explanations advanced, on sudden
radio fadeouts given by Eckersley. This was published in a lengthy paper in the 1929 Journal of The Institution of
Electrical Engineers (London), entitled "An investigation of short waves." Under the subject of magnetic storms
Eckersley refers to short-period fadeouts or "fades" and, in particular, one on October 28, 1928, of remarkable
suddenness and relative rapidity of recovery, lasting, in total, about 1 hour. It was not accompanied by a magnetic
disturbance. The fadeout was also reported in Germany. Eckersley attributed the phenomenon to a very
penetrating radiation, perhaps ultraviolet, that ionized lower layers of the ionosphere and that had its source in
sudden bursts of energy from the Sun. Eckersley also noted that the fadeout appeared on the illuminated side of
the Earth with some evidence of its not occurring on the dark side. However, unlike Dellinger, he did not trace
these fadeouts to specific and correlated events of solar flares as the source of the ultraviolet radiation.
The first recognition by NBS of an SWF (short wave fadeout) was on April 8, 1936, at the Meadows field
station. Examination of prior records at Meadows showed an SWF on February 14 and April 6, 1936.

222
2) Relating the radio fadeout to Sun activity

Dellinger lost no time in contacting the Mt. Wilson Observatory for evidence of unusual
solar activity at the time of observed radio fadeouts. By November 1935, R. S. Richardson <

the Observatory reported that he had examined the spectrohelioscope records and found
sudden and marked changes in the form and intensity of hydrogen flocculus (solar flare) on
the Sun within a few minutes of the time of fadeouts on July 6 and August 30, 1935. There
had been unusual activity on October 24, the disturbance being over a much longer period
than at other times. No observations had been made at the time of the earlier fadeouts on
March 20 and May 12. By the end of 1935 observations and records indicated that there was
a direct correlation of radio fadeouts at high frequencies with sudden or sometimes with
extensive disturbances on the Sun, and that the fadeouts always occurred on the
illuminated half of the Earth. By January of 1936 Dellinger had published five articles in
the scientific literature on the solar radio disturbances observed in 1935.

3) A further study of radio fadeouts

After his important discovery in the latter part of 1935 of the relation of radio fadeouts
to sudden solar disturbances, Dellinger continued his study over the next several years. By
69
the close of 1937 he had published no less than 12 papers on the subject. With further
observations, the individuality of single and very sudden fadeouts with a 54-day period lost
their original uniqueness. In the August 1937 issue of the NBS Journal of Research,
H was was a QST
'The first of four papers published in QST, in which the term "Dellinger effect" first used, staff-

written paper. It is often listed as Dellinger being the author.

A graphic example of Dellinger's studies of the mid-1930 s of sudden disturbances or fadeouts of the ionosphere is
shown in these recordings of the phenomenon of November 24, 1936. The characteristic sudden drop of signal
intensity to zero or near zero occurred shortly after 1900 G.m.t. at the two frequencies being observed, each from
stations of very different geographic locations in relation to the Meadows, Md. field station near Washington, D.C.
Recovery of signal after the disturbance was typically slow. A fadeout of more gradual nature had occurred in
signals from the Mason, Ohio station preceding the sudden fadeout.
Ionosphere sounding at Meadows showed complete disappearance of reflected signals during the severe fadeout.
Magnetic record taken at nearby observatory at Cheltenham, Md. showed a broad pulse in shifting of magnitude of
horizontal component during the severe fadeout.

223
Dellinger summarized much of his study of the previous 2 years (this lengthy paper also
appeared in the October 1937 issue of the Proc. IRE) [33]. By the end of 1936 Dellinger had
amassed large quantities of records taken by the Radio Section and by many radio operators
that indicated a total of 118 occurrences of radio fadeouts since November 1934.'" He found
there was a total of five separate fadeouts on May 28, 1936, the maximum recorded for a
single day. On some fadeouts he received observations from more than a dozen sources of
wide geographical distribution. With few exceptions, all fadeouts related to transmissions
were above 1500 kHz. It was from this mass of data that Dellinger was able to draw a
number of conclusions with a good degree, yet some with a lesser degree, of certainty.
Dellinger summarized the transmission characteristics of radio fadeouts in his lengthy
paper published in October 1937 (Proc. IRE) as given below.' He concluded that the sudden
1

disturbances in the ionosphere, causing the fadeouts, were due to a sudden increase of
ionization in a layer (or layers) below the E layer. It was but 5 months earlier that Newbern
Smith and S. S. Kirby had identified this layer, which is usually referred to as the D layer
(see p. 229). Dellinger attributed the strong ionization of this layer as probably due to
ultraviolet radiation from sudden disturbances (solar flares) in the vicinity of sunspots. The
radiation would have to penetrate the layers (E, F,, and F 2 above the intensely disturbed)

layer, these layers being ionized by radiation from the Sun of a different character. Upon
strong ionization, the lowest layer absorbs all of the energy of radio waves that is normally
reflected from the upper layers and thus long distance transmission is reduced to only
ground wave transmission. With a rapid ebbing of the ultraviolet radiation, the strongly
ionized layer below the E layer rapidly returns to normal and transmission of signals by the
upper layers is restored. The mode of recombination of ions in the layer is such that
transmission at the higher frequencies is restored before that of the lower frequencies.
Because of the strong ionization in the Earth's atmosphere caused by sudden solar
disturbances, perturbations often occur, but not always, in the Earth's magnetism and in
Earth currents. Perturbations associated with radio fadeouts were found to be quite
different than those associated with magnetic storms.
Dellinger expressed himself quite freely in his 1937 paper, that:

Ionosphere phenomena, as detected by radio, terrestrial-magnetic, and

earth current effects thus become the unique means by which we can study
various classes of radiation from the sun.

On another occasion he stated:

The sudden ionosphere disturbance is the only known instance in which a

happening on the earth follows directly from a
specific specific random
happening on the sun or other heavenly body.
Dellinger's early study of sudden solar disturbances led to many avenues of approach in
revealing Nature's secrets of the ionosphere and of the Sun.

'"Data on the radio fadeouts were based on:

(1) experiences of operators receiving radio signals

(2) graphical records from field intensity records
(3) observations of echo-signal pulses from the ionosphere

Beginning August 1935, an extensive recording program on fadeouts was set up at the Meadows field station
using the automatic field intensity records. Several transmitters were recorded on a continuous time schedule.

''The . . . phenomenon which is some type of sudden change, somewhere

facts clearly outline a
in the ionosphere. Whenever the phenomenon occurs, it is most intense in that region of the
earth where the sun's radiation is perpendicular and diminishes to zero at the outer edge of the
illuminated hemisphere. Its onset usually occurs within a minute, and is simultaneous
throughout the hemisphere affected. Its various effects begin simultaneously, and last from ten
minutes to several hours, the occurrences of greater intensity in general producing effects of
longer duration. The effects include the sudden blotting out of high-frequency radio sky-wave
transmission, sudden changes in low-frequency atmospherics, sudden changes in terrestrial
magnetic intensities, and sudden changes in earth currents. The effects are markedly different
from other types of changes in these quantities. They are more intense where it is noon than
where it is other times of the day, and are more intense in equatorial regions than in high
latitudes. The radio effects are very large, indicating that the ionosphere changes producing
them are intense ones.

224
f) Probing the ionosphere from the Arctic
A chance meeting of Dellinger with Miss Louise A. Boyd, a well-known Arctic explorer,
on board ship on one of his transatlantic journeys led to a Radio Section field trip to the
2
Arctic.' Later, on March 15, 1938, Miss Boyd visited the Radio Section to discuss the
possibilities of the Bureau doing some ionosphere work on one of her expeditions in the
vicinity of Greenland. To accommodate the section's desire to do some ionosphere work in
the vicinity of the north magnetic pole and in a region resplendent with auroral displays,
she expressed a willingness to make her 1940 expedition up the west coast of Greenland (the
expedition was made in 1941). But let Dr. Dellinger speak of it in his own words as he
related the tale in his address to the staff at the Boulder Laboratories on March 3, 1961, on
the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Bureau.

. . Once, on returning from an international conference, I met an

.

interesting lady on board ship. She asked me what I was doing and I asked
her what she was doing and we got together very fast when I told her about
the radio work and she told me that she was an explorer specializing in
Greenland. She said, you know the radio is a part of what ought to be my
field that I have never been able to do anything with. She was Louise Boyd,
the leading world authority on East Greenland. She had taken several
expeditions up there; she is a wealthy woman and paid for these
expeditions herself. She is also a great expert in photography and the
pictures which she took in Greenland and in some other countries were of
great use to our military during the war. Well, the proposal very rapidly
developed that she would take an expedition up along West Greenland for
the Bureau. I had explained to her that one of our greatest troubles was
trying to do something about the auroral zone, because we hadn't been able
to get any data from there, radio conditions there were very special, and
radio transmission across there was difficult and of unique commercial and
military importance. She said, I'll go up there and get you some data: you
detail some of your men to go with me. I will hire a ship and a crew and
take them up for as long as you like. So all one summer our Mr. A. S.
Taylor and Mr. F. R. Gracely, with some of the equipment the laboratory
developed, were on the ship that she took up; they got a lot of data and it
was a great success. This was in 1941, just before we got into the war. The
ship she hired was that of Captain Bob Bartlett who had taken many
voyages in the Greenland region, and had a lot of publicity, and was a very,
very colorful character. He was quite an expert in profanity, even among
seafaring men, so I thought. Miss Boyd said, however, no he wasn't; it was
true that not four words came out of his mouth without at least two being
profane, nevertheless they were always the same words. His vocabulary of
profanity was very limited. Bob Bartlett said at the beginning of one of his
books that women are good luck on land, but bad luck at sea. At the
beginning of this voyage he drew a line on the deck and pointed out: Miss
Boyd, you're that side of the line, and I'm this side of the line. Soon after
this voyage he died.

Miss Boyd was appointed as a consulting expert of the Bureau on a dollar a year basis.
Miss Boyd was the self-appointed leader of the expedition, with Capt. Robert A. Bartlett, the
master of the ship Effie M. Morrissey. The Radio Section had two of its members on board,
3
A. S. Taylor and F. R. Gracely.' Both had taken part in the section's large-scale project on
the study of transmission of radio waves. Others on board included a radio operator detailed
by the Coast Guard, a physician, and 11 crew members.

,J
The Radio Section had given assistance to the Mac Millan Arctic Expedition of 1923-1924 for data handling of the
observations of radio transmissions (see p. 183),

73
Frederick R. Gracely entered the Section on March 19, 1938. He left on July 31, 1944, to join the Ordnance
Development Division, after being associated with wave propagation projects for 6 years.

225
On deck of the Effie M. Morrissey in Long Island Sound on October 29, 1941. This 5-month Greenland expedition
was the 7th into Arctic regions sponsored by Louise A. Boyd (of San Francisco, Calif.) during the period of 1926 to
1941. At the request of NBS, Miss Boyd, for the first time, set a course along the west coast of Greenland and into
the Baffin Bay region. It was the first opportunity by NBS for an extensive study of the ionosphere at Arctic
latitudes
Shown from left to right: Frederick R. Gracely, NBS; Louise A. Boyd; Archer S. Taylor, NBS; and T. A. Carrol,
U.S. Coast Guard radio operator.

The Louise A. Boyd Arctic Expedition sailed from Washington, D.C. on June 11, 1941.
The ship cruised up the west coast of Greenland into the Baffin Bay region, then down the
east coast of Baffin Island and along the coast of Labrador. The expedition returned to
Washington on November 3. On November 14 Miss Boyd addressed the Bureau's scientific
staff on "Arctic Expedition 1941." Three weeks later the United States entered World War
II and Miss Boyd's knowledge and photographs of Greenland and the surrounding regions
would be much valued by the military during the war.
Among the instruments used on the expedition by Taylor and Gracely was the portable
ionosphere recorder developed by Gilliland for the earlier expedition to Brazil to observe the
total eclipse of October 1, 1940. In addition to the recordings of ionosphere heights,
observations were made of radio transmissions from distant stations, of aurora, the Earth's
74,75
magnetism in the arctic region, and the intensity of ultraviolet light in the region.

M
Measurement equipment for the Earth's magnetism was furnished by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism,
Carnegie Institution of Washington; Cornell University supplied a photometer and spectroscope for aurora
observations; the Bureau's Radiometry Section furnished equipment for recording the intensity of ultraviolet light.
" No published account appeared on the results of the scientific observations of the expedition, probably due to the
exigencies of World War II. Two short accounts appeared in the Technical News Bulletin, the first in the July 1941
issue, the second in the December 1941 issue after the return of the expedition.

226
Measurement equipment aboard the Effie M. Morrissey, used by Radio Section personnel to study the ionosphere on
1941 Greenland expedition sponsored and headed by Miss Louise A. Boyd. In foreground is field-intensity receiver
and recorder. At center, the control panel for measurement of Earth s magnetism. Top center, ultraviolet recorder.
A portable ionosphere recorder was included with the equipment.

g) Ionosphere storms
September 18, 1941 — An evening to remember.
Ionosphere storms were first reported by Appleton and his coworkers (England) in 1933
as a result of observations taken during the International Polar Year of 1932-1933. They
found magnetic disturbances at evening and during the night quite the normal condition
rather than the exception at the Observatory of Tromso in northern Norway, as compared
with conditions in England. During their onset, the magnetic disturbances in England were
accompanied by violent fading of radio signals and absence of "echoes" from the ionosphere.
Over a period of 3 years the team of Kirby, Gilliland, Judson, N. Smith, and Reymer
found many evidences of magnetic and ionosphere storms in the recordings taken at the
Meadows field station. Over this period (1935-1938) they reported their observations in four
Letters to the Editor of Physical Review. No concerted study of ionosphere storms was made
by them as a subject per se, but they did study the relationships of magnetic and ionospheric
storms to the general conditions of the ionosphere. No full-fledged paper on ionosphere
storms as a printed publication was prepared by the Radio Section.

227
 1930 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938
3.75 3.75

1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938

Observations of the ionosphere over a period of 9 years by the Radio Section in relation to solar activity and the
accompanying earthbound effects. Correlation of the observed effects was quite evident to researchers of the 1930s.

In their four Letters to the Editor (Physical Review), the team reported they had found
that:

(1) Ionosphere storms, like magnetic storms, consist of two phases, the
firsta turbulent phase, the second a moderate and longer phase, with a
gradual return to normal conditions.
(2) During the disturbed ionosphere conditions the critical frequency of
the daytime F 2 layer is lowered (by as much as one-half, and indicating
a decrease in ionization density) as the virtual height is greatly
increased, thus making for poor signal transmission over a
considerable frequency range.
(3) The storms have their origin in the auroral zone and the effects extend
south to Washington, and in storms of great intensity will extend to
much lower latitudes toward the equator.
Such was the ionosphere storm and the accompanying auroral display experienced in
—
Washington, D.C. on the evening of September 18, 1941 the greatest display ever observed
in the locality [34]. On September 10 a large group of sunspots appeared on the edge of the
Sun's disk. (Solar activity, in terms of sunspot numbers, was on the decline from a
maximum number in 1937 and would reach a minimum in 1944.) By September 17 the group
228
had moved to about the center of the disk (in distance approximately one-quarter of the
Sun's rotation of 27 days), and radio communications began to be disrupted in northeastern
United States and across the Atlantic. Shortly after midnight, and beginning early on
September 18 in the eastern United States, the ionosphere was violently disrupted by a
tremendous burst of electric particles from the Sun. With the coming of evening a brilliant
auroral display was forming in the northern sky at Washington. By 8 p.m. shimmering
shafts of green light came out of the north, east and west across the zenith, and on to the
southern sky. Actually, the streamers were coursing the "lines" of the Earth's magnetic
field which, in Washington, take a somewhat northwest-southeast direction. Shortly after 8
p.m. the intensity of the auroral light began to diminish and by midnight had faded away in
the Washington area. Indeed, it was an evening to remember.
During the 24-hour period that encompassed September 18 the ionosonde recordings
taken at the Meadows field station showed no normal-incidence reflections, indicating a very
abnormal condition of the ionosphere. Radio transmissions were extremely erratic and
much static accompanied the signals. It was a matter of several days, during the period of
the moderate disturbance phase, before transmissions began to approach normal conditions.
As would be expected, the ionospheric disturbance was accompanied by, or associated with,
disturbances of the Earth's magnetism.

h) An early observation of the D layer

In 1935 and 1936 several observers, including
Kirby and E. B. Judson of the Radio
S. S.
Section, reported on evidence of ionosphere layers below 100 km. This would be a region of
low ion density compared to the densities of the upper layers in which, because of high
absorption or penetration or very weak reflection, radio waves would not be observed by the
pulse method at normal incidence. Nevertheless, N. Smith and Kirby did obtain evidence of
such a layer by the method of continuous automatic field intensity recording and reported
their observations in May
1937 in a Letter to the Editor of the Physical Review, stating that:
"The evidence we present is therefore the first proof of the existence of a truly reflecting
76
layer below the E layer" [35]. They found evidence of an ionization layer (called the "D
layer") with a critical frequency of 1040 kHz (in the broadcast band) when observed over a
distance of 480 km. This corresponds to a normal incidence critical frequency of less than
450 kHz and an equivalent electron density of the layer of less than 2.5 X 10 3 per cm 3 .

i ) Observations of the "G layer"

In a paper on studies of the ionosphere first read at the April 27, 1933, meeting of the
International Scientific Radio Union (URSI) at Washington, D.C., Kirby, Berkner, and
Stuart noted their observations of "scattered reflections" at virtual heights generally above
600 km and extending to 1500 km. They published their paper first in the January 1934
issue of the NBS Journal of Research, and later in the Proc. IRE [36].
77

b
On October 13, 1927, E. V. Appleton presented a short paper before the URSI General Assembly at Washington,
entitled "The existence of more than one ionized layer in the upper atmosphere" (Scientific Papers of the General
Assembly of URSI, Washington, D.C., October 1927; Vol. 1, Part 1, July 1928, Brussels). Appleton's experimental
observations in England, taken during the period of October 1926 to May 1927, indicated the existence of two
—
ionized layers, which he termed the E and F layers see footnote 5. During a part of the daylight period he also
observed a third layer, below the E layer, which he called the D layer. On this third layer he stated:

As the day further proceeds the experimental results show that another region of ionization (D
layer) formed below the Kennelly-Heaviside layer, which, while causing attenuation of the
is

waves, does not materially affect the height at which they are deviated. Occasionally "reflected"
waves are detected from this layer. Its main function is, however, to absorb the waves which are
only slightly bent in passing through it, and which are finally deviated by Layer E.

Interestingly, in a review paper of his experimental studies of the ionosphere, published in 1932, Appleton does not
mention the D layer.
"Observations were made in frequency steps over a range of 400 to 12,000 kHz. The reflections at these great
heights were of small and variable amplitude, and of rapid variation through small ranges of the several virtual
heights. The authors described the observed effect as "rapidly popping in and out at various heights."

The authors indicated that what they observed was possibly the same phenomenon as that described by A. H.
Taylor and L. C. Young (Naval Research Laboratory) in the May 1928 issue of the Proc. IRE. However, Taylor and
Young essentially dismissed the possibility of an ionized layer at about 1400 km as an explanation for echo effects
in long distance transmission.

229
 On the occasion of another meeting, a year later, this time the Ninth Annual
Convention of the I.R.E. (May 28-30, 1934), Kirby and E. B. Judson presented a paper
entitled, "Recent Studies of the Ionosphere." In the presentation they characterized the
different layers of the ionosphere, based upon information gathered from their observations
beginning June 1933. In the abstract for their presentation (published in advance for the
May 28-30 Convention in the May 1934 issue of the Proc. IRE) they stated, in describing
reflecting layers, that:

. . . The E and F 2 layers, and another, which we tentatively call the G

layer, with a virtual height between 700 and 800 kilometers, are believed to
78
return the radio waves by reflection.

A year later Kirby and Judson published their paper in the April 1935 issue of the NBS
Journal of Research, and later in the July 1935 issue of the Proc. IRE [37]. 79

3. Predicting ionospheric behavior — The ionosphere a useful medium of

communication
In his address to the staff at the Boulder Laboratories on March 3, 1961, on the occasion
of the 60th Anniversary of the Bureau, Dr. Bellinger stated:

IfI were suddenly forced to answer the invidious question, "What was the

most outstanding of all the Bureau's radio achievements in these fifty

—
years?" it is indeed hard to choose but I might very well say it was the
80,81
propagation prediction and warning service. . . .

If there remains some doubt that the propagation prediction and warning service was the
outstanding achivement in radio by the Bureau, certainly it would rank equal with any
other achievement.

a) The problem with a global solution

The Annual Report of the Radio Section for FY 1935 stated that:

A beginning was made in the application of the ionosphere data in the

determination of optimum frequencies to be used in practical radio
communication at specific times and distances.
This statement referred to a rather singular, and certainly a significant, set of events that
took place in the preceding fall (1934). Early in October 1934, the Radio Section received a

Within a period of about 2 months Kirby and Judson was published in the May 1934 issue of
after the abstract by
the Proc. IRE. Harry Rowe Mimno
Harvard University published a short paper in the July 14, 1934, issue of
of
Nature in which he described his observations of G and H reflections. He placed the G reflections at an effective
height of approximately 600 km, and the H reflections between 1100 and 1800 km. Mimno's paper, entitled
"Wireless Echoes from Regions above the F Layers," was dated May 14, 1934.

Author's (WFS) comment: It is an unusual coincidence that the paper of several years work, published by Mimno in
the July 14, 1934, issue of Nature, was dated May 14, 1934, at approximately the same time the abstract of Kirby
and Judson appeared in print in the May 1934 issue of the Proc. IRE.
19
Kirby and Judson stated in their paper, referring to the newly observed layer above the F 2 layer, that:

We have tentatively called this the G layer. . . .

G-layer reflections were observed at frequencies above the F2 critical frequencies, especially
during the summer evenings but also during the fall evenings.
K
" "Dellinger Address, 1961"— Radio File.
K1
Dellinger concluded his statement by saying:

I will suggest another possible answer before I finish. (To which he added later), I think I could

even go on to conclude that the most outstanding achievement of the Bureau's fifty years in
radio has been the basic establishment of radio science, along with electronics and its other
powerful offshoots, in our civilization. . . .

The term "radio science" could have been construed to mean the entire scope of propagation, or an even
greater scope, that of the entire field of radio from the scientific and technological approach. Just what Dellinger
may have had in mind at the time of his address is now a moot question.

230
letterfrom the Superintendent of Communications of American Airlines, Inc. of Chicago, 111.

requesting a possible explanation:

which might account for the apparent difference in communicating with

aircraft on essentially the same frequencies in the southwestern and
northeastern parts of the United States, and assuming that there is some
logical reason for this when may we expect an improvement in the present
82
condition?

The letter, addressed to Dr. Dellinger as Secretary of the Liaison Committee on

Aeronautical Radio Research (Department of Commerce), was received by the Radio Section
while he was on an extensive European trip.
It was under these circumstances that Gilliland took immediate steps in search of an

explanation for the serious situation that American Airlines was encountering with ground-
to-ground station and ground-to-plane communications on the Chicago-Newark route.
Within 10 days, on October 16 (1934), a report was prepared by Gilliland to be sent to
American Airlines explaining the cause of the failure of communications. The report was
entitled "Application of ionospheric measurements to a practical radio communication
83
problem." The information contained in this report appeared, almost in its entirety, as a
portion of a Bureau publication by Gilliland 5 months later, and later as an IRE publication
[38]. The 6 years of observations and recordings of the ionosphere by the Radio Section had
suddenly and unexpectedly borne fruit in explaining a serious communication problem

82
Letter, Airlines, Inc. to Dellinger, Oct. 4, 1934, and associated correspondence (NARG 167, 1934 IDS-IG,
American
Box F General Correspondence). The letter received from American Airlines, Inc. had been preceded by an
373,
earlier letter, dated September 26, 1934, sent by American Airlines, Inc. to the firm of Aeronautical Radio, Inc.
(though not indicated, this company probably supplied the radio equipment). In the first letter it was related that
signals at the communication frequency of 3257.5 kHz were skipping very badly in the previous 3 weeks as received
in Newark, N.J. from stations along the Chicago-Newark route. Reception was exceptionally bad between midnight
and 4:30 a.m. Also, at certain periods it was impossible for these ground stations to communicate with the
airplanes. In contrast, signals on nearly the same frequency of 3232.5 kHz had remained relatively good throughout
the night on the route between Fort Worth and Los Angeles, in southwestern United States. To alleviate the
situation of communication with planes on the Chicago-Newark route, ground stations on the Nashville-Fort Worth
route were being used to communicate with planes on the Chicago-Newark route. There was substantial evidence
that the assigned frequency of 3257.5 kHz was gradually becoming ineffective with time in northeastern United
States.
H1
In his report (Radio File) Gilliland prepared two tables of data and five figures, plus a discussion, to explain the
cause of communication failure and to suggest a remedy. From tabulated data a graph was prepared that showed
the decrease of the F layer extraordinary ray critical frequencies at Washington, D.C. during the night from 11 p.m.
to 5 a.m. for the period of September 11-30 in 1933 and in 1934. However, there was evidence that the critical
frequency was increasing in 1934 and was following the trend of the sunspot curve, but at that time the Radio
Section was hesitant to predict the trend in advance for lack of extensive observations in point of time. During the
several previous years the critical frequencies had been decreasing with time as a result of decreasing solar
activity. With the aid of another graph it was possible to determine the distance from the transmitter within which
signals would not be received from the propagated sky wave, and within which only the ground wave would be
received and at relatively short distances from the transmitter. Another set of curves showed that the critical
frequencies decrease rapidly near midnight until dawn during the summer months in contrast to the winter
months.
Gilliland corralled enough information from the section's ionosphere recordings that he was able to state and
thereby suggest to American Airlines:

The results of this study show that at times night transmission over short distances at a
frequency of 3257.5 kc/s pass through the ionosphere and are lost from the earth. The results
also indicate that a lower frequency such as 2750 kc/s passes through the ionosphere at a given
angle a much smaller percentage of the time. It would be necessary to go below 2500 kc/s to
obtain practically complete freedom from skipping.

Gilliland was not able to refer the airlines company to publications on the subject. He said: "There are no
publications in the literature which bear directly on this problem." This was a new field and pioneering steps
needed to be taken. He did refer the company to some publications by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
that had a bearing on the general subject of radio telephone communications.
For lack of ionosphere observations beyond the Washington area in 1933 and 1934, Gilliland was not able to
explain the reasonable success in communications that American Airlines was having on its route in southwestern
United States and not in the northeast (where the observations at Washington were reasonably applicable). Yet
there appeared to be ample evidence from operation of the communication systems that ionosphere conditions
differed over the two areas.

231
where life and property were at stake in the flights of planes. Thus was the very beginning
of what was eventually to develop into a propagation prediction service of global
proportions.
In his published paper Gilliland made several significant statements relating to future
use of ionosphere data that the Radio Section had been, and would be, gathering and
studying. He stated:

Although the results obtained give a considerable part of the whole cross
section it is desirable to extend the present system so that all of the critical
frequencies will be obtained for the 24 hours. When more complete
information of this type is available for different parts of the world and
when the results are compared with actual transmission data a more
complete understanding of sky-wave transmission should follow.

. . . World-wide information will be necessary for an intelligent allocation

of frequencies to be used in different types of service.

And so the trend of events took such a course in the years to follow,

b ) Investigating the ionosphere for the FBI

Beginning in the summer of 1935, at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), the Radio Section conducted a series of tests over a period of 1 year to determine the
feasibility of voice transmission from a transmitter at Washington, D.C. to cover the entire
United States (exclusive of territorial areas). The purposes for which a single transmission
would be used appear to have been veiled at the time and today remain in limbo. By 1935
enough had been learned of the ionosphere by the Radio Section that coverage of the
country with a single transmitter was possible by judicious selection of frequencies for
different periods of the day and year.
Station WWV
at Beltsville, Md. was used as the test transmitter with voice
transmission at 1-kW radiated output (on occasion 15 kW of power were used). Daytime
transmissions were made at 5000, 10,000 and 15,000 kHz; nighttime transmissions at 4200
and 6800 kHz. At four periods during the year of testing, intelligibility tests were conducted
by transmissions from
83
WWV
and by observation of transmissions from other stations at
various frequencies.
As a result of the testing program, the Radio Section stated in its Report to the FBI of
August 28, 1936, that:
... A radio broadcasting service from Washington, receivable at all times
throughout the United States, can be provided by the use of a radio

*4
In reporting on the project the Bureau's Annual Report of 1936 to the Secretary of Commerce stated:

. .Special experiments were made for the Federal Bureau of Investigation on voice
.

broadcasting to cover the entire United States from a single station. Preliminary results
indicated that the proposed system would be a success.
85
Voice intelligibility tests were of two kinds: one conducted by the Bureau, using observers at locations spread over
the country listening to WWV; the other, listening to distant stations at night by observers of the Radio Section
and the FBI. The WWV
transmission tests were made at four periods, on 4 days in September, December 1935, and
March, June 1936. Fifty unrelated polysyllable words were used, to be observed on special report forms prepared
and furnished by the Bureau to observers around the country. As many as 435 observers in 193 localities during
one of the testing periods turned in reports from which was determined the intelligibility of each report. The
information was condensed to graphs that showed the percent intelligibility at distances out to 2400 miles at the
four seasons on the five frequencies.
Listening tests of distant stations conducted by observers of the Radio Section (at the Meadows field station)
and by the FBI (at downtown Washington headquarters) brought up a number of problems of grouping, scaling,
weighting, and averaging the data. All tests were made between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on stations above
1500 kHz. During the 4-hour period the observer would log in as many stations as he could identify and was able to
judge the intelligibility on a 5-point scale. The final format was in the form of graphs that summarized the
observations. One set delineated the weighted intelligibility in four frequency bands centered around 1700, 2500,
6000, and 9500 kHz for each month of the year's period, for stations out to 4000 miles (European stations at the
greatest distances). Best listening was found to be in the band around 6000 kHz, although the band around 9500
kHz was superior at long distances. Continuous field intensity records taken in these bands indicated their relative
usefulness for the purpose involved in the investigation.

232
 transmitter having a range from about 2500 to 20,000 kilocycles and
capable of broadcasting on two radio frequencies simultaneously (one to
cover areas near Washington by a ground wave, the other to cover the most
—
distant parts of the country by a sky wave Author). The transmitter could
be in either one or two units; its power should be 50 to 100 kilowatts.
Authority should be obtained to use about eight different frequencies. The
station management would have to be guided by accumulated experience
and knowledge of radio transmission in selecting the two frequencies to be
used at different times of the day, different seasons, etc. . . .

The report pointed out the desirability or necessity of locating the receivers at quiet
locations, preferably outside of cities, in order to minimize interference from man-made
static.
As a suggestion to the FBI the report stated:

It therefore appears that transmission frequencies near the maximum

useful frequency for a given path are advantageous. In determining the
best frequency to use one can be guided by radio transmission data and
ionosphere data. . . .

Thus the Radio Section an early time was giving valuable information to others on the
at
communication medium.
efficient utilization of the ionosphere as a
The FBI project was a team effort by the Radio Section. Progress reports referred to the
project as "High-frequency radio telephone broadcasting." Those participating in the
section's study were: J. H. Dellinger, E. L. Hall, S. S. Kirby, W. D. George, N. Smith, G. H.
Lester, E. M. Zandonini, and V. E. Heaton. Hundreds of radio listeners in the United States
participated in the intelligibility tests.
The information that was acquired, although quite interesting and certainly of value
during the early years in utilizing the ionosphere, was never published. It was, however, a
significant input to the work leading to an understanding of distance ranges, noise, and
ionospheric absorption. Nor was the FBI project developed into an operating system.

c) Enter Newbern Smith

On August 1, 1935, Newbern Smith entered the Radio Section, coming from a physicist's
position in Philadelphia.
He was assigned to the projects on transmission of radio waves (at the time designated
as "Character and cause of variations of radio wave intensity") and the ionosphere (at the
time designated as "Study of height of ionosphere layers"), both projects being directed by S.
S. Kirby. For the next 7 years Dr. Smith became much involved in studies of the ionosphere.
During the war years of 1942-1945 Smith took a promiment role in organizing and
administering the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) to develop and operate
a worldwide propagation prediction service (see ch. XI). Upon organization of the Central
Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) on May 1, 1946, Smith was selected as assistant chief
of the new division. On the retirement of Dellinger in 1948 Smith became chief of CRPL. He
resigned from the position early in 1954 to take a teaching position at the University of
Michigan and to engage in extensive research programs. Smith was the author and coauthor
of many publications relating to the ionosphere and became a recognized authority in the
field.

d) A SERVICE TO THE RADIO AMATEUR

In the May
1937 issue of QST, the well-known periodical of the American Radio Relay
League, appeared a short article by which Newbern Smith introduced the radio amateur to
a method of calculating the distance to which radio signals could be transmitted by the sky
wave [39]. With the title of "Skip-distance calculation," the paper bore the subtitle "Rapid
graphical determination of secant of angle of incidence." Smith introduced a chart that
could be used to determine the frequency to select, for a desired distance of transmission,
that had a certain relation to the frequency of a wave at normal incidence to an ionosphere
layer of a known vertical height (this information being obtained from the Bureau through
weekly publication or radio broadcast).

233
 With the graph, based upon the "secant law," and a straight edge, the secant of the
angle of incidence of the sky wave to the normal to the ionosphere layer(s) could be
85
determined. The frequency at normal incidence multiplied by the secant value gave the
frequency to be used for the desired distance of transmission. The graph also indicated the
maximum distance for a single hop of the sky wave for zero angle of elevation from the
surface of the Earth. The chart and method of calculation had been used for some time by
the Radio Section. Later charts showed the single-hop distance at a number of elevation
angles. Many improvements and more accurate methods of calculating transmission
distance, skip distances, and the selection of effective frequencies were to be advanced by
the section during the next several years.
Three years later, beginning with the September 1940 issue of QST, Newbern Smith
and S. S. Kirby initiated a series on "Predictions of useful distances for amateur
communication" at 3-month intervals. The series continued until concluding with the
January 1942 issue, a month after the Pearl Harbor incident. The names N. Smith and S. S.
Kirby appeared as authors in the first issue. Thereafter the source of the predictions was
designated as the "National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C.."
The amateur was now furnished with far more information than could be obtained from
87
the chart of 1937. The later charts were very easy to read for minimum and maximum
distances of readable signals at a selected frequency and at a selected time of day and
month.

e ) Ionospheric information to the Nation

The Bureau was not slow in disseminating information the Radio Section had been
gathering on the ionosphere beginning early in 1929. Fortunately, concurrent with
Gilliland's increasing observations of the ionosphere, a cosmic data disseminating service for
the United States was being initiated by the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI).
This service, by radio broadcasting and a weekly publication, began August 1, 1930,
following by 2 years a similar service by URSI in France.

1 ) URSIgrams
Beginning on June 1, 1931, the Bureau entered into a cooperative program with URSI
to supply information on the ionosphere for broadcasting and weekly publication the first —
publication of regular observations. This was at a time when the Radio Section had its pulse
transmitter at the Potomac Yards field facility near Alexandria, Va., and the receiver and
recording equipment at the Kensington, Md. field facility. The continuous recorder was still
in the stage of development, and the field facilities at Beltsville and Meadows, Md. were 2
years away. Broadcasting of the information was from the Navy station at Arlington, Va.,
and publication of URSIgrams by Science Service, Washington, as well as in the quarterly
issues of Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity.

w
'The elements of the "secant law" and of skip distance and angle of incidence of a propagated wave with the
normal to the ionosphere layers go back to the paper by Breit and Tuve of 1926 [4].
K7
The amateur bands could easily be read from curves on three groups of
useful distances of communication in the
charts, a group for each of 3 months in advance of the publication date. Four or five charts made up each group,
each chart for a frequency in the amateur bands of 2, 4, 7, 14, and 28 MHz. From a chart selected for the month of
interest and a selected frequency, one could easily read the range of minimum and maximum distances of predicted
transmission in terms of local time at place of reflection from the ionosphere. The curves formed boundaries to the
chart areas that indicated skip distances, useful distances, and distances where signals were not readable due to
absorption in the ionosphere. Time of sunrise and sunset were indicated. The charts were very simple to read for
prediction of useful distances. Beginning with the April 1941 issue, information was added that indicated the
difference in useful distances betwen readable signals from CW and phone transmitters.
88
URSIgrams or URSI cosmic data broadcasts had their origin in France in 1928 as an operation of URSI. In 1929 a
program was set up by a special joint committee of the American Section of URSI and the American Geophysical
Union to arrange for the daily broadcast of cosmic data by a Government radio station. Serving on this committee
were Dellinger and L. W. Austin (of the Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission Research, located at the
Bureau). On June 1, 1931, information on the ionosphere was added to the cosmic data for solar constant,
terrestrial magnetism, and auroras. The information supplied under the code name KHL (Kennelly-Heaviside
Layer) included: the place of observation as Washington, D.C. (U.S. Bureau of Standards) or Medford, Mass. (Tufts
College), the frequency, day of the week, nearest hour of observation in Greenwich time, and height of the
Kennelly-Heaviside layer in kilometers. All this information was coded for the URSIgrams and transmitted daily
by the Navy station, NAA, Arlington, at 5 p.m. standard time on frequencies of 12,040 and 4015 kHz [40].

234
2) Letter Circulars

The Letter Circular (from 1921) performed yeoman service in the disseminating of
technical information by the Bureau, and was much used as a publication vehicle by th
Radio Section. On May 5, 1937, the Radio Section brought out its first of a series of thre<
Letter Circulars relating directly to the ionosphere, the first, LC499, with the title "The
weekly radio broadcast of the National Bureau of Standards on the ionosphere and radio
transmission conditions." This first issue announced the beginning of broadcasting
information on the ionosphere by station WWV.
89 90
'

The second Letter Circular (LC575), issued several years later (Dec. 9, 1939), was titled,
"The ionosphere and radio transmission conditions, with special reference to the observing
and reporting service of the National Bureau of Standards." A third Letter Circular (LC614)
came out in October 1940, and was titled, "Radio transmission and the ionosphere." 91

3) Broadcasts by WWV
The Bureau on ionosphere information on June 1, 1937,
initiated a broadcasting service
over station WWV at Beltsville, Md. The
broadcasts were on a weekly schedule
first
(Wednesday) in the early afternoon on three frequencies in succession. These early
broadcasts gave the normal-incidence critical frequencies and virtual heights of the E layer
and F 2 layer at Washington at noon on the day of the broadcast, and the estimated skip
distances for a number of frequencies. Unusual conditions during the preceding week, such
as magnetic storms, were described briefly. The weekly broadcasts were discontinued at the
end of April 1940 (see footnote 89).
On January 9, 1946, broadcasting was resumed from WWV
on warnings of expected
disturbances in radio propagation across the North Atlantic. Prediction services were now
available in monthly publications and in greater detail than could be handled by
broadcasting. On July 1, 1952, broadcasts of 12-hour conditions in the auroral zone over the
North Atlantic were initiated. The quality of transmission was given in terms of nine
conditions ranging from "impossible" to "excellent." Early in 1952 forecasts of conditions in
the North Pacific and Alaska were initiated at the NBS Radio Propagation Field Station,
Anchorage, Alaska. This was followed in January 1954 by the broadcast service provided by
station WWVHon the Island of Maui, Territory of Hawaii.
Stations WWV (now at Ft. Collins, Colo.) and WWVH
(now on Island of Kauai, Hawaii)
continue to be used for information on radio propagation. Short-term propagation forecasts
for the North Atlantic area are given on an hourly schedule by voice and are prepared by

(Continued)
The American URSIgrams for publication were compiled by Science Service (The Institution for the
—
Popularization of Science, organized in 1921 a non-profit corporation) of Washington, D.C. The URSIgrams were
prepared weekly in mimeograph form for distribution. Science Service also informed newspapers on the occurrence
of unusual cosmic phenomena. The information was also noted in Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric
Electricity, beginning with the September 1931 issue.
Today, the older American URSIgram has taken on an international flavor and has become embodied with
International URSIgram and World Days Service (IUWDS).* The "telegrams" are broadcast by stations WWV and
WWVH.
'The IUWDS is a service of URSI in association with the International Astronomical Union and the International
Union for Geodesy and Geophysics.
89
Broadcasts by the Bureau of information on the ionosphere were announced in the letter circular as beginning on
June 1, 1937, using three frequencies (5, 10, and 20 MHz) of WWV. The weekly broadcasts were made each
Wednesday, beginning at 1:30 p.m., broadcasting at each frequency for 10 minutes.
The letter circular gave a description of the ionosphere and the application of this information to radio
transmission. An accompanying chart could be used to determine the ratio of maximum usable frequency to
normal-incidence critical frequency.

'"'Before the broadcasts by WWV, information on ionosphere conditions had been mailed periodically in

mimeograph form to other laboratories and radio stations requesting such information.
91
The two later publications contained much material added to the first circular. During the 3 years the Wave
Phenomena Group of the Radio Section had learned how to use the ionosphere effectively for radio transmission
and how to predict its characteristics several months in advance. The effects of ionosphere irregularities, such as
sporadic E-layer transmission and the sudden ionosphere disturbances, were described. By now a fairly extensive
literature on characteristics of the ionosphere could be included as a useful bibliography.

235
the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, National Telecommunications and
Information Administration, Boulder, Colo. Geoalerts of solar and geophysical information
are also on an hourly schedule by voice and are prepared by the Space Environment
Services Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, Colo.
Storm warnings for mariners plying the Pacific Ocean are broadcast three times each
hour, with the information updated every 6 hours.

4) The IRE posts the Bureau's ionospheric information — Initiation of a service

The IRE
provided another vehicle of extensive circulation for the publication of
Proc.
ionospheric information. The initial number in a series of monthly publications that
extended over a period of 4 years appeared in the issue of September 1937. It bore the title,
"Characteristics of the ionosphere at Washington, D.C., January to May 1937," and was the
92
contribution of T. R. Gilliland, S. S. Kirby, N. Smith, and S. E. Reymer. This number
followed by 4 months the first publication in QST of ionospheric information, started
primarily for use by the radio amateur (see p. 233). Information in these early issues was
presented by a graph that summarized the monthly averages, for each of the 24 hours of the
day, of the critical frequencies and virtual heights for the E, F and F 2 layers. Time of ;
,

sunrise and sunset was indicated. This information was supplemented by transmission data
from field-intensity recordings. By studying the two types of observations in combination,
the Radio Section was able to identify the layer that was effective at a given time, and thus
compute the best usable frequency for transmission. Data on fadeouts were given in tabular
form that gave date, time of beginning of fadeout, beginning of recovery and time of
complete recovery, location of transmitter, and minimum signal intensity in fractions of
normal.
A press notice was released on February 17, 1939, by the Department of Commerce,
entitled "Quality of Wireless Reception Can Now be Forecast, National Bureau of
93
Standards, Department of Commerce, Announces." Although not stated in the
announcement, the notice was referring to a portion of an article that was to appear in the
March 1939 issue of the Proc. IRE, entitled "Characteristics of the ionosphere at
94,90
Washington, D.C., January 1939," prepared by Gilliland, Kirby, and Smith. For 2 years

:,J
The September 1937 issue actually contained three separate articles under the same title, except for the
designated months covered by the "characteristics;" the first article was for the period January through May, the
second for June, and the third for July. Beginning with the October issue, each article covered the characteristics
for the month of 2 months past. Thus the October issue covered the month of August.
a,!
A portion of the news release read:

New methods which can be directly applied by the radio engineer in his choice
of securing data
of frequencies forany communication job have been announced by the National Bureau of
Standards, Department of Commerce.

An "ionosphere" reporting service, somewhat similar to weather reporting services, though quite
independent of it, is being successfully conducted by the Bureau of Standards, according to Dr. J.
H. Dellinger, Chief of the Bureau's radio section.

The Bureau of Standards has, as a result of its successful experiments, established an ionosphere
reporting service. It gives data, weekly and monthly, obtained from its charting of the
ionosphere, which assists in the predetermination of radio transmission conditions. Such service
is some respects like the weather reporting service. The reliability of ionosphere prediction
in
willprobably surpass that of weather because the controlling factors are somewhat better known
and more uniform, according to Dr. Dellinger.
M
'

The concluding paragraph stated:

This report inaugurates a new service, forecasting of radio transmission data for the month
following the one in which this report is published. Fig. 4 gives the expected monthly average
values of the maximum usable frequencies for radio communication by way of the regular layers,
for April 1939. These estimates had to be made three months in advance. They are based on the
observed trends of the critical frequencies in the eleven-year solar cycle and information on
diurnal and seasonal variations accumulated over a period of several years. It is believed that
the estimates will be accurate within fifteen per cent, for undisturbed days.

Note: Fig. 4 was captioned "Predicted maximum usable frequencies for sky-wave radio transmission; average for
April 1939 for undisturbed days, for dependable transmission by the regular F and F 2 layers." Plotted, was a series
of curves with dependable transmission distance via sky waves as a parameter, with maximum usable frequency

236
this team had been reporting on the characteristics of the ionosphere at Washington, D.C
the Proc. IRE, the report appearing several months after the ionospheric events (
(previous) month's duration. Beginning in the March 1939 issue, there would be the
material of forecasting of radio transmission data for the following month (April 193
Although the press release was probably initially prepared by Dellinger, it is odd that
word "Wireless" appeared in the title of the release. Dellinger had suggested the term's
disuse in 1911, 28 years before (see ch. II, p. 42). Announced to the public on this occasion was
a technical service on forecasting the characteristics of a transmission medium (the iono-
sphere) that continues to the present time, first by NBS, then by the Environmental Science
Services Administration (1965-1970), and now by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration.
Beginning with the December 1939 issue, prediction of the maximum usable frequency
for various skip distances for the following month was given in graphical form. Also
reviewed was the same information plus a graph of critical frequencies and virtual heights
of the several layers, for the month of 2 months past. By now data on ionosphere storms
were added, including an estimate of severity on a numerical scale. With the country's
entrance into World War II, publication was discontinued after the December 1941
predictions for January and February 1942.

f) Predicting the maximum usable frequency

Intensive study of the ionosphere by several British groups and by the Bureau,
beginning in the late 1920's and on into the 1930's, was slowly revealing an understanding of
the complexity of the ionosphere. The twofold acquisition of recordings at the Meadows field
—
station field intensity recordings of distant stations and vertical-incidence readings of the
—
ionosphere was studied for sought-out relations between transmission and characteristics
of the ionosphere. Thus we find the Radio Section ready to report on its most recent study of
the relations in the spring of 1936.

1 ) A team reports on correlation between ionosphere and radio transmission

At one of the many Washington, D.C. of the American Section of

joint meetings in
URSI and the IRE, this on 1, Mayteam of N. Smith, S. S. Kirby, and T. R.
1936, the
Gilliland presented a paper entitled, "Recent correlations between the ionosphere and high-
frequency radio transmission." Unknown to those of the team at the time, this oft-referred-
to presentation became the nucleus of a series of publications by the Radio Section during
the next several years (see pp. 201-202). The field intensity recordings of several years taken
of two radio stations, one at 6060 kHz and 650 km distance, the other at 9570 kHz and 600
km distance from Washington, had been examined by N. Smith for careful study of these
transmissions in relation to that of virtual heights and critical frequencies taken from
vertical-incidence measurements. The result was the finding of correlations that indicated
definite transmission of sky-waves from the E region, from the F region, or simultaneously
from both regions.

2) Relating the useful frequencies of transmission to vertical-incidence measurements

It was Newbern Smith of the team who embarked on a method of extending the
measurements to the "geometry" of
vertical-incidence (normal incidence to the ionosphere)
oblique-incidence transmission. In the July 1937 issue of the NBS Journal of Research, a

plottedin local time at place of reflection. The information was applicable, in general, to the latitude of
Washington, D.C, although not specifically stated as such.
95
More than a year after the press release, the NBS Technical News Bulletin (TNB) reported in the June 1940 issue
somewhat indirectly the Bureau's provision of a service on the forecasting of radio transmissions via the
ionosphere. At a meeting of the American Section of the International Scientific Radio Union at Washington. D.C,
April 26, 1940, Newbern Smith presented a paper on the prediction of ionospheric characteristics. TNB reported:

The forecasting of monthly average values for ionospheric and radio conditions was undertaken
at the Bureau Beginning in the March 1939 issue of the Proceedings of the Institute of
last year.
Radio Engineers, the Bureau has published each month, in addition to past observed values,
predicted values for the month following that of publication. Because of the necessary lag in
publication procedure, the predictions had to be made 3 months in advance.

237
 —

type of "transmission curve" (specific condition of frequency and distance) was shown as
developed by Smith which, when superimposed upon a frequency-virtual height curve,
would give directly information on limiting frequency and skip distance as well as height of
reflection from the ionosphere [41]. The method was based on consideration of a flat Earth
and flat ionosphere. This method was used during the 1936-1937 period in preparing data for
the WWV
broadcasts of information relating to radio transmission and the ionosphere. It
was a method of deriving maximum usable frequencies from vertical-incidence
96
measurements.

% The term "maximum usable frequency (muf)" was introduced by Smith into the Bureau publications at this
period.* It first appeared in a paper by Gilliland, Kirby, Smith, and Reymer that was published 1 month earlier
(June 1937) than Smith's paper noted above [42]. The term "maximum usable frequency" was to become a
household expression thereafter in the writings of the Radio Section and its successor the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory; later, more often written as "MUF."
The June 1937 paper, entitled "Characteristics of the ionosphere and their application to radio transmission,"
summed up the observations and interpretations of data from early 1934 on. In addition to observing the recurrence
from year to year of the diurnal and seasonal variations of the critical frequencies and virtual heights of the
ionosphere layer, the team also noted a continuous long-time increase of critical frequencies associated with the 11-
year sunspot cycle (maximum in 1937). By now the Radio Section had a fairly good grasp on an understanding of
the effects that absorption, virtual height, and critical frequency, have on sky-wave transmission. The team
expressed its interpretation of these effects to considerable length in the June 1937 paper.

*The maximum usable frequency for any distance is defined as the highest frequency which can be used for sky-
wave transmission over the given distance. Waves of higher frequencies penetrate through the ionosphere and are
not returned to the Earth; waves of lower frequencies are reflected and are usable for transmission over the
selected distance.
A comparable term, that of "maximum transmission frequency," had been used on one occasion in the paper
by Gilliland, Kirby, Smith, and Reymer.

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2 3 4 5 6 7 10 II

VERTICAL - INCIDENCE FREQUENCY - Mc/s

Earliest published (July 1937) transmission curves by NBS for determination of frequency for selected distances of
transmission (assuming flat Earth and flat ionosphere). In a generalized form, this whole procedure by Newbern
Smith shows the various relationships. The solid curve is a typical normal-incidence observation of virtual height
vs. frequency, showing the E and
F, layers of the ionosphere. The dotted curves depict conditions of transmission
for various frequencies and IV depicts maximum possible frequency for a
several distances. For example, curve
given distance. Adoption of this method became valuable for predicting median values of maximum usable
frequency for propagation over any path at any time of day for several months ahead, and provided for world
charts during World War II for predictions.

3) Toward a more exact relationship

In his paper of July 1937 Smith was quite aware of the effect of the Earth's curvature
(including that of the ionosphere) on distant transmission, also the effect of the Earth's
magnetic field on ionosphere transmission (as based on the ray theory), however small or
considerable the effects might be. His extensive treatment of the effects of the Earth's
curvature was published about a year later (May 1938) [43]. Analysis showed that the

238
Earth's curvature causes the maximum usable frequency to be higher than that calculated
by the flat-earth approach. To take into account the curvature of the Earth and ionosphe*
Smith modified his previous method, which resulted in considerably greater but mor
correct readings of the limiting frequency of transmission, or maximum usable frequencj
for the greater distances of transmission.
It had been known for more than 10 years that the Earth's magnetic field could affect

the transmission of waves in the ionosphere. Experimentally, this was found to occur in the
F layer, producing what came to be called the ordinary and extraordinary wave components.
Smith took this into account by plotting with two transmission curves, one for the ordinary
wave, the other for the extraordinary wave.
Further refinement of the transmission-curve method of determining the maximum
usable frequency took into account the absorption effect in a layer below the one in which
reflection occurs. In addition, Smith added sophistication to his earlier "secant-law" chart
published in QST (see pp. 233-234) by adding curves for a number of angles of departure and
arrival of the radiated wave. All of these refinements added to the closer agreement of
observations in the study of correlation of radio transmission with ionosphere
97
measurements.

4) Smith writes for readers of "Proc. IRE"

Newbern Smith's paper of May 1939, published in the Proc. IRE, entitled "The relation
of radio sky-wave transmission to ionosphere measurements," is a much quoted one in
various areas relating to the ionosphere, and particularly that of "maximum usable
frequencies" [45]. In this paper Smith combined and condensed the material that appeared
in his two previous papers on the same subject matter that were published in the NBS
Journal of Research.

5) Smith and the "Lorentz polarization term"

A paper, somewhat of a sequel to his other papers on maximum usable frequency, was
written by Smith and published in the February 1941 issue of the NBS Journal of Research,
with the title, "Oblique-incidence radio transmission and the Lorentz polarization term." He
was able to show from experimental evidence, obtained from maximum usable frequency
measurements, that the constant in the equation of the Lorentz force on an electron by an
electromagnetic wave in the ionosphere is zero, as postulated by the Sellmeyer theory,
rather than a value of one-third as postulated by the Lorentz theory. This difference
between the two theories had been discussed in ionosphere circles for 10 years.

91
paper of a somewhat corollary nature was published in the same issue of the NBS Journal of Research (May
A
1938) as Smith's paper. Again, it was a publication by the team of Gilliland, Kirby, Smith, and Reymer [44].

Vertical-incidence ionosphere measurements for the months of March, June, and December (equinoctial, summer,
and winter conditions) during the period of 1933-1937 were transformed to graphs by the method devised by Smith
to indicate the maximum usable frequencies for specific ionosphere conditions and transmission distance.
Information to be gained from these graphs was applicable at latitudes differing not too widely from
Washington, D.C. The authors briefly treated the transmission characteristics of reflections from the sporadic E
layer, absorption of wave energy in the E layer, and scattered reflections from the highest levels of the ionosphere.
The importance and influence of the project can be ascertained by quoting directly from the authors' paper:

For practical applications the principal value of these graphs is to estimate transmission
conditions in the future either diurnally, seasonally, or over longer periods. the diurnal and
. . .

seasonal characteristics are regular and may in general be predicted. In addition, there is a large
variation of ionization densities with the 11-year sunspot cycle, as indicated by the increase of
maximum usable frequencies from 1933 to 1937. At the end of the year 1937 the sunspot cycle
was near a maximum and is expected to return to a maximum about 1944. In a rough way these

graphs may be used for corresponding times on the descending part of the sunspot cycle.
w This paper appeared were presented at a joint meeting of URSI and IRE in
3 years after portions of it

Washington, D.C, May 1, around 1930, the published papers of

1936. (See p. 237). Following a custom, beginning
this presentation would have appeared in both the NBS Journal of Research and the Proc. IRE. Although this
rather unusual procedure of publication in more than one periodical continued for some years, it was dropped at
the time Smith was preparing his paper(s) as a printed record for the presentation on May 1, 1936. Thereafter
appeared his two papers in the NBS Journal of Research, and the subsequent paper in the Proc. IRE that combined
and condensed the two NBS publications. Probably because of its condensation into one paper, and also its greater
reading audience, it is the paper that was published in the Proc. IRE that is usually quoted.

239
 Smith concluded that:

For the cases considered in this paper, the data indicate that the Lorentz
polarization term should not be included in the theory of oblique-incidence
radio transmission by way of the ionosphere.

With the passage of time the "Lorentz polarization term" is no longer used in
ionosphere propagation theory, thus indicating the correctness of Smith's experimental
deduction.

6) "Application of graphs of maximum usable frequency to communication problems"

Thus was the title of the published paper by Smith, Kirby, and Gilliland that gave
valuable information to all those who were using, or would be using, the ionosphere as a
medium for radio transmission. The paper was published in January 1939 [46]." It was in
99
This paper brought together many and applying the knowledge
of the elements of interpreting the characteristics
of the ionosphere that had been acquired by the Radio Section over a period of 5 years or more. The team of Smith,
Kirby, and Gilliland had developed three methods of plotting graphs of maximum-usable-frequency curves from the
variables of: distance, frequency, and time of day. Of these three methods of plotting, the one to show the
maximum-usable-frequency curves against time of day and with distance as a parameter proved to be most useful
for fixed radio stations, and was the most commonly seen in the published prediction service. The method that
showed the skip distance in terms of local time was the most suitable for mobile radio units.
In selecting the optimum frequency for communication the authors stated: "choose the highest available
frequency that will not skip, allowing for variations in critical frequency." They found that, for "quiet" days,
variations in critical frequency and maximum usable frequency were (for lower values) usually less than 15 percent
below the monthly average. Thus they recommended choosing a frequency at least 15 percent below the average
maximum usable frequency to avoid the possibility of skipping.

MA XIMUM USABLE AVERAGE' CRITICAL FREQUEIs CIES

F REQUE .NCIES JUNE 1937
JUNE. 1937 LATITUDE OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
5500 KT n

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MAXIMUM USABLE
FREQLJFNCIFS 900
FIGURES ON .URVES
( 1200
< ARE LOCAL Tl ME / 0800

0000

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- E - L AYE R

(b)

600 1600 2400 3200

DISTANCE - km LOCAL TIME

Use of maximum-usable-frequency data for transmission information — in this example, data taken from average
critical frequencies at vertical incidence (curves c) for June 1937, at latitude of Washington, D.C. Curves (a) show
maximum-usable-frequencies at local time of day (at midpoint) at various distances of receiver from transmitter.
In this form the information is the most useful. Curves (b) show maximum-usable-frequencies as a property of
distance at various times of day. Curves (d) give skip distances in terms of time of day for various frequencies.

240
February 1929 that Gilliland began his early observations of the ionosphere
"breadboard" equipment (see p. 203). Upon publication of the paper in January 1939, alm<
exactly a decade later, the team of Smith, Kirby, and Gilliland "had arrived," indeed. A fir
foundation had been laid by these three men of the Radio Section that would lead to wha
Dellinger said in 1961 if he were asked "What was the most outstanding of all the Bureau ?

radio achievements in these fifty years?" he might answer "... it was the propagation
prediction and warning service. ." (see ch. II,
p. 38). Smith, Kirby, and Gilliland said, in
. .

conclusion, in their 1939 paper:

And use the maximum-usable-frequency factors, in conjunction

finally, to
with present knowledge of ionosphere conditions, suggests the
our
possibility of estimating usable frequencies months and perhaps even years
in advance, in accordance with the variations of season and of the sunspot
cycle.

The Radio Section soon would be ready to enter the years of the Interservice Radio
Propagation Laboratory during World War II when its capabilities would be called upon to
develop a worldwide prediction and warning service.

References
[1] E. V. Appleton and M. A. F. Barnett, "Local reflection of wireless waves from the upper atmosphere," Nature,
Vol. 115, Mar. 7, 1925, pp. 333-334.
[2] E. V. Appleton and M. A. F. Barnett, "On some direct evidence for downward atmospheric reflection of electric
rays," Proc. Roy. Soc. Vol. A109, Dec. 1, 1925, pp. 621-641.
[3] G. Breit and M. A. Tuve, "A radio method of estimating the height of the conducting layer," Nature, Vol. 116,
Sept. 5, 1925, p. 357.
[4] G. Breit and M. A. Tuve, "A test of the existence of the conducting layer," Phys. Rev., Vol. 28, Sept. 1926, pp.
554-575.
[5] A. Hoyt Taylor, "Variation in direction of propagation of long electromagnetic waves," Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper,
Vol. 15, 1919-1920, pp. 419-433.
[6] J. H. Dellinger, L. E. Whittemore, and S. Kruse, "A study of radio signal fading," Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol.
19, 1923-1924, pp. 193-230.

[7] J. H. Dellinger and L. E. Whittemore, "Radio signal fading phenomena," J. Washington Academy of Sciences,
Vol. 11, No. 11, June 4, 1921, pp. 245-259.
[8] C. M. Jansky, Jr., "A statistical study of conditions affecting the distance range of a radio telephone

broadcasting station," Tech. Papers Bur. Stand., No. 297 (Vol. 19), Oct. 8, 1925.
[9] Bur. Stand. Tech. News Bull., No. 94, Feb. 10, 1925, p. 6.
[10] Greenleaf W. Pickard, "The effect of the solar eclipse of January 24, 1925, on radio reception," Proc. IRE, Vol.
13, No. 5, Oct. 1925, pp. 539-569.

[11] J. H. Dellinger, C. B. Jolliffe, and T. Parkinson, "Cooperative measurements of radio fading in 1925," Bur.
Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 22, 1927-1928, pp. 419-450.
[12] J. H. Dellinger, "Discussion on the correlation of radio reception with solar activity and terrestrial magnetism
(G. W. Pickard)," Proc. IRE, Vol. 15, No. 4, Apr. 1927, pp. 326-329.
[13] T. Parkinson, "Some observations of short-period radio fading," Proc. IRE, Vol. 17, No. 6, June 1929, pp. 1042-
1061.
[14] T. Parkinson and T. R. Gilliland, "A radio method of synchronizing recording apparatus," Proc. IRE, Vol. 17,
No. 3, Mar. 1931, pp. 335-340.
[15] L. V. Berkner, "Some studies of radio transmission over long paths made on Byrd Antarctic Expedition," J.
Res. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 8, No. 2, Feb. 1932, pp. 265-278.
[16] Kenneth A. Norton, Samuel S. Kirby, and Gordon H. Lester, "An analysis of continuous records of field
intensity at broadcast frequencies," Proc. IRE, Vol. 23, No. 10, Oct. 1935, pp. 1183-1200.
[17] J. H. Dellinger and A. T. Cosentino, "A radio transmission anomaly, co-operative observations between the

United States and Argentina," Proc. IRE, Vol. 28, No. 10, Oct. 1940, pp. 431-437.
[18] Sanford C. Gladden, A History of Vertical-Incidence Ionosphere Sounding at the National Bureau of
Standards, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 28, Sept. 1959.
[19] T. R. Gilliland, "Kennelly-Heaviside layer height observations for 4045 and 8650 kc/s," Proc. IRE, Vol. 19, No.
Jan. 1931, pp. 114-119.
1,

[20] P. A. de Mars, T. R. Gilliland, and G. W. Kenrick, "Kennelly-Heaviside layer studies," Proc. IRE. Vol. 19, No.
1, Jan. 1931, pp. 106-113.

[21] T. R. Gilliland, G. W. Kenrick, and K. A. Norton, "Investigations of Kennelly-Heaviside layer heights for
frequencies between 1,600 and 8,650 kilocycles per second," Proc. IRE, Vol. 20, No. 2, Feb. 1932, pp. 286-
309.
[22] T. R. Gilliland, "Continuous measurements of the virtual heights of the ionosphere," Proc. IRE. Vol. 21, No. 10,

Oct. 1933, pp. 1463-1475.

241
[23] T. R. Gilliland, "Note on multifrequency automatic recorder of ionosphere heights," Proc. IRE, Vol. 22, No. 2,

Feb. 1934, pp. 236-246.

[24] Theodore R. Gilliland, "Multifrequency ionosphere recording and its significance," Proc. IRE, Vol. 23, No. 9,

Sept. 1935, pp. 1076-1101.

[25] T. R. Gilliland and A. S. Taylor, "Field equipment for ionosphere measurements," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.), Vol. 26, No. 5, May 1941, pp. 377-384.
[26] S. S. Kirby, L. V. Berkner, and D. M. Stuart, "Studies of the ionosphere and their application to radio
transmission," Proc. IRE, Vol. 22, No. 4, Apr. 1934, pp. 481-521.
[27] S. S. Kirby, L. V. Berkner, T. R. Gilliland, and K. A. Norton, "Radio observations of the Bureau of Standards
during the solar eclipse of August 31, 1932," Proc. IRE, Vol. 22, No. 2, Feb. 1934, pp. 247-264.
[28] T. E. Van Zandt, R. B. Norton, and G. H. Stonehocker, "Photochemical rates in the equatorial F2 region from
the 1958 eclipse," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 65, No. 7, July 1960, pp. 2003-2009.
[29] J. H. Dellinger, "A new cosmic phenomenon," Science (Discussion), Vol. 82, Oct. 11, 1935, p. 351.
[30] J. H. Dellinger, "A new radio transmission phenomenon," Phys. Rev. (Letter to the Editor), Vol. 48, Oct. 15,
1935, p. 705.
[31] J. H. Dellinger, "A new solar radio disturbance," Electronics, Vol. 9, No. 1, Jan. 1936, pp. 25, 34.

[32] "A new radio transmission phenomenon," QST, Vol. 19, No. 2, Dec. 1935, pp. 21, 29.
[33] J. H. Dellinger, "Sudden disturbances of the ionosphere," Proc. IRE, Vol. 25, No. 10, Oct. 1937, pp. 1253-1290.
[34] "The aurora of September 18, 1941," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Oct. 1941, pp. 85-86.
[35] N. Smith and S. S. Kirby, "Critical frequencies of low ionosphere layers," Phys. Rev. (Letter to the Editor), Vol.
51, No. 10, May 15, 1937, pp. 890-891.

[36] S. S. Kirby, L. V. Berkner, and D. M. Stuart, "Studies of the ionosphere and their application to radio
transmission," Proc. IRE. Vol. 22, No. 4, April 1934, pp. 481-521.
[37] Samuel S. Kirby and Elbert B. Judson, "Recent studies of the ionosphere," Proc. IRE, Vol. 23, No. 7, July 1935,
pp. 733-751.
[38] T. R. Gilliland, "Multifrequency ionosphere recording and its significance," Proc. IRE, Vol. 23, No. 9, Sept.
1935, pp. 1076-1101.
[39] Newbern Smith, "Skip-distance calculation," QST, Vol. 21, No. 5, May 1937, pp. 47-48.
[40] "Changes in cosmic data broadcasts," Proc. IRE, Vol. 19, No. 10, Oct. 1931, pp. 1706-1711.
[41] Newbern Smith, "Extension of normal-incidence ionosphere measurements to oblique-incidence radio
transmission," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). Vol. 19, No. 1, July 1937, pp. 89-94.
[42] T. R. Gilliland, S. S. Kirby, N. Smith, and S. E. Reymer, "Characteristics of the ionosphere and their
application to radio transmission," Proc. IRE, Vol. 25, No. 7, July 1937, pp. 823-840.
[431 Newbern Smith, "Application of vertical-incidence ionosphere measurements to oblique-incidence radio
transmission," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 20, No. May 1938, pp. 683-705.
5,

[44] T. R. Gilliland, S. S. Kirby, N. Smith, and S. E. Reymer, "Maximum usable frequencies for radio sky-wave
transmission, 1933 to 1937," Proc. IRE. Vol. 26, No.
Nov. 1938, pp. 1347-1359. 11,

[45] Newbern Smith, "The relation of radio sky-wave transmission to ionosphere measurements," Proc. IRE, Vol.
27, No. 5, May 1939, pp. 332-347.
[46] Newbern Smith, Samuel S. Kirby, and Theodore R. Gilliland, "Application of graphs of maximum usable
frequency to communication problems," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 22, No. 1, Jan. 1939, pp. 81-92.

242
 Chapter VIII

IN THE DOMAINS OF TIME AND FREQUENCY

From LC Wavemeters to Atomic Frequency Standards

Introduction
From its earliest concepts trials as a means of carrying intelligence
and experimental
from a transmitter has been associated with the frequency domain.
to a distant point, radio
The perception of oscillations in the generation and reception of radio waves is expressed
quantitatively in terms of frequency, i.e., number of cycles per unit of time a cycle per —
second (c/s) is called a hertz (Hz). Frequency, expressed as the inverse of a period of an
oscillation, provides us with time, which along with length, mass, and four other units are
the base quantities of the now universally adopted International System of Units (SI). (See
Hellwig and Halford [1].) In radio science and technology, frequency looms as the quantity
that is encountered most. Thus we assign to it the mark of great importance.
Frequency has the unique characteristic of being a quantity that can be easily
"transported" from one location to another by means of electromagnetic waves. In reality,
the very standard that we wish to transport is a characteristic of the means of
transportation, that is, the oscillations of the radio wave itself.

Frequency is also a quantity that has yielded to very great accuracy of measurement
with the development of atomic frequency standards. By a counting process of the
oscillations we can obtain an "atomic clock," giving us a standard for the base quantity of
time. It is almost axiomatic that the conceptual realization of time precedes that of
frequency while the realization of frequency as a useful standard precedes that of time.
Such was the case in the development of the atomic standards of frequency and of time as
we know them today.
This chapter traces the beginnings of NBS involvements in standard frequency and
time devices and dissemination techniques from 1911 through 1975. Many orders of
magnitude of improvements have evolved through the efforts of concerned NBS scientists
and technicians.

The early frequency standards

1. Dellinger calibrates the first wavemeter at NBS
In his experimental introduction to radio in 1911, necessitated by the Bureau's need to
1
calibrate a wavemeter, Dellinger reliedupon a frequency comparison with an LC circuit.
He deduced the frequency of resonance of the LC circuit from low frequency measurements
of the inductance and the capacitance and used the familiar equation of the resonant
frequency,

2tt VLC
With the development of mathematical expressions for inductance and capacitance at radio
frequencies by the Electricity Division during the next few years, based upon the constants
1
See chapter II, p. 38.
2
An equation developed by Lord Kelvin in 1853. See chapter I, p. 4.

243
and dimensions of the inductor and capacitor components, it became possible to calculate
the resonant frequency with considerable accuracy. The two methods provided a means of
crosschecking the resonant frequency data.
It is singular that Lord Kelvin was associated with the method used by the Bureau in
calibrating its first wavemeter by means of an equation developed by Kelvin in 1853. And it
is most singular that Lord Kelvin should later be associated with the concept of atomic

frequency standards, a concept to be developed with reality as a working model by NBS in

1948, for it was Kelvin who presaged in the late 1870's the possible use of atoms as
3
frequency standards.

2. The Radio Laboratory develops its first standard wavemeters

It appears that the development of a frequency standard (wavemeter) as a laboratory
standard was not too urgent a matter until the early 1920's with the advent of broadcasting
4
stations. Consequently, the development came slowly during the early years of the Radio
Laboratory. Kolster's interest in the development of decremeters and Dellinger's study of
RF ammeters probably were contributing factors in slowing the development of frequency
standards. Also, the nature of calibration requests could have been a factor. This is
evidenced by the report on the calibration (testing) of radio instruments first made in the
Annual Report to the Secretary of Commerce for the year ending June 30, 1914. During the
1914 fiscal year, 35 calibrations were made on decremeters and only 4 on wavemeters.
An early proposal for a frequency standard was listed in the laboratory's Semiannual
Report of July 1 to December 31, 1915, which stated:

It is believed that a high frequency alternator of the latest Alexanderson

type would be a valuable addition to the laboratory. Such a machine would

give absolute values of frequency.

Again, in Circular 74 (Radio Instruments and Measurements) issued March 23, 1918, it was
stated:

The most direct method for the wave length calibration of a standard or
commercial wavemeter is a comparison with a high frequency alternator.
From the speed of the machine and the number of poles or other structural
data the frequency of alternation can be computed directly. The range of
such alternators is, however, limited; the usual construction does not
furnish a wave length shorter than 3000 meters.

Whether or not an alternator was ever used by the Radio Laboratory for this purpose is
not evidenced in the records. There was access to such an alternator, operating up to 100
kHz, in the Signal Corps Radio Laboratory in the West Building.
As a predecessor to a wavemeter standard, Kolster had designed a wavemeter into his
first decremeter development as early as 1912. It covered a range of 300 to 2500 meters (1000
to 120 kHz). This Type B Kolster Decremeter (with wavemeter) was developed for the
Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. By 1918 a standard wavemeter, developed
by the Radio Laboratory, was illustrated in Circular 74- It was an LC circuit consisting of a
variable condenser (capacitor) and standard coils developed for inductance standards.
Calibration of the wavemeter was by computation from low frequency measurement of the
inductance and capacitance.
Near the close of World War I a portable type of wavemeter for laboratory use had been
designed by H. M. Freeman and designated as the Type L Wavemeter. With four coils
connected in various combinations by a rotary switch, the wavemeter had a range of 1000 to
16,000 meters (300 to 18.7 kHz).

1
See this chapter, p. 292.

4
Several of the earliest types of wavemeters that were manufactured around 1903 are noted by J. A. Fleming in his
treatise The Principles of Electric Wave Telegraphy and Telephony (3d ed., 1916): (1) the Donitz wavemeter, a
German product consisting of a combination inductor and variable capacitor; and (2) Fleming's own cymometer
(Greek "kyma" or "cymo" for wave), a combination variable inductor and variable capacitor, each component being
of unusual design. R. H. Marriot notes in his paper "United States radio development," Proc. IRE, Vol. 5, June
1917, that the U.S. Navy first used wavemeters of German manufacture early in 1903.

244
Very early wavemeter developed by Radio Section. This photograph was published in NBS Circular 74, "Radio
Instruments and Measurements" (issued March 23, 1918), with the title "Standard wave meter circuit."
Wavelengths over the range of 100 to 13,000 meters were calculated from low frequency calibrations of several
capacitors and inductors, taking into account the high frequency effects of leads, distributed capacity of inductors,
and losses in capacitors. Resonance was indicated by current flow in loosely-coupled, single-turn loop and thermal
ammeter.

3. The Bureau's RF standards of frequency in the 1920's

By 1920 there was a fairly steady demand for calibration of wavemeters and a growing
need greater accuracy of measurement. Four approaches toward improvement of
for
wavelength or frequency measurement were taken: 5

1. Improvements in the LC circuit technique.

2. Measurement of frequency ratios by Lissajous figures on a cathode-ray oscillograph
from a known frequency generated by an electrically-driven tuning fork.
3. Measurement by frequency multiplication with an electron tube generator from an
electrically-driven tuning fork of known frequency.
4. Direct measurement of wavelength of standing waves of very short wavelength on
parallel wires, related by known ratios to lower radio frequencies.

Actually, a fifth method of utilizing the quartz crystal was just beginning to emerge as
a possibility for a frequency standard in 1920. By 1929 it would supplant the other methods
and by 1960 the quartz crystal would, in turn, be replaced by atomic frequency standards as
the national standard of frequency.
Recommendations of the Second National Radio Conference of March 20-24, 1923, called
for broadcasting stations to keep within 2 kHz of their assigned frequency. The Bureau was
calibrating wavemeters to no better than 1 part in 100 (10 kHz near center of the broadcast
band). As a first step toward a better service the goal was set to improve the accuracy to 1
part in 1000. Thus came the improvement program on four fronts in the early 1920's.

a) An improved LC circuit wavemeter

As an improved LC circuit wavemeter came the Type R70B standard wavemeter
developed by R. T. Cox 6 and J. L. Preston [3]. By now this type of wavemeter had reached a
high state of development. It incorporated the quartz-pillar variable condenser of an earlier
period. To cover the range of 65 meters to 85,000 meters (4620 to 3.5 kHz) seven inductors
and four fixed capacitors were used.

5
These four methods were well described by Dellinger in a semipopular paper prepared for the periodical Radio
Broadcast [2].
6
Richard T. Cox entered the Radio Section on July 1, 1920, and resigned on September 15, 1922.

245
Richard T. Cox, who shared in improving the Bureau's standard wavemeter that became known as type R70B is

shown making adjustments. Rods in fixed positions, used to connect the several components, minimized variation
of calibrated values. This design, developed in 1920, served during the 1920s as the basic reference for other types
of wavemeter standards. With four fixed mica capacitors and seven inductors, the wavelength range was 65 meters
to 85,000 meters (4620 to 3.5 kHz).

b) A FREQUENCY STANDARD BY USE OF THE CATHODE-RAY OSCILLOGRAPH

The basis of this frequency standard had its beginning with L. M. Hull of the Radio
Laboratory in 1919 who applied the cathode-ray oscillograph to radio measurements. By
means of Lissajous figures on the screen, fixed ratios between two frequencies could be very
exactly set and by a step-up (or step-down) process frequencies at fixed points over a
considerable range could be determined on the basis of a reference frequency. Others in the
laboratory took up the development of this method and it was completed by Miss Grace
Hazen and Miss Frieda Kenyon [4]. 7
The reference standard was an electrically-driven tuning fork (1024.2 Hz) calibrated by
the Sound Section. With the aid of 2 tunable RF generators it was possible to cover a range
of known frequencies up to 500 kHz by a two-stage process, each stage permitting a
frequency multiplication up to 22 times as determined accurately on the oscillograph. By
some "bootstrapping" techniques the total frequency range was from 3.5 to 5000 kHz.

C) A FREQUENCY STANDARD BY USE OF A HARMONIC AMPLIFIER

Another method that was less cumbersome, yet somewhat similar to the Lissajous-
figure method of setting frequency ratios, was to use harmonic amplifiers (operation by
nonlinear characteristic of electron tube) and tuned circuits to establish frequency ratios [5].
A two-stage process gave a frequency range up to 4000 kHz. A 100- and a 1004-Hz tuning
fork, calibrated by the Sound Section, served as the reference frequencies.
For calibration of a fixed frequency standard, such as a quartz crystal oscillator, a
sonometer was used to determine accurately the beat-note frequency between the oscillators

1
Miss Grace Hazen entered the Radio Section on October 16, 1922, transferring from the Weights and Measures
Division. She resigned from the section on March 7, 1927. Miss Frieda Kenyon entered the Radio Section on June 1,
1922, transferring from another section in the Electrical Division. She left the section on June 30, 1923.

246
 8
and a high harmonic from the tuning fork. The accuracy of measuring or setting the
frequency of a wavemeter was limited only by the accuracy of the fundamental frequei
source (tuning fork) and the precision of reading or setting the indicator on the wavemeter.

8
The sonometer is a device used to determine the frequency of an audio-frequency tone (in this case the beat note).
The frequency is determined from the length, tension, and mass per unit length of a steel piano wire that is
vibrated by an electromagnetically impressed signal.

In the mid-1920's quartz plates, used as frequency standards, were calibrated by beat-note comparison with a high
harmonic (from a harmonic amplifier) of a calibrated tuning fork. Miss Grace Hazen is using a sonometer
(stretched steel wire calibrated at audio frequencies) to determine frequency of beat note.

d) Frequency measurement by standing waves on parallel wires

A method waves at radio frequencies on a parallel wire system
of producing standing
was first devised by Lecher (called Lecher wires) in 1888, although somewhat similar
systems were used earlier by Hertz and by Lodge. The wire system can be used to measure
the wavelength of radio waves quite accurately. Such a system was used by F. W. Dunmore
and F. H. Engel of the Radio Laboratory early in the 1920s to measure the wavelength of
short waves in the range of 9 to 16 meters (33,300 to 19,000 kHz) [6].
This system was used to calibrate wavemeters over a range of 30,000 to 352 kHz (10 to
850 meters). At the lower frequencies a harmonic generator was used to produce frequencies
of short enough wavelength to be measured on the Lecher-wire system. The wavelength
setting on the wavemeter was simply the linear measurement of this wavelength multiplied
by the harmonic number.

247
4. The Bureau's standard of radio frequencies until 1929

The standards of radio frequency of the Bureau of Standards are

wavemeters consisting of standard variable air condensers with a number
of interchangeable inductors.
9
Thus wrote Elmer Hall for a periodical in 1924 [7]. And thus they remained the
L.
frequency standards until replaced in 1929 by quartz crystal oscillators.
Basic to the several wavemeters that were developed during the period from about 1917
and into the 1920's was the quartz-pillar variable condenser (approximately 0.001 microfarad
maximum capacity for wavemeters) described in Circular 74, published March 23, 1918 (see
ch. V, p. 100). Associated with this special condenser for use in wavemeters was the
development of a series of air-core inductors (on polygonal forms) to serve as tunable LC
circuits (see ch. V, p. 102).
In 1920 this first wavemeter to serve as the frequency standard was replaced by another
of the same general design but with the components connected permanently by heavy
conductors to gain stability of calibration. This was the development of Cox and Preston
cited previously. A coil of two turns of wire connected to a thermogalvanometer or a crystal
rectifier (with a dc milliammeter) served as the resonance indicator. In practice there were
actually two wavemeters that served as the frequency standard, each differing by the
selection of inductors used. The useful range was approximately 18 to 4600 kHz (16,600 to 65
meters). Precision of setting the capacitor was 0.1 percent and better. Accuracy of frequency
measurement approached this same value. These two frequency standards were used during
the 1920's as the basic reference for other types of frequency standards and measurement
equipment being developed.

THE QUARTZ CRYSTAL PROGRAM— QUARTZ, RADIO'S USEFUL SERVANT

1. The Radio Section is introduced to quartz crystals
The quartz crystal has been a most useful servant to radio technology. Its piezoelectric
10
properties were discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie in 1880. Before 1920 Professor W.
G. Cady of Wesleyan University and later Professor G. W. Pierce of Harvard University
became interested in the use of piezoelectric crystals in radio circuits. It was early in 1920
that Cady sent four crystal resonators to the Radio Section for calibration as fixed frequency
11
standards. It was the section's introduction to piezoelectric devices for radio application.
12
Herbert M. Freeman was assigned to the calibration project. He wrote a detailed report of

9
Elmer L. Hall entered the Radio Laboratory on April 9, 1919, and took a very active part in the frequency
standards and measurement program during the first two decades of his 35 years with the Bureau's radio
programs. Later he engaged in various development and measurement programs. Hall transferred to the Diamond
Ordnance Fuze Laboratories when CRPL moved to Boulder in 1954.

"'The piezoelectric effect is a twofold property of certain natural and synthetic asymmetrical crystals (quartz, etc.)
that: (1) produces a mechanical stress in the crystal by application of an electric field (voltage) and (2) produces a
voltage when subjected to mechanical stress. The effect is very useful in frequency-stabilized oscillators, generators
(transmitters), and certain types of high-frequency filters.

11
Cady's submission of the four crystal resonators for calibration preceded his first authorship on piezoelectric
resonators by a year. He
presented a published abstract of a paper to the December 30, 1920, meeting of the
American Physical Society. In 1922 he published a full paper on this topic [8]. It was in this paper that Cady stated
that two applications of piezoelectric crystals were promising: (1) as a resonator for wavelength (frequency)
standards and (2) as a frequency stabilizer or a means of generating electric oscillations of very constant frequency.
Professor Cady later became an outstanding authority in the field of piezoelectricity.
12
Freeman joined the Radio Laboratory shortly after July 1,1917 (coming from the University of West Virginia),
and on September 14, 1920, to join the Westinghouse Electric and Mfg. Co. at Pittsburgh, Pa. He left shortly
left

before the 5-month calibration period of the four resonators was completed.

248
 13 14
the calibration which extended over a period of 5 months. '

It was in this report that

Freeman made a statement that had a prophetic ring. He wrote:

Very work has been done on either type of these crystal combinations
little
(quartz crystal,and Rochelle salt crystal with steel rod) because of lack of
opportunity. The subject is one which is well worth a complete investigation
with the object of establishing convenient standards of frequency. . . .

Within a few years and to continue for more than 50 years to the present time the quartz
crystalwas to play an important role in the technology of radio communication at NBS,
primarily with standards of frequency and standard frequency dissemination.
In his Annual Report of FY 1920 Dellinger referred to this calibration as:
"Measurements have been made on a remarkable new type of wavemeter consisting of a
quartz crystal."
During 1922 Professor Cady submitted four more piezoelectric resonators for
calibration:two were of quartz crystals and two were of quartz crystals with steel bars. The
resonators ranged between 14.5 and 236 kHz. During October 1923 seven more resonators
submitted by Cady were calibrated by Miss Grace Hazen. These ranged in frequency from
14.5 to 763 kHz. This series was of particular interest as Professor Cady had previously
carried the resonators to Europe for calibration in two laboratories in England, two in Italy,
and one in France. Also a check had been made at Harvard University. All comparison
measurements were made with an accuracy of approximately 0.1 percent, with agreement in
frequency between the different laboratories within this accuracy in most cases.

2. Learning and applying quartz crystal technology

A year after the Radio Section had calibrated Cady's seven crystal resonators that had
toured five European laboratories, an announcement was made in the Technical News
Bulletin that the Bureau was engaging in the study of quartz crystals and their application
to radio communication. In the October 10, 1924, issue it was stated:

Piezoelectricity an old phenomenon which is having some remarkable

is

new applications. American investigators have found that the

. . .

frequency of vibration of the piece of quartz is extraordinarily constant, and

that it is a very useful radio standard.
Studies being made at the bureau indicate that such a quartz oscillator has
many valuable applications in radio work. Means of producing audio as
well as radio frequencies are being worked out. The crystals can be used to
control or determine the frequency of a transmitting station and to hold it
strictly constant. This will mean a great advance in radio transmission
technique. The crystals are also useful in accurate setting of receiving
apparatus and in controlling the frequency of radio-frequency generators
used in laboratory measurement work. The value of these various
applications will be particularly great at the frequencies above 2000
kilocycles which are now rapidly coming into use.

The application of this new technology arrived in the nick of time. By the end of 1922
approximately 570 American broadcasting stations were occupying a frequency band of 1000
kHz. The Department of Commerce was wrestling with acute problems, such as compressing
the many stations into a relatively narrow band of the spectrum, and inspecting the
radiated signals for adherence to assigned frequencies. Each of the stations had its problems

13
The report, found in the Radio File, is entitled "The use of the piezo-electric effect for establishing fixed frequency
standards" and is dated September 11, 1920.
14
The crystal resonators submitted by Cady were of two types: one utilized a quartz crystal suspended by a thread
between two brass plates that formed the capacity of an electron tube oscillator circuit; the other was a steel bar
cemented to and driven by a Rochelle salt crystal, also made a part of an oscillating circuit. Calibration was by
means of an LC wavemeter. Four resonators were calibrated three times over a 5-month period at wavelengths
ranging from 3410 to 3930 meters (approximately 88 to 77 kHz). It was during these calibrations that R. T. Cox of
the section made some written suggestions on a method of utilizing piezoelectric crystals for stable frequency
generators.

249
of keeping the transmitter to the assigned frequency. Interference among the broadcasting
stations was becoming a serious and pressing problem. The use of quartz crystals, both for
control and for monitoring of frequency, appeared to be, and truly was, the answer to a
vexing situation. The Bureau, as the radio laboratory for the Department of Commerce, was
to play a prominent role in squarely meeting the situation.
In December 1923, a year after he had entered the section, August Hund was assigned
the project of applying quartz crystal technology to alleviate the pressing problem related to
10
interference amongthe broadcasting stations. He had already gained considerable
experience in radio engineering at frequencies much above the broadcast range. During the
next several years he would be giving considerable time toward the quartz crystal work.
From Hund's efforts, along with others, came a series of seven Letter Circulars related to
the use of quartz crystals in radio equipment, primarily in frequency meters and in piezo
oscillators, including their use in controlling the frequency of transmitters. No doubt this
publication vehicle was chosen for this series of printed papers in order that the information
would be quickly and readily available to radio engineers.

15
August Hund entered the section December 19, 1922, and transferred to the Sound Section on June 16, 1925. He
returned to the Radio Section on July 1, 1928, and resigned May 2, 1929, to join the Thomas A. Edison Laboratory,
Orange, N.J. Over a period of many years he wrote four extensive treatises relating to radio engineering, including
one on High Frequency Measurements (1951) and another on Frequency Modulation (1942).

August Hund examining quartz crystals (December 15, 1925). Hund contributed extensively to the technology of
quartz crystals as frequency standards during the 1920's. He was the author of several well-known treatises on
radio engineering.

250
 Letter Circular 186, issued on November 20, 1925, entitled "Specification for Portabl<
Piezo Oscillator, Bureau of Standards Type N," was of special interest. This oscillator, whi<
served as a frequency meter, was originally designed for the radio inspectors of the
Department of Commerce; 16 its use, however, extended much beyond the original need. It
was estimated that the device could be built for about $150 including the crystal. Very
detailed instructions, plus drawings, were given for its construction. One type UV-201A
tube, operating from batteries, energized the quartz crystal as a highly stabilized frequency
oscillator. Quoting from the February 1926 TNB, it was stated:

While the application of piezo oscillators is new and has not yet had the
advantage of prolonged trial under varied conditions, it seems likely that it
will be very useful. If all radio transmitting stations were equipped with
the device and used it properly, frequency variations and whistling
interference due to beat frequencies would probably disappear.

Previously, a Letter Circular (LC180, Sept. 16, 1925) had been issued for a Type B radio frequency indicator which
16

would serve as an interim measure before the quartz crystal frequency meter became a practical instrument. It was
a refinement of the earlier wavemeter in that it was set at a fixed frequency for monitoring purposes.

Elmer L. Hall observing performance of a portable piezo oscillator in 1926. Hall was associated with the Bureau 's
frequency standards programs for two decades, beginning in 1919. He transferred to the Diamond Ordnance Fuze
Laboratories in 1954.

251
 Eventually the ether waves in the broadcast band were cleared of whistles but it was
due to various factors including suppression of the heterodyne whistles originating in the
receivers.
Out of this period in the middle 1920's came but one publication on the quartz crystal
program, a tutorial paper by Hund on the uses and possibilities of piezoelectric oscillators
[9]. The paper served well to bring to light the new technology and to show some potential

uses.
One of the actions taken by the Federal Radio Commission (created by Congress on
February 23. 1927) toward minimizing interference among the broadcasting stations was to
require maintenance of frequency to 500 Hz (0.5 kHz) of the assigned frequency. The
February 1928 issue of TNB reported "an exceptional demand for radio tests of this kind
(piezo oscillator) which is greatly in excess of the capacity of the bureau for immediate
service." Scheduling of tests was necessary by priority on a waiting list. In the March 1928
issue the hope was expressed that commercial laboratories at some future time could take
over much of this testing load suddenly thrust upon NBS. In the same issue a fee schedule
1
was published.
An action taken by the section early in 1927 was toward developing methods of holding
the quartz crystal at a constant temperature, thereby increasing the frequency stability and
its accuracy as a frequency standard. Assigned to this development program was Vincent E.
18
Heaton. From this development came a portable type of temperature-controlled piezo
''Examples of these calibrations were: (1) determination of one fundamental frequency of a piezo oscillator or
resonator or quartz plate, at room temperature, $15 fee; and (2) determination of one fundamental frequency of a
piezo oscillator or resonator or quartz plate, provided with a suitable thermostat at specified temperature above
that of the laboratory, $25 fee.
18
Heaton entered the section on April 1, 1927, and immediately took part in the quartz crystal program. Heaton
was closely associated with the time and frequency programs throughout his long career in the section. He retired
from the Boulder Laboratories on December 30, 1965.

Portable, temperature-controlled, piezo-oscillator, frequency standard designed by Vincent E. Heaton and Walter H.
Brattain in 1929. Spring mounting (right) provided vibration isolation to temperature-controlled chamber housing
the quartz crystal. Brattain joined Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1929; in 1956 he shared the Nobel Prize in
Physics with Shockley and Bardeen for discovery of the transistor effect.

252
 19
oscillator with superior features [10]. Assisting Heaton in this development was Walte
20
Brattain, who won
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956.
later
Advanced technology in the frequency control of broadcasting transmitters and
increased need for tighter control of operation on assigned frequencies brought about Rule
144 in June 1932 by the Federal Radio Commission of maintenance to within 50 Hz of the
assigned values. In turn, this move required a more advanced type of frequency monitor
than was available in 1932 and the commission required that such monitors meet with
approval after tests by NBS. The testing program was carried out under the direction of
21
William D. George.
No specifications for design features were prepared by the Federal Radio Commission
but the frequency monitors were required to meet a series of tests performed by the Radio
Section. Ten of the 15 quartz crystal monitors submitted for the test program were approved
by the commission and found to have an accuracy of part in 100,000, 5 times better than
1

the required accuracy (rather an uncommon superiority). George published a report of the
tests in April 1934 [11].
Many years later, in the 1950's, two more advanced types of portable quartz crystal
frequency standards were developed within CRPL. One of these, developed by P. G. Sulzer,
was a 1 -megacycle standard stable to a few parts in 10 8 per day. The other, developed by A.
H. Morgan, was a small and compact standard that could operate for several hours without
an external power source.

3. Attainment of a national standard of frequency

By the mid-1920's the Radio Section was encouraged by the possibilities of piezoelectric
crystals, and particularly quartz, as frequency standards of considerable stability and
accuracy. During the summer of 1926 a quartz crystal oscillator was exhibited by the Radio
Section in the Bureau's exhibit at the Sesquicentennial Exposition at Philadelphia, Pa. Thus
"exposure" to the public was made by the Bureau of a new and promising servant to radio
technology.
Feeling the need of a cooperative effort among U.S. laboratories developing quartz
crystal frequency standards, the Radio Section organized a conference on February 7, 1927.
The purpose was:
. .for establishing a basis of frequency measurement against which
.

comparative tests could be made with an accuracy greatly in excess of the

certainty of absolute measurement of frequency. A standard thus
established will be analogous to the international electrical standards of
current, resistance, etc.

No doubt this conference was a significant step forward in the establishment of frequency
standards as we know them today. It was agreed that three of the laboratories would

19
This piezo oscillator was a portable frequency standard that was constant to better than 1 part in 100,000. The
"Curie cut" quartz crystal was mounted in a holder that provided air gaps to the electrodes; the assembly was
closed in a heavy copper cylinder to minimize temperature fluctuations. Spring mounting of the heavy cylinder
made the standard relatively immune to mechanical shock. The quartz plate was placed between the grid and
filament circuit of a Type 201A tube that served as the oscillator. A screen-grid tube served as an amplifier and a
means of decoupling the crystal from the output circuit of the standard.
20
Walter H. Brattain was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 along with William Shockley and John
Bardeen (all of the Bell Telephone Laboratories) "for the investigation on semiconductors and the discovery of the
transistor effect." Brattain was the first of three men associated with radio work at NBS to win the Nobel Prize in
Physics. The others were Kusch in 1955 and Townes in 1964 (see p. 299 and p. 298). Interestingly, all three of the
prize winners were associated with the frequency standards programs.
An interesting account of Brattain's contributions and experiences in the development of the transistor by the
Bell Laboratories team can be found in the January 1973 issue of Spectrum, written by Charles Weiner and entitled
"How the transistor emerged."
Brattain entered the section on August 1, 1928. He resigned at the end of the fiscal year, on June 30, 1929, to
join the Bell Telephone Laboratories where he remained until 1967.
21
George entered the section on August 5, 1929, and took a very active part in the frequency standards and
dissemination program for many years, until his death on February 12, 1963. He was in charge of for many WWV
years. From 1946 to 1956 he was chief of the High Frequency Standards Section (and Branch) and was acting chief
of the Radio Standards Division from 1956 to 1960.

253
conduct a program of intercomparing seven quartz crystal frequency standards. The Naval
Research Laboratory, the Bell Telephone Laboratories, and the NBS would make frequency
measurements against time standards to be compared with NBS Standards. 22 NBS made its
frequency determinations in terms of the mean solar second as obtained from the U.S.
Naval Observatory at Washington, D.C.
The Bureau's program took on an international scope in even its earliest stages. In 1924
some frequency comparisons were organized by the Radio Section by direct radio
transmissions between national laboratories of England, France, Italy, Germany, and the
United States. The results were less than satisfactory and agreement between the standard
frequencies was but 2 parts in 1000. Taking up a procedure used by Professor W. G. Cady at
an earlier time, the Bureau sent a quartz crystal oscillator to several European laboratories
beginning in late 1925 and repeated with a second oscillator in 1926. This was followed later
with another oscillator sent to Canada and to Japan. The result was an agreement of
frequency measurement between all laboratories of several parts in 10,000 a gratifying —
result at the time [12].
In the summer of 1927 Dellinger personally carried a newly developed temperature-
controlled quartz crystal oscillator to Europe and made frequency measurements at four
European laboratories. The result was a tenfold increase in accuracy of agreement among
the five laboratories. Departures from the mean were within 3 parts in 100,000. Progress
was being made rapidly in a new technology.
By 1929 the measurement program being carried on by NBS with the Naval Research
Laboratory and the Bell Telephone Laboratories indicated an agreement in the accuracy of
frequency determination of 1 part in 100,000. Within 4 or 5 years the Radio Section had
increased the accuracy of its frequency standards by a thousandfold!
Planned equipment to serve as a national frequency standard was becoming a reality.
After a year of development and construction by the Bell Telephone Laboratories, four
complete temperature-controlled quartz crystal oscillators were delivered to NBS during
August 1929. Although performance specifications had been prepared by the Radio Section,
many of the design features were products of experience gained by Bell Telephone
Laboratories personnel.

a) The National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency

Within a short time after receiving the equipment from New York, the section had set
up the four quartz oscillators plus an array of ancillary equipment that provided for a self-
contained observational facility of determining performance on a continuous basis. The
Bureau was now the focal point and the fountainhead for the dissemination of standard
frequencies of a high order of accuracy and could rightfully call this new installation the
23
National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency [13, 14].

22
In addition to these three laboratories, others represented at the conference were the War Department, American
Telephone and Telegraph Co., Radio Corp. of America, General Electric Co., and the Westinghouse Electric and
Mfg. Co. It was among the latter four that cross-licensing of patents in the manufacture of electron tubes and radio
equipment was negotiated in the early 1920's.

23
In its earliest period the primary standard consisted of four temperature-controlled quartz crystal oscillators,
each operating at a design frequency of 100 kHz. This group of oscillators became known as section I of the
frequency standard. The crystal plates were cut in the form of a toroid to obtain a small temperature coefficient.
The rings were each mounted on a horizontal fiber rod with an aluminum disk on each side to serve as the
electrodes. Each quartz toroid was mounted in a heavy aluminum cylinder fitted with electric heaters. Each crystal
assembly was sealed in a glass bell jar that was slightly evacuated, thus keeping the crystal under uniform
condition of humidity and air pressure. The total assembly was suspended on damped springs to minimize vibration
and housed in a temperature-controlled chamber. Variation of temperature of the quartz toroid was less than 0.001
°C. A power supply of many lead-acid storage batteries, divided into many different supply units with
accompanying charging facilities, energized the standard at constant voltage.
In the standard's early use one quartz oscillator was used as a reference and beat frequencies were observed
between the reference and each of the three other oscillators. Variations in frequency could be observed to 1 part in
8
10 By means of a submultiple type of vacuum-tube generator the 100-kHz frequencies could be reduced to 1000 Hz.
.

254
The 100-kHz quartz crystal units pictured were those used in the National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency,
beginning in 1929.

In 1929 these four 100-kHz quartz oscillators, with auxiliary circuitry and temperature-control equipment, were
installed in the Radio Building, to become the National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency.

A 100-Hz synchronous-motor clock operating from the submultiple frequency drove a

clock that was geared to read mean solar time when the motor was driven at exactly 1000
Hz. The clock rate could be compared with time signals from the U.S. Naval Observatory via
radio signals from its Arlington, Va. transmitter. It was now possible for the Bureau to
maintain a frequency standard with an accuracy of about 1 part in 10', based upon mean
solar time. However, it was found that the quartz crystals were subject to drift with an
7
increase in frequency of about 1 part in 10 per month. Thus the hopeful "standard" lacked
long-term stability.

255
b) Early improvements to the primary standard
The knowledge and experience gained by the team of workers with the new frequency
standard, as well as from research within the section on the piezoelectric properties of
quartz crystals, placed the team in good stead for further development of the primary
standard. During the next several years, after setting up the original four oscillators, NBS
added two more oscillators to the frequency standard; both new units were constructed
within the Bureau. This latter group of oscillators became known as section II of the
24
frequency standard [15].

24
The added oscillators (forming section II) differed in design from each other and from the four composing section
I.One had a 100-kHz circular quartz plate, the other a 200-kHz plate with a cut much like the shape of a spoked
wheel. Although weak in its response, this latter crystal was quite insensitive to external circuit parameters and
had a very small temperature coefficient. The crystals were cut in the Bureau's optical shop. Considerable
improvements in power supplies were incorporated in these new oscillators.
One oscillator from each section was checked daily with time signals from the Naval Observatory in order to
arrive at an absolute determination of frequency. Many comparisons were made in different combinations to
determine the relative changes among the six oscillators. It was soon learned that each oscillator showed individual
characteristics. These observations were made on an electric chronograph (driven by a 100-Hz synchronous motor
using a circular wax-coated sheet as the recording medium). Signals from the primary standard and from the Naval
Observatory were recorded with time differences that could be accurately determined within a few thousandths of a
second. The method was an improvement over the one used several years earlier.

The 100-Hz synchronous-motor clock driven by a 1000-Hz submultiple of quartz-crystal primary frequency standard.
Used for comparison of seconds from clock with 1-second time signals from the U.S. Naval Observatory (via radio
from the Navy's Arlington, Va. transmitter, NAA); recordings were made on wax-coated paper rotated on a disk
geared to the clock. The comparison provided for absolute measurement of the frequency standard.

256
Quartz ring or toroid crystal unit used in Section II of the National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency as a
further development in quartz crystal technology. The 200-kHz quartz crystal ring (center) is supported by two arms
which are part of the mother crystal. Sections of crystal housing are shown at left and right.

Engaged development of the primary frequency standard in its early years were
in the
E. L. Hall, V. E. Heaton, and E. G. Lapham, 25 all of whom added various features to the
equipment and took an active part in its operation. Also contributing to its early
development were the section personnel engaged in quartz-crystal research, including A.
Hund, C. G. Mcllwraith, and R. B. Wright.

4. Refining the national standard of frequency

As years went by quartz oscillators incorporating newer developments were added to
the national primary frequency standard. By 1952 the standard included six oscillators plus
26
eight quartz crystal resonators [16, 17]. In addition, three quartz oscillators were used at
WWV with daily comparisons made via radio signals with the standard at NBS laboratories
inWashington, D.C.
Daily checks with mean solar time of the U.S. Naval Observatory provided an absolute
27
determination of frequency and time of the primary frequency standard. By 1952 the
8
accuracy was about 2 parts in 10 an accuracy that was better than could be obtained from
,

observations of the daily rotation of the Earth.

A new method of temperature control of the quartz crystal oscillators was initiated at
the WWV station by placing the oscillators in a small underground chamber about 25 feet
below the ground surface. Some experiments were initiated by placing a quartz crystal unit
below ground surface. But later experiments at Boulder in 50-foot
in a well casing 60 feet
wells were abandoned when the quartz crystals gave way to atomic standards.

20
Evan G. Lapham entered the Radio Section on July 17, 1929. After engaging in a variety of activities, he resigned
on March 25, 1941.

26
The quartz crystal oscillators had been improved over a period of 20 years by using 100-kHz GT-cut crystals that
were uniform in frequency over a fairly wide range of driving amplitude. The crystals were now driven at an RF
current amplitude of about one-third that previously used in order to obtain greater frequency stability.
In contrast to the oscillators, which were operated continuously, eight 100-kHz crystal resonators were added
to the frequency standard and were used but a short time each day in a balanced bridge network for comparison
with the oscillators. The resonators used an improved form of GT-cut quartz crystal (with a Q of about 4 million)
developed and fabricated by the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Although the resonators served as auxiliary
standards to the oscillators, they were more free of aging conditions due to their simplicity and lack of external
circuitry of avacuum tube and other components.
Frequency comparisons were made daily between all of the units (oscillators and resonators) with a precision of
about 1 part in 10 10 Improvements in temperature control increased the frequency performance.
.

21
On occasion the primary frequency standard was referred to as a crystal clock. The frequency standard, with its
dissemination of time signals via WWV, was closely checked with the U.S. Naval Observatory. Thus the legal basis
of time for the U.S. (Naval Observatory) was disseminated via "crystal clock" at NBS. See Vincent E. Heaton, "The
crystal clock," H.I.A. Journal (The Horological Institute of America), Vol. 2, No. 4, July 1946, pp. 21-23.

257
 Associated with the primary frequency standard in the heyday of its use as the most
accurate frequency standard available were John M. Shaull, Vincent E. Heaton, and John
28 29
H. Shoaf. '

After the national primary frequency standard was housed in the Radio Building for 25
years, it became necessary in 1954 to move the standard across country to Boulder, Colo, (for
details see p. 275). But the rapidly growing art of developing a superior system for a
frequency standard was catching up and would soon surpass the performance of the long-
— —
time servant of radio technology the quartz crystal at least as the national frequency
standard. In the fall of 1957 an atomic frequency standard was used to observe the
constancy of frequency transmissions of WWV
and WWVH. During the next several years a
complete changeover was made to atomic frequency standards. During January 1961, NBS
commenced using the Boulder-based low-frequency broadcasts, and WWVL, as WWVB
received at Greenbelt, Md., to control the frequency of the WWV
broadcasts through
manual adjustment of the WWV
oscillators. Besides the improvement in frequency control,
such use of WWVL
and WWVB
permitted calibration of the WWV
frequency in terms of the
NBS primary frequency standard (based on atomic frequency standards) [18]. Such low-
frequency control of WWVH, referenced to NBS atomic frequency standards at Boulder,
Colo., commenced in March 1963. Later, the time signals of WWV
from Greenbelt, Md. were
synchronized to approximately ±10 microseconds in terms of the NBS primary time scale
through portable crystal-clock synchronization and the low-frequency broadcasts, WWVL
and WWVB [19].
Quartz crystals play a very useful role in radio technology, even serving as
still

oscillators in the present frequency standards at Boulder. The use of quartz crystals had a
phenomenal growth during World War II in their adaptation to myriads of communications
systems and this use continues through the present day. Within the Frequency-Time
Standards Section a very marked improvement in the performance and measurement of the
short-term stability of quartz crystal resonators has been achieved during the past several
years.

5. The NBS microwave frequency standard

To meet the growing need of frequency standards (as well as other standards) at
microwave frequencies during World War II, the Bureau was requested to establish and
maintain a frequency standard as a defense measure. 30 With the aid of the Radiation
Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a frequency standard operating
over the range of 300 to 40,000 MHz was completed in 1945; added improvements were made
over the next several years. The standard provided frequency multiplication of several
hundred thousand times from one of the 100-Hz quartz crystal oscillators of the national
primary frequency standard. The standard had an accuracy of 1 part in 10 8 for spot
frequencies beginning at 300 MHz, but the accuracy decreased rapidly at higher frequencies
due to the deleterious effects of frequency and phase modulation and of noise in the
31
calibration signal [20].
The early development was mostly by Benjamin Husten under the direction of Harold
Lyons. Nearly all of the calibration work on various types of cavity wavemeters performed
during the first few years was for the armed services for their radar and navigation systems.
However, the rapid increase of microwaves for civilian uses, such as relay links, brought on
additional needs for the frequency standard.

28
Shaull entered NBS on March 21, 1939. He transferred to the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories when the
Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) moved to Boulder in 1954.
29
In 1959 Heaton was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for long,
faithful, and exceptionally competent service in maintaining the USA primary standard of frequency and time
interval."

30
Refer to chapter X, p. 346 for further information on this new NBS program.
31
Frequency coverage in both spot frequencies and continuous coverage from 300 to 40,000 MHz was obtained by
frequency multiplication with a series of frequency multipliers, a decade frequency generator, and a precision
oscillator and frequency converters. At the highest frequencies a silicon crystal was used as a harmonic generator.
The latest developments in vacuum tubes and klystron oscillators were incorporated in the standard.

258
Early form of the microwave frequency standard developed by Microwave Standards Section for calibration of
frequency meters in ranges of 300 to 40,000 MHz. Benjamin F. Hasten at controls. Frequency multiplication from
one of Bureau's 100-kHz quartz crystals of the primary standard provided microwave frequencies constant to one
part in 11/. This standard was used from 1945 to 1952 when it was replaced by more advanced equipment and the
range extended to 75,000 MHz.

Before the microwave frequency standard was moved to the Boulder Laboratories in
1954, improvements in the equipment and accuracy of the standard were made by Lauren J.
Rueger and Albert E. Wilson. Increased signal strength at the higher frequencies enhanced
the accuracy of measurement by reduction of frequency and phase modulation and random
noise signals. Stabilizing of the klystrons with temperature-controlled oil baths also
improved the performance [21].
After the move to Boulder many new features were added to the microwave frequency
standard under the direction of Roy E. Larson. Assisting in these developments were
Lawrence W. Miller and Mohammed H. Zamboorie. The standard became a part of the
operating features of the Electronic Calibration Center but the need to provide a calibration
service for outside laboratories became less in later years.
Associated with the microwave frequency standard program was the development of
two related calibration services. One was that of the measurement of frequency stability of
signal sources developed by John H. Shoaf. The other was the development of a method of
power spectrum analysis of signal sources by Shoaf and Esther Gilman, based upon earlier
research by James A. Barnes and others of the Radio Standards Laboratory.

259
6. Toward perfecting the adaptation of quartz crystals to frequency
standards
Before the atomic frequency program within CRPL was to prove the superiority of this
approach to a national frequency standard, a project was initiated within the High
Frequency Standards Section in 1952 to investigate possible improvements in the frequency
stability of quartz crystals. Quartz crystal technology for frequency standards had come a
long way from the work of Professor Cady in the early 1920's and later by the Bell
Telephone Laboratories. But no measures taken appeared to prevent quartz crystals from
drifting in frequency (usually toward a higher frequency) as an aging effect. However, a
possible correction method appeared by operating the crystal at a very low temperature
(down to 4 K with liquefied helium).
During the last 3 years of this project, from 1956 to 1959, support was received from the
U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratories because of their wide interest in
quartz crystal technology. It was found that the aging process of quartz crystals could be
reduced by more than one order of magnitude by operating down to 4 K. Moreover, the Q of
a crystal would increase to as much as 50 million (with the property of extremely sharp
resonance) accompanied by exceptional performance in short-term stability. Various kinds
of laboratory-type cryogenic apparatus were developed for precision control of the low
temperature. The design of a quartz oscillator unit for operation at cryogenic temperatures
32
resulted in a patent issued to the investigating group.
The onrush in development of atomic frequency standards swept aside the need for such
refinements to the quartz crystal standards and the project was terminated in midsummer
of 1959. Those associated with the project included Francis P. Phelps, Philip A. Simpson,
and Catherine Barclay. 33

THE STORY OF WWV AND ITS SCION STATIONS

The broadcasting service for dissemination
34,35
of frequency and time signals

October 1, The first announcement of the station call letters WWV, assigned
public
1919 to the Bureau was made in the October 1, 1919, issue of the
of Standards,
Radio Service Bulletin of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of
Commerce. 36 (See ch. IV, p. 76.)

32
Philip A. Simpson, Catherine Barclay, and Francis P. Phelps filed for the patent on June 25, 1958. Patent
2,931,924 was issued on April 5, 1960, entitled "Quartz oscillator unit for operating at low temperatures."

33
During World War II, Francis P. Phelps, a member of the Polarimetry Section, was placed in charge of a research
group to develop methods of testing quartz crystals including testing for the serious defect of optical twinning.
Methods developed by the group were used to test 6 million pounds of quartz during the war period. In 1950 Phelps
was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for outstanding scientific
achievement in polarimetry, with particular reference to the optical properties of quartz and the development of
improved standards for the world-wide grading of sugar."
Phelps joined NBS in February 1912, starting in the Polarimetry Section. In 1943 he headed up a quartz
research laboratory within the quartz inspection complex set up at NBS as a wartime measure. After 47 years of
service with NBS Phelps retired on January 30, 1959, having been in charge of the Quartz Crystal Laboratory at
Boulder for many years.
Shortly after World War II the small group of Phelps, Simpson, and Barclay was transferred to the Mineral
Products Division and later to the High Frequency Standards Section in the CRPL. In 1954 the group moved with
the CRPL to Boulder, Colo.

A considerable portion of the material gathered in this account is taken from material prepared by W. D. George
and V. E. Heaton in 1961 for Rexmond C. Cochrane in preparation of his history of NBS, Measures for Progress.

Because of the many dates that are included and the extensive listing of technical accomplishments and services
offered, this account of the progressive development of WWV
is presented in a chronological outline format for ease

of reading.

36
The July 1, 1915, edition of Radio Stations of the United States, published by the Bureau of Navigation,
Department of Commerce listed the U.S. Army station at the Bureau of Standards with the call letters WUQ. The
station was listed for Government service exclusively with no assigned "wave lengths" and no specified hours of
operation.

260
December "A conference of members of the staff was held regarding the proposed
1922 transmission of standard wave length signals. It was decided to transmit
such signals as soon as possible, and it is expected that preliminary tests
37
will be started early in January."

January 29-30, Preliminary transmission of standard frequencies was made to and

1923 received by about 30 observers located within 1000 miles of Washington,
D.C. Previous arrangements had been made with these observers and
reports were received from most of them.
The fan antenna above the Radio Building was replaced with a
T-antenna for transmission of the standard frequencies.

February 1, Announcement was made in the February 1, 1923, issue of the Radio
1923 Service Bulletin that the first broadcast of standard frequencies by
station WWV was scheduled for March 6, 1923.

February 23, A news release of February 23 described the early project of transmitting
38
1923 standard frequency signals.
These early transmissions were intended to enable the radio inspectors
of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce to keep their

37
Quoted from the Monthly Report of Section 6, Division I, December 15, 1922. There appears to be no earlier
record of any discussions or suggestions within the Radio Section on the transmission of standard frequencies.
38
Dept. of Commerce News Release
RSO:MWB Radio Laboratory
1-6 Bureau of Standards,
February 23, 1923

BUREAU OF STANDARDS TRANSMITS STANDARD RADIO WAVE LENGTH SIGNALS

The Bureau of Standards at Washington, D.C, on January 29 and 30 conducted a preliminary
series of testswhich were preliminary to regular transmissions of signals of constant and known
wave frequency or wavelength. The first such transmission will be on March 6. The transmission
of such signals will make it possible for any person having suitable receiving equipment to
calibrate his own wavemeter and transmitting and receiving equipment. The preliminary tests
included the measurement of the frequency (wave length) of the signals transmitted from the
radio laboratory of the Bureau of Standards on January 29 and 30 by thirty observers located
within 1000 miles of Washington, and demonstrated the practicability of transmitting such
waves.

These tests were conducted primarily for the purpose of ascertaining what would be feasible
and desirable in the way of standard wave signals, that is, the range of wavelengths and the
schedule for transmission. Another purpose was to obtain information as to the accuracy of
wavemeters used by the various observers. From the information obtained, it appears that it is
desirable to transmit standard wave signals after 11:00 o'clock p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
when broadcasting stations are through with their programs. The wavemeters of the observers
were in general in fair agreement but some differences were as much as 7 per cent. It is
desirable that wavemeters be in closer accord than this, and it is hoped that the system of
standard wave transmission will have as a result the more accurate measurement and
adjustment.

Standard waves be transmitted from the Bureau of Standards on March 6 from 11:00 p.m.
will
to 1:15 a.m., and wave lengths from 550 to 1500 meters. The detailed schedule of the
will include
March 6 transmission has appeared in the daily press, and in the February 1 issue of the Radio
Service Bulletin.

The general call will be "QST de WWV Standard Wave Signals" repeated, and will be on the
same frequency as the test signals. The standard wave signal will be the letters WWV repeated.
In the announcements the wave length of the test signal will be stated. The general call and
announcements will be made by both radio telephony and radio telegraphy. For the standard
wave signal and for announcement by radio telegraphy, unmodulated continuous waves will be
used.

Announcement of later transmissions on other wave lengths will be made in the press, and in
the Radio Service Bulletin, a monthly periodical published by the Bureau of Navigation of the
Department of Commerce. The transmissions planned for the immediate future will be on
shorter wave lengths than those of March 6.

Department of Commerce Washington, D.C.

Note: The letters "QST" were and still are used as the abbreviation for a general call preceding a message
addressed to amateurs and ARRL members. The French word de is used for the English word from.

261
 wavemeters calibrated and to assist other users of radio transmitting and
receiving apparatus such as radio communication companies, radio
manufacturers, schools, laboratories, and radio amateurs.
The Radio Section was embarking on a means of disseminating the
physical quantity frequency (the inverse of the base quantity of time)
over a large geographic area and by a relatively simple means of
observation. No other measurement quantity has been disseminated so
widely and with such high accuracy. Truly, the Radio Section in 1923 was
pioneering in what has proven to be a technological achievement of high
merit.

March 6, Standard "wave" signals were transmitted on several wavelengths

1923 between 550 and 1500 meters (545 and 200 kHz).
A 1-kW electron tube transmitter had been constructed for these
standard frequency transmissions. Both code and voice were used to
announce signals.
April 25, Letter Circular 92 was published, entitled "Radio signals of standard
3 ''
1923 frequency and their utilization."

May-June Standard frequency signals were transmitted on an approximately

1923 weekly schedule with announcements of transmission through the press
and in the Radio Service Bulletin (published monthly by Bureau of
Navigation, Department of Commerce). Accuracy of the transmitted
frequency was quoted as being "better than three-tenths of one per cent."
By now the term "wave-length signals" had given way to "standard
frequency signals." The frequencies were extended in a range from 75 to
2000 kHz (4000 to 150 meters).

"'This was the first of a long series of Letter Circulars to be prepared by the Radio Section on the utilization of the
frequency and time signals transmitted by WWV. In more recent years this information has appeared in several
forms of NBS publications, the latest being NBS Special Publication 236 (yearly updated) entitled "NBS Frequency
and Time Broadcast Services." It was preceded by NBS Miscellaneous Publication 236 entitled "Standard
frequencies and time signals from NBS stations WWV and WWVH," first published in December 1960.

Antennas at Radio Building in 1923, used for initial operation of WWV. Flattop T-antenna, 200 ft long, with
natural frequency of 750 kHz, served as radiator below 300 kHz. Small T-cage antenna, 80 ft long, operated with a
counterpoise 10 ft above ground, with natural frequency of 1350 kHz, served as radiator above 300 kHz.

262
 The frequency transmissions were produced by equipment largely
40
developed by Hoy J. Walls. After about a year's operation of the
dissemination of standard frequencies from WWV, Walls published a
41
detailed account of the equipment being used [22].

1923 In the latter part of the year the Radio Section beganan interesting
project that was some time. A number of stations
carried on for
(broadcasting, commercial, military) were monitored frequently to
observe the constancy of operation on their assigned frequency. The
purpose of the monitoring was to determine the adequacy of various
stations for utilization as standard frequency transmissions in addition to
WWV. In the first published list of these stations {Technical News
Bulletin, Nov. 10, 1923), seven stations met the qualification for
adequacy. The average deviation from the assigned frequency was no
42
greater than 0.3 percent.

1924 Transmissions were scheduled at approximately 2-week intervals. Station

WWV signals could be utilized throughout the eastern half of the United
States. By now the frequency range was 75 to 6000 kHz (4000 to 50
43
meters).
On September 5 a standard frequency signal service was inaugurated
at Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif, over Station 6XBM to cover the
western half of the United States. A crosscheck by three methods kept
stations WWVand 6XBM operating on the same standard frequency
within close tolerances. The transmission continued until June 1926, the
entire effort being that of a voluntary service.

1926 Cooperative effort was made with the American Radio Relay League for
standard frequency dissemination of the higher radio frequencies to 9000
kHz from Station IXM at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

40
Hoy J. Walls entered the Radio Section on July 5, 1922 and transferred to the Bureau of Lighthouses on February
15, 1925.

41
As an editorial note to this paper, it was stated by QST that:
Probably no radio station has ever rendered the American radio world so great a service as that
of WWV in transmitting the standard wave signals. Before these signals began both broadcasting
and amateur waves were uncertain and often wavemeters disagreed violently. Since the signals
began those in the East have been able to make precision calibration on their own wavemeters
and to pass the information on into the West.

The WWV transmitter, completed in February-March 1923, operated over a range of 75 to 2000 kHz at many
preset frequencies, with calibration by comparison against a standard wavemeter of the LC type. The transmitter
was the master-oscillator power-amplifier type, using a 50-watt vacuum tube in a Hartley circuit as the oscillator.
The RF amplifier used four 250-watt tubes to give a power output of 1 kW. A modulator tube and speech amplifier
provided for voice announcements.
A flat kHz
served as the radiator below 300 kHz.
top T-antenna 200 feet long, with a natural frequency of 750
The ground was 1000 feet of heavy copper wire (two turns) buried 6 inches form of a rectangle. A
in the soil in the
small T-cage antenna 80 feet long, operating with a counterpoise 10 feet above the ground, with a natural
frequency of 1350 kHz, served as the radiator above 400 kHz.
The standard frequencies were heard as far away as England and Italy.

In an article published in the July 1923 issue of Radio Broadcast, Dr. Dellinger commented on this method of
42

disseminating standard frequencies by stating: "It seems quite certain that before long the ether itself will be a
standard wavemeter with the frequencies of a number of the transmitting stations as its fixed points." This was a
novel concept but the method was short-lived.
43
The format CW
telegraphy and telephony, was an 8-minute period for each
of transmitted signals, using
frequency. First came a "general a statement of the frequency, for a period of 2 minutes. Then
call," including
came a series of very long dashes, which was the standard frequency signal, with the call letters (WWV)
intervening. This was followed by an announcement of the next frequency after which a 4-minute interval of
silence ensued until the transmitter could be adjusted for the next frequency. Occasionally only code was used for
the announcements to shorten the time of transmission. Eight frequencies were transmitted on any one evening
which was a sufficient number to check the calibration of the wavemeter being covered on a particular evening.
Transmissions began at 10:00 p.m. and continued for several hours.

263
 Later, a similar arrangement was made with Station 9W1 operated by
the Gold Medal Flour Co. in Minneapolis, Minn.
During the year the Bureau suggested discontinuing operation of
WWV for dissemination of standard frequencies. Service by a number of
stations monitored by the Bureau was available, piezo oscillators were
being used, and other laboratories had come into existence for calibrating
wave meters. But a flood of replies to the announcement indicated the
desire of many institutions and individuals that the service by be WWV
continued. The continued service from that time indicates its usefulness
to the Nation.

January A piezo (quartz) oscillator was used for the first time to control an
1927 operating frequency of WWV.
1927 A second receiving station was set up in Kensington, Md. (a suburban
area to the north of WWV) to monitor transmitters serving as standard
frequency stations. For more accurate measurement of these stations a
piezo oscillator was used for the first time in the receiver. All frequencies
were determined in reference to harmonics from the piezo oscillator.
It was in the spring of 1927 that the term "kilohertz" was introduced to

the radio public by order of the Federal Radio Commission. The Bureau
had been using the term for several years in its announcements over
WWV.

Dellinger WWV
(left) explains operation of the transmitter to Orestes H. Caldwell of New York City, a member of the
newly organized Federal Radio Commission, on his first visit to the Bureau on March 17, 1927. The 1-kW
transmitter was used during the early years of standard frequency broadcasts, beginning in March 1923.

264
January The monitoring of stations and the publishing of data of stations suitabl*
1928 for standard frequency signals were discontinued because of the extra
load on the staff.

March Frequencies of WWV

were measured with harmonics of a temperature-
1928 still checked with a working standard
controlled piezo oscillator but
frequency meter (Type B Radio Frequency indicator, a one-point
wavemeter).

1930 At the close of 1930 an 8-year period had ended with WWV located on the
Bureau grounds in Washington. Those taking a major role in the design
and operation of the station were M. S. Strock and H. J. Walls. F. W.
Dunmore and E. L. Hall took part in some of the activity; Dellinger gave
general direction to the project.

January Standard frequency transmissions were begun from a new location at

1931 College Park, Md. (northeast of Washington, D.C.). The College Park site
was being used for the aeronautical navigation projects of the section.
Initially, a 150- watt transmitter operating at 5000 kHz was used. The
frequency was controlled with a quartz crystal to an accuracy of a few
6
parts in 10 of the designated frequency. Although several frequencies
were transmitted, the multifrequency operation was later discontinued.
By 1932 the power was increased to 1 kW and the accuracy of frequency
7
control was better than 2 parts in 10 The station was monitored from
.

the Bureau site in Washington to check agreement with the primary

frequency standard.

265
Transmitting equipment of station WWV, College Park, Md.
Left front, temperature-controlled cabinet housing 200-kHz control piezo oscillator.
Left rear, 150-watt, 5000-kHz transmitter
Center, 1-kW 5000-kHz transmitter
Right, 1/2-kW multifrequency transmitter
Far right, switchboard

December The College Park transmitter was moved to a 25-acre site at the
1932 Experimental Farm of the Department of Agriculture at Beltsville, Md.
northeast of Washington, D.C.

April A new 30-kW transmitter was installed at the Beltsville location

44
1933 operating at 5000 kHz. Regular service began on April 18. The former
1-kW transmitter was used as an emergency standby.
February Regular transmission service at 10 and 15 MHz, with power output of 20
1935 kW, was initiated on February 1 after a trial period. No night emissions
were required on 5, 10, and 15 MHz as reception on one or more of these
three frequencies was possible anywhere in the United States during the
day.
The accuracy of all three frequency transmissions was better than 2
7
parts in 10 at all times. Constancy of frequency during a transmission
9
was within 4 parts in 10 .

44
The new transmitter, designed by L. Mickey and A. D. Martin, was described in their paper on standard-
frequency transmitters [23]. It is interesting to note from their paper the selection process by which the 5000 kHz
operating frequency was chosen:

The advantages of a low or medium frequency were more than offset by the cost of the required
installation, while broadcast frequencies were undesirable for obvious reasons. The choice,
therefore, lay in the region above 1,500 kc/s. A study of transmission phenomena for day and
night, winter and summer conditions showed that no single frequency would actually give
universally satisfactory service. A
frequency of 5,000 kc/s was chosen as the best compromise
value, because of its usual lack of skip distance and yet
its comparatively wide coverage, its

relative freedom from interference with previously assigned stations, and its convenient integral
relation with most frequency standards. The harmonic frequencies of 10,000, 15,000, and 20,000
kc/s were also chosen for future experimental purposes.

(Today WWV
continues to operate at each of these four frequencies plus the harmonic, 25,000 kHz, and the
subharmonic, 2500 kHz.)
A 200-kHz temperature-regulated quartz oscillator frequency standard controlled the transmitter through a
multistage harmonic amplifier and the 30-kW amplifier (frequency range of 4000 to 20,000 kHz).

266
Official inspection by Bureau personnel of transmitting building of station WWV, Beltsville, Md., August 8, 1932.

Left to right:

C. F. Keleher
O. T. Meyer
Clarence W. Elliot Plant Division
B. F. Brandon
Dr. Hobart C. Dickinson chief Heat and Power Division
Oscar L. Britt chief Plant Division
Dr. Lyman J. Briggs director, Bureau
Dr. J. Franklin Meyer asst. chief Electrical Division
Dr. J. Howard Dellinger chief Radio Section
R. R. Chamberlin
George H. Vaneman chief Purchase and Stores Section
Eugene C. Crittenden chief Electrical Division
Henry D. Hubbard asst. to director

Elmer L. Hall Radio Section

Samuel S. Kirby Radio Section
M. Cox
J. H. Courtney Building and Housing Division

267
Transmitting building of station WWV used for the broadcasting of standard frequencies from December 1932 until
destroyed by fire on November 6, 1940. This and other Radio Section buildings were located on the Experimental
Farm of the Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Md., northeast of Washington, D.C. Antennas and
transmission- line feeders can be seen in the photograph.

Thirty- kW transmitter of station WWV, Beltsville, Md., 1932-1940.

Left to right: exciter rectifier, 1-kW exciter unit, 30-kW power amplifier. Control equipment was nearby; large
power supplies were located underneath, in the basement.

268
October 1, The first scheduled broadcast of the 1000-Hz modulation occurred on
1935 transmitted frequencies of 5000, 10,000, and 15,000 kHz. Some
experimental broadcasts of 1000 Hz had been made as early as April
1935. The first broadcast of 1000 Hz was limited to 1 kW of sideband
power but was increased in later years.
1936 Improvements in equipment and operating conditions provided an
accuracy in the standard frequency transmissions of better than 2 parts
7 8
in 10 at all times with an average of 4 parts in 10 .

In FY 1936 the Federal Bureau of Investigation requested NBS to

conduct some radio telephony tests over WWV. Their purpose was to
determine the feasibility of using one transmitter to cover the entire
country for FBI purposes. Approximately 80 observation points in the
country were used to monitor these tests. In addition, the section's
receiving facilities at Meadows, Md. were used to monitor other
transmitters around the country. Although there was some initial
enthusiasm on the part of the FBI for the one-station coverage of the
country, a final decision ruled out the system as it was unreliable for
complete coverage of the country under all operating conditions. (See ch.
VII, pp. 232-233.)
For a period before and during 1936, personnel associated with the
Standard Frequency Dissemination project included W. D. George, E. L.
Hall, V. E. Heaton, E. G. Lapham, and G. H. Lester. They were later
joined by J. H. Shaull (1939).

August 29 At the request of a number of musical organizations, the musical note A

1936 of 440 Hz (A above middle C) was broadcast for the first time on this date
as a scheduled transmission. Some earlier experimentation paved the
45
way for a regular schedule.

June 1 Beginning on this date, an expanded service was initiated that included
1937 1-second pulses of high accuracy and the broadcasting of ionosphere
information, plus the 440- and 1000-Hz frequencies that had been on
regular schedule. For a period of time the 15,000-kHz frequency was
dropped, being replaced with a 20,000-kHz transmission until May 1940.

March 25-26, W. D. George attempted to reflect 20,000-kHz signals from the Moon
1939 using a WWV
transmitter at Beltsville, Md. He was unsuccessful but it
was a pioneering perform this feat.(a)(b)(c)(d)
effort to It was first

successfully performed by the U.S. Signal Corps on January 10, 1946 (see
ch. I, p. 20).(eXf)

(a) A report (Rl 13.410) for the Radio File on the Moon experiment was written by George on March 27, 1939. The
report was accidentally found by the author (WFS) 4 years after the Radio File had been "sifted" through for
useful material in preparation for writing this historical account. The accidental discovery of the report has
revealed a pioneering effort associated with NBS that otherwise probably would never have come to light.
There was no mention of this Moon experiment in the monthly reports or in the 1939 Annual Report of the
Radio Section. W. D. George and Gordon Lester, the two staff members most closely associated with the
development and operation of the WWV
transmitters during the 1930s, have been deceased for a number of
years. It is probable that George was moved to perform the Moon experiment because of Dellinger's suggestion
of such an experiment in his paper published in the February 1939 issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute
entitled, "Some contributions of radio to other sciences."

Under the subject of Standard Frequency Dissemination, the Monthly Report of August 1936 stated, in part:

Considerable testing, adjusting, and inspecting was done on the 50-watt three-frequency
transmitter in preparation for the continuous broadcast of 440 cycles per second from Aug. 29 to
Sept. 12.

The 440-cycle standard musical pitch was included as a five-minute broadcast over the National
Broadcasting Co. stations in the Music Guild Program August 26. The broadcast took place from
the Bureau's Radio Building. The standard frequency of 440 cycles per second was derived from a
multi-vibrator from one of the standard 200-kc oscillators and was transferred by wire line to the
N.B.C. network. During the broadcast, an explanation of its purpose and method, and also an
announcement of the Bureau's broadcast from WWVAug. 29-Sept. 12, were given by the Section
Chief.

269
(b) In order that the reader grasp the nature of this experiment as W. D. George experienced it, the full text of his
report is given:

WDG:ANK Radio Section,

1-6 National Bureau of Standards,
R113.6b March 27, 1939
(later recoded to Rl 13.410)

20,000 kc Radio Reflections from the Moon

At Beltsville on March 25 and 26 attempts were made to receive reflections of 20,000-kc radio waves from the
moon. The experiments were made when the moon was in the first quarter and was passing through its highest
overhead arc. The round-trip distance at that time was about 450,000 miles. From 3:30 P.M. to 5:30 P.M. on
March 25 at approximately 15-minute intervals, short pulses were transmitted in groups of four to six. A
sensitive radio receiver was used for listening on 20,000 kc. No reflections were heard; however, rain clouds
were forming at the time, the local temperature was above normal, and radio noise high.
From March 26 the experiments were repeated using a more sensitive and selective
4:00 P.M. to 5:30 P.M. on
receiving equipment, but no reflections were heard. There was considerable noise and a large amount of it, no
doubt, was man-made. During the tests a strong carrier modulated at 60 cycles was on 20,000 kc a number of
times.

The same antenna was used for transmitting and receiving; it was switched from one position to another in
about 0.2 second. Adjustments were first made on a horizontal antenna about 1/2 wave length above ground
with a reflector 1/4 wave length below the antenna. This antenna, in a north-south plane, was tipped about 15°
to the south; measurements then indicated that the impedance match between transmission line and antenna
was only slightly changed, about 3 percent.
A National receiver type HRO with a single-tube tuned pre-selector was used. Because of noise the full
amplificationwas not used. The radio receiver was quiet without an antenna. On March 25 the radio receiver
was used with its built-in CW
oscillator adjusted for an audio-frequency output of about 1000 cycles. For about
5 minutes listening was done over a small band of frequencies about ±10 kc. On March 26 an external
heterodyne oscillator was used. This consisted of the 10-watt 10,000-kc transmitter in No. 2 building, its
antenna removed. It was supplied with a frequency whose second harmonic was 2,001 kc. A 1000-cycle filter
was used in the radio receiver's output. A very weak field of 20,000 kc in this way could be detected and
greater stability resulted. The set-up was checked before and after each listening test by setting up a 20,000-kc
field at No. 1 building which was just audible in the radio receiver.

Plate power input to the transmitter was 38 kilowatts; its output was approximately 20 kilowatts. The antenna
gain of 4 to 1 would give a radiated power of 80 kilowatts in the direction of the moon. Direction of the beam
was adjusted by sighting on the moon.
It is expected to repeat the experiment in the early morning hours a few weeks hence. A low noise level is then
expected. An antenna having greater directivity could be tried.
Department of Commerce,
Washington, D.C.

(c) A rather puzzling aspect of this experiment relating to the equipment used is what was the method used by
George in pulsing the high powered transmitter? This is not clear in George's report and pulse techniques were
still in their development stages in 1939. In a telephone interview with Vincent E. Heaton (April 1, 1976), a
member Heaton recalled the event but
of the 1939 group responsible for standard frequency dissemination,
stated that he did not take part in the Moon experiment. He had no knowledge of the pulse technique used.
Heaton also stated that George was always eager to experiment with new ideas in equipment or in novel uses
of equipment.

(d) The written account of George's Moon experiment in 1939 was brought to the attention of Dr. Yardley Beers of
theTime and Frequency Division of NBS, Boulder Laboratories. With much interest he calculated the signal
power that George should have received from the Moon's surface based upon the information available from
the written report. Considering a reasonable value for the noise power present in the receiver used, Beers
concludes that George should have had a fairly good chance of detecting the reflected signal, especially so if
George had persisted in repeating the experiment many times distributed over several days or a few weeks.
Beers believes that with some encouragement by George's superiors, this experiment would have been
successful and radio astronomy advanced by a number of years.

(e) The team of John H. DeWitt, Jr. and E. K. Stodola of the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Evans Signal Laboratory,
Belmar, N.J. reported on their successful Moon experiment at a frequency of 111.5 MHz in the March 1949
issue of the Proc. IRE.

Less than year before the Signal Corps' success in detecting radio signals reflected from the Moon, Sir
1

Edward Appleton had indicated that with a powerful transmitter and with transmitting and receiving
antennas of high gain it would be possible to detect radio signals reflected from the Moon. This was asserted by
Appleton in the "Thirty-Sixth Kelvin Lecture" delivered before the Institution of Electrical Engineers (London)
on April 25, 1945. (See "The Thirty-Sixth Kelvin Lecture, 'The Scientific Principles of Radiolocation,' " by Sir
Edward Appleton, J. Inst. Electrical Engineers (London), Vol. 92, Pt. I, No. 57, Sept. 1945, pp. 340-353.)

270
Author's note: W. D. George tried the Moon experiment 6 years before Appleton indicated the possibility of il

success.
A complete account of the Moon experiment (known as Project Diana) performed by DeWitt and Stodola il

1946 was published 34 years later in the May 1980 issue of Spectrum. It is an interesting story in perseverance
to reach a specific goal by hooking up a varied assortment of World War II equipment.

(f) Twelve years George's unsuccessful Moon-reflection experiment, on October 28, 1951, Sulzer and
after
Montgomery of in cooperation with the Collins Radio Co., successfully relayed a continuous-wave 418-
NBS,
MHz radio signal from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to the NBS field station at Sterling, Va. using the Moon as a
reflector. On November 8 they relayed successfully a modulated-wave signal with the message selected by
Morse in 1844, "What hath God wrought," a message associated with a landmark in telecommunications
history. The experimenters believed that this was the first successful Moon-relay at UHF and the first

complete message to be received by Moon reflection. (See Peter G. Sulzer, G. Franklin Montgomery, and Irvin
H. Gerks. "An U-H-F moon relay," Proc. /^Correspondence, Vol. 40, No. 3, Mar. 1952, p. 361. Also, see "Lunar
reflections of UHF communications," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. News Bull, Vol. 36, No. 3, Mar. 1952, p. 35.)

November 6, Station WWV was almost entirely destroyed by fire of an undetermined

1940 origin. Salvaged from the frame building was the standard frequency
equipment located in the basement. With this equipment and a 1-kW
transmitter, all housed in an adjacent building, WWV
was back on the
air at Beltsville on November 11 at 5 MHz without loss in accuracy of the
standard frequency. However, announcements could only be made in
telegraphic code. Second pulses and the 440-Hz frequency came later as
well as a 15-MHz transmission. 4
July An act of Congress provided $230,000 for a new standard frequency radio
1941 transmitting station.

August A new site for WWV

was selected 3 miles south of the former site at the
1941 BeltsvilleResearch Station (formerly the Experimental Farm) of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. An unsuccessful attempt had been made to
secure a site near Langley, Va., northwest of Washington, D.C.

January While waiting for high-power transmitters, sufficient equipment had

1943 been moved into the new brick building such that transmissions could be
made from the new quarters using new antenna systems. The exigencies
of the war called for operating with blackout curtains.

46
During the period of service of WWV at Beltsville there were several other interruptions in transmission ranging
up to several hours duration, due to a variety of causes.

Entrance to grounds of station WWV, Beltsville, Md.; showing transmitting building and antennas.

271
Entrance to station WWV, Beltsuille, Md., April 1943, showing operating personnel.
Left to right: G. H. Lester (engineer-in-charge), E. C. Wolzien, W. D. George (head, standard frequency project), J. F.
Kagle, T. E. Diedrich, J. M. Shaull, H. W. Bond.

August 1, Using the new 10-kW transmitters, broadcast services at a higher power
1943 were initiated at 5, 10, and 15 MHz, with provision for the 440- and 4000-
Hz modulations, and the 1-second pulses.

Three 100-kHz quartz crystals were sealed in insulated boxes and kept
in a concrete vault about 25 feet below the ground level. In this
environment of nearly constant temperature and humidity, the crystal
oscillators served as the source of standard frequencies for operation of
WWV. Each could be used as the controlling frequency by remote
47
switching.

"Technical description of the WWV

facilities that replaced those destroyed by fire appears not to have been
published. However, in 1947 W. D. George published a rather detailed account of the broadcast services available by
WWV [24].

272
Interior view of station WWV, Beltsville, Md., showing transmitter equipment. This building was used from January
1943 until broadcasting ceased on November 30, 1966, when the new WWV
facility near Ft. Collins, Colo, began
operating. Photographed April 1943.

February 1, Transmission at 2.5 MHz began as a regular service using a 1-kW

1944 transmitter. This was primarily a service for evening coverage within
1000 miles of Washington, D.C.
For the first time the 1-second pulse at the 59th second of each minute
was omitted. Response from observers indicated the desirability in this
change of format.

June The Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory authorized the

1944 synchronization of the WWV time signals with those of the Observatory.
October 2, At 1530 hours on this date the automatic announcing equipment was
1945 placed in operation and the broadcast of standard time announcements
was given at 5-minute intervals in telegraphic code.
January 9, Radio propagation disturbance warnings were initiated using equipment
1946 Morse Code announcements
for automatically transmitting International
48
at half-hour intervals.

January 11, A conference between members of the staffs of the Naval Observatory
1946 and NBS resulted in the smoothing out of irregularities between the time
announcements broadcast by the Navy Department. The Navy's time
base was pendulum clocks, while the standard time signals broadcast by
WWV were referenced to the group of quartz crystal oscillators.
December Transmitters operating at 20, 25, 30, and 35 MHz were put into operation.
1946 Assignments of modulation frequencies varied considerably among the
transmitters. NBS now had seven transmitters in operation with 24-
hours-a-day coverage of the entire United States plus many other parts of
the world. Accuracy of the transmitted radio frequencies was now 2 parts
8
in 10 .

48
A
warning service became available during World War II within the Radio Section (see ch. XI, p. 452) but
transmission by WWV
would have aided the enemy in determining the probability of reliable high frequency radio
communications and radio direction finding for paths over the North Atlantic and continental U.S.

273
Equipment in Radio Building on NBS grounds used for monitoring transmissions of WWV located at Beltsville,
Md., 12.5 miles distant. Two instrument racks at right record the transmitted standard frequencies in terms of
Primary Standard. Two racks at left record variations of field intensity at the Bureau site. Cecil M. Kortman
taking data.

November 22, An experimental low-powered standard frequency station, WWVH, began

1948 as a continuous operation at Kihei on the Island of Maui, Territory of
Hawaii. Transmissions at5, 10, and 15 MHz with modulation of 440 Hz
and 1-second pulses were initiated. Agreement in frequencies with
transmissions by WWV
was better than 2 parts in 10 8 Synchronization of .

signals from WWVH

and WWV
was obtained by allowing for a 27-
millisecond delay between Washington and Maui. This new station
provided much better standard frequency coverage of the Pacific area
49
[25].

'
Leo W. Honea was the first chief operator of WWVH and served in this capacity for a number of years.
274
A sea gull's view of station WWVH, located on the south shore of Island of Maui, Hawaii. This station, a
counterpart of WWVto serve the Pacific region, operated from November 22, 1948 to July 1, 1971, when similar
transmission operations were transferred to the Island of Kauai. Hawaii.

January 1, Voice announcements of standard time were initiated at WWV

after 4
1950 years of announcement by telegraphic code, with continuation of
announcements at 5-minute intervals. The 4000-Hz modulation was
discontinued in favor of a 600-Hz tone for several technical reasons.

July 1, New short-wave disturbance forecasts of ionosphere conditions over the

1952 North Atlantic transmission paths were initiated on the WWV
transmission. The quality of transmission, in terms of nine conditions of
transmission ranging from "impossible" to "excellent," was stated in the
12-hour forecasts.

January Transmissions at 30 and 35 MHz were discontinued.

1953
January 5, WWVH initiated a 12-hour forecast of radio propagation conditions over
1954 the North Pacific area. 50

June Two quartz crystals from the National Primary Frequency and Time
1954 Standard at Washington were transported by plane to Denver and then
by automobile to the Boulder Laboratories. The remaining two quartz
al
crystals were moved in October 1954.
D°
Beginning early in 1952, the NBS Radio Propagation Field Station at Anchorage, Alaska initiated a program of
forecasts of radio propagation conditions in the North Pacific and Alaskan areas.
01
This was the time that NBS had moved a National Standard (base or prototype) from the Washington
first

on March 3, 1966, the platinum-iridium meter bar and the kilogram mass standard
location. (Twelve years later,
were moved from Washington to Gaithersburg, Md.)
In moving the frequency standard to Boulder, two of the four quartz crystals were hand-carried to the
Washington Airport by A. H. Morgan and placed on the plane. J. M. Shoaf received them at Denver and hand-
carried them to Boulder where he placed them in operation. During the next several months the two halves of the
frequency standard were intercompared by means of radio transmission from WWV(controlled by the two crystals
remaining in Washington). V. E. Heaton carried on the operation in Washington and Shoaf in Boulder. The
transfer by plane of the two remaining crystals took place on October 11, 1954. Auxiliary equipment associated
with the four crystals was shipped by truck. At no time was the Nation without a reliable National Standard of
Frequency even though the two halves of the standard were separated physically by 1500 miles for several months.
The frequency standard in its entirety was of considerable complexity and is described briefly on pp. 257-258. It
was replaced in 1957 by atomic frequency standards.

275
July 7, Assessment by means of WWV
transmission received at Boulder
1954 Laboratories began on the planned transfer of the National Standards of
Frequency and Time Interval from Washington, D.C. to Boulder, Colo.

1954 Single sideband transmitters were installed at WWV

for the standard
frequencies of 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz with transmission on the upper
52
sideband.

Monitoring of WWV and WWVH at 5, 10, and 15 MHz from a receiving

station at Gunbarrel Hill, Boulder, indicated that Doppler frequency
8
errors existed to the extent of 3 or 4 parts in 10 at certain times. The
effect caused by the up and down movement of ionosphere layers.
is

There was indication of need to provide transmission at much lower

frequency in order to minimize frequency error due to Doppler effect.

January 17, Improvements in equipment and mode of operation increased the

1956
8
accuracy of transmission on this date to 1 part in 10 for both and WWV
WWVH.
9
WWV 9
was kept within 1 part in 10 and to 5 parts in WWVH
10 of the National Frequency Standard.

The initiation of silent periods of approximately 4 minutes beginning

45 minutes and 15 seconds after each hour was accomplished by removal
of carriers from antennas. Later this format of transmissions was
changed.
Time signals on both stations were kept in close agreement with the
new uniform time, known as UT2, determined by the U.S. Naval
53
Observatory at Washington and in Florida.

1956 A questionnaire survey conducted during FY 1956 on the value to the

many WWVand WWVH
users indicated the greatest use to be the
standard radio frequency signals and the time signal portions of the
broadcasts. A similar survey had been made during FY 1952. The value
of the broadcasts was well stated in the NBS Annual Report of 1958.

July 1, Experimental station KK2XEI (later WWVB) began standard frequency

1956 broadcasts at 60 kHz from the Boulder Laboratories with a 2JxW
transmitter (radiated power 2 watts). Observations at Harvard University
and elsewhere indicated the usefulness of 60 kHz (a low frequency
transmission) to minimize frequency error due to Doppler effect of the
ionosphere. These standard frequency experiments were described in a
TNB article [26].

July 1, Broadcasting of Geoalerts (solar and geophysical data) was begun as a

1957 service related to the International Geophysical Year. The Geoalert
service has continued to the present time.

52
Considerable experimentation had indicated that single-sideband operation of standard frequency transmissions
was feasible, with certain advantages to be gained, including spectrum conservation.

53
UT2 (Universal Time) is determined from star transits and includes correction for both polar motion of the
Earth's axis and seasonal variations of the Earth's rotation.
54
To quote from the NBS Annual Report of 1958, p. 97:

The radio-broadcast technical services are widely used by scientific, industrial, and government
agencies and laboratories as well as bymany airlines, steamship companies, the armed services,
missile research laboratoriesand contractors, IGY personnel, satellite tracking stations, schools
and universities, numerous individuals, and many foreign countries. They are of importance to
all types of radio broadcasting activities such as communications, television, radar, air and
ground navigation systems, guided missiles, antimissile missiles, and ballistic missiles.

276
October 9, An atomic frequency standard (commercial type, checked with an
1957 laboratory cesium beam standard) was used for the first time to obser
the constancy of frequency transmissions fromWWV and WWVH. '

1957 Coded signals were transmitted twice each hour by WWV and WWVH to
1958 convey information to IGY (International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958)
stations throughout the world.

June New quartz crystal oscillators for control of WWV and WWVH provided
10
1958 an operating frequency stability of 2 parts in 10 for periods up to 1 day.

October Studies were initiated for establishing a VLF (Very Low Frequency)
1958 broadcast station of high power to disseminate frequency and time
56
standards for worldwide coverage.

January 1, Beginning on this date the NBS cesium beam frequency standard(s) was
57
1960 given a tentative value of 9 192 631 770 hertz. On the same date the
broadcast frequencies of andWWV WWVH
were offset by -150 parts in
10
10 from the Atomic Time to give a time scale in substantial agreement
58
with the value of UT2 at that date.

April 5, Scheduled operation began on the 20-kHz standard frequency station

1960 WWVL at an interim site at Sunset in Four-mile Canyon, northwest of
59
Boulder.

January The WWV broadcasts from Greenbelt, Md. were referenced in frequency
1961 to the NBS primary frequency standard through reception of the WWVL
and WWVB transmissions and manual adjustment of the WWV
oscillator on the basis of phase recordings. Improvements in precision of
the WWV transmission became apparent soon thereafter.

1961 Early in the year the location name of WWV was changed from Beltsville
to Greenbelt, Md. and the post office address was changed from Lanham
60
to Greenbelt, Md.

00
Notice of using an atomic frequency standard as the reference for and WWV WWVH
transmissions was given in
the May 1958 issue of the Proc. IRE. Included with the notice was a table of deviations of the broadcast frequencies
with respect to the U.S. Atomic Frequency Standard during several preceding months.
These deviation tables were published in the Proceedings for the next decade but were discontinued after the
October 1968 issue. However, the format and kind of deviations changed through the years with the technical
advances in equipment and measurement techniques. The information continues to be available in monthly NBS
Time and Frequency Bulletins.
06
The would be located near Boulder, Colo, in an area of high ground conductivity to contribute to high
station
efficiency of antennas. Such an area of 379 acres was located approximately 7 miles north of Ft. Collins to the east
of the foothills, about 50 air miles distance from the Boulder Laboratories. The ground conductivity is exceptionally
high due to the high alkalinity of the soil.
°7
In terms of one unit (second) of Ephemeris Time. See reference [74].

58
For more detailed information on the generation and dissemination of time scales by NBS, the reader is referred
to references [27-29].

59
This pioneering effort in the transmission of a standard frequency at the very low frequency (VLF) of 20 kHz is
described in considerable detail in aTNB article [30]. Although this installation radiated less than 15 watts of radio
power, observations were made as far away as New Zealand. Accuracy of frequency measurement at several
thousand miles was increased by more than a thousandfold above that of the transmissions from WWV. The
frequency transmissions were monitored from Boulder by three different methods in terms of the NBS frequency
standard.
Because of an entry of a new technical service into a frequency band of long-term usage and worldwide
coverage, NBS had to negotiate with no less than three national and international groups to be permitted to
operate at 20 kHz for standard frequency transmissions.
60
In the late 1950's the expanding community of Greenbelt, Md. (of Great Depression fame) began to edge close to
the site of WWV on the grounds of the Beltsville Research Station of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. NASA's
Goddard Space Center was literally next door to WWV and finally became legal owner of the WWV For site.

various reasons, but primarily because of a more central location and closer proximity to the Boulder Laboratories,
it was better to move WWVto the new Ft. Collins site than to remain in the Washington, D.C. area.

277
October 28, A new technique of controlling the accuracy of standard frequency
1961 broadcasts from a distant frequency standard was put into operation. By
an automatic pulse-locking technique, the 20-kHz transmission from
WWVL at Sunset was compared with the U.S. Frequency Standard at the
Boulder Laboratories, approximately 11 miles air distance. A radio
transmission link connected the two facilities. Being successful with this
operational control, it was with confidence that the planned frequency
transmission facilities near Ft. Collins could be frequency-controlled from
the Boulder Laboratories with a very high degree of frequency stability
11
(at least 2 parts in 10 ).

View to west at Sunset in Four-mile Canyon, northwest of Boulder, with Continental Divide in distance. Across
canyon was stretched a cable that served as the antenna for experimental transmission of standard frequency at 20
kHz. Scheduled operation of station WWVL began on April 5, 1960. Accuracy of frequency measurement at several
thousand miles distance was increased by one-thousand-fold over broadcasts from WWV. In 1963 operation of
WWVL began at the Ft. Collins, Colo. site.

1962 NBS began construction of new LF and VLF antennas and transmitting
facilitiesnear Ft. Collins, Colo.

April 24, The time scale transmitted by WWV

was brought into synchronization,
1963 within 5 microseconds, with the time scale at the Boulder Laboratories.
This was accomplished by transporting a high-precision quartz clock
between Boulder and the WWV
transmitter at Greenbelt, Md.

July 5, Station WWVB began transmitting at the new Ft. Collins site after
1963 several years of operation at the Boulder Laboratories on a low-powered
radiated signal. The 60-kHz transmission was phase-locked by a VHF
radio servo-loop to the U.S. Working Frequency Standard (consisting of
several commercial-type atomic frequency standards) located at the
Boulder Laboratories, approximately 50 miles air distance. Stability of
11
control of the transmitted frequency was about 2 parts in 10 The .

transmitter was later replaced with one of 7-kW radiated power and later
with one of 13-kW with an improved ground system.

278
View to northwest from JfOO-ft height at top of one of the masts supporting antenna array for station WWVB, near Ft.

Collins, Colo. The 60-kHz transmitter is housed in building seen near center of picture.
August NBS radio station WWVL
commenced transmitting a 20-kHz standard
1963 frequency at the new site near Ft. Collins after several years of operating
61
at Sunset, Four-mile Canyon, near Boulder.

1,1
The expanded facilities of WWVB and WWVL
were dedicated on August 13, 1963, by Dr. Astin, director of NBS,
at a technical session held at the Boulder Laboratories.The session was addressed by Dr. R. D. Huntoon, deputy
director of NBS, who spoke on the subject of "The present status of national standards for the basic physical
quantities." The address was followed by the presentation of five papers relating to technical features of the two
stations and the use of low frequencies for frequency and time transmissions. The dedication ceremony was a
special program of the Symposium on Ionospheric Propagation of Very Low Frequency Waves being held at the
Boulder Laboratories.

Each two stations was fitted with a 50-kW transmitter with radiated output from the large antennas of 1
of the
kW at 20 WWVL, and 7 kW at 60 kHz for WWVB. The antennas were designed by William W. Brown, an
kHz for
antenna expert and a retiree of the General Electric Co. For his contributions to the designs, Brown was awarded
(in 1962) the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for outstanding service in electronic
engineering as required in the establishment of long-wave standard frequency broadcast stations." The two stations
were controlled by the U.S. Atomic Frequency Standard at the Boulder Laboratories by a 100-mile round-trip servo-
loop designed primarily by R. L. Fey of the Frequency-Time Broadcast Services Section.
As a portion of the dedication ceremonies, a bronze plaque and a large framed photograph were placed at the
Ft. Collins site in memory of William D. George. George was killed in an automobile accident in Switzerland on
February while attending the Xth Plenary Assembly of the International Radio Consultative Committee
12, 1963,
(CCIR) at Geneva as a U.S. Delegate.* For 33 years George had taken part in the radio work of NBS. In 1946 he was
appointed chief of the High Frequency Standards Section and later served as acting chief of the Radio Standards
Division for approximately 5 years. At the time of his death he was a consultant to the chief of the Radio Standards
Physics Division.
George was posthumously awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service in 1964
"for long and distinguished service both internationally and nationally in the field of radio propagation and radio
standards."

*The W. D. George Memorial Award was established in 1963 to honor William D. George. The award is for the best
undergraduate student project on instrumentation, in a specific year, related to the activities of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers. The award consists of a Certificate of Recognition and a monetary award.

In August 1963, in preparation for the dedication of stations WWVB

and WWVL, Dr. John M. Richardson (center),
chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory, discusses potential coverages of the stations with Dr. L. Yardley Beers
(left), chief of the Radio Standards Physics Division, and Alvin Morgan (right), chief of the Frequency and Time

Dissemination Section

280
Portrait photograph and plaque in tribute to William D. George for placement at Ft. Collins, Colo, site of WWVB
and WWVL. George was killed in automobile accident while attending an international meeting in Switzerland
early in 1963. For 33 years he was associated with the frequency standards programs of NBS. This scene in
auditorium of Boulder Laboratories at dedication of the two frequency standard stations, August 13, 1963. Left to
right, Dr. John M. Richardson, chief of Radio Standards Laboratory; Dr. Robert D. Huntoon, NBS deputy
director; Dr. Allen V. Astin, NBS director; Russell B. Scott, manager of Boulder Laboratories; Dr. L. Yardley
Beers, chief of Radio Standards Physics Division.

July 1 Voice announcements added to WWVH, Maui, Hawaii, for station

1964 identification and time (Hawaiian standard) every 5 minutes. Previously,
time announcements were in code.

January 1, The broadcasting of the international unit of time (atomic second) over
1965 WWVB as determined by the NBS cesium beam frequency standards was
begun. For the first time NBS was broadcasting the national standards of
frequency and time interval, as well as time signals, based on an atomic
62
time scale, all controlled by the U.S. Frequency Standard [31].

July 1, NBS radio station WWVB began broadcasting a continuous time code
1965 through level shift of the carrier.

62
On February 13, 1965, David H. Andrews, chief of the Frequency -Time Broadcast Services Section, was awarded
the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for significant improvement of frequency and
time broadcasts." Andrews retired from NBS in January 1968. He was followed by Peter P. Viezbicke as chief of the
section.

281
December 1, The midnight hour of 0000 Greenwich mean time beginning the day of
1966 December 1, 1966, at 0 longitude was selected as the time to shut down
WWV at Greenbelt, Md. and transfer the frequency and time 63
transmissions to a site near Ft. Collins, Colo.
At 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, November 30, 1966, shut WWV
down its RF transmission at Greenbelt, Md. At this "zero hour" of 5:00
p.m. Mountain Standard Time, November 30, 1966, (0000 hours December
1, 1966 G.m.t.), a switch was thrown by Dr. H. M. Altschuler to initiate

transmissions from the new WWV

facility.
64
At the time, Altschuler was
acting chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory. Approximately 80 guests
had been invited to view the ceremony at the Ft. Collins site. Among the
guests were two former engineers-in-charge of WWV, Gordon Lester and
Frederick Sera, and also Leo Honea who was engineer-in-charge for the
last 18 months of operation of WWV
at Greenbelt. Richard F. Carle was
the first engineer-in-charge of the new Ft. Collins facility. WWV
63
To acknowledge the reception of "first day" signals from WWV at its new location, the Frequency-Time Broadcast
Services Section mailed QSL cards to approximately 10,000 amateurs of the radio audience. To qualify for the First
Day QSL card it was necessary to quote correctly the new WWV
voice announcement and to have the report
postmarked before December 2, 1966, local time. (Note: QSL is the abbreviation for "I acknowledge receipt of your
message." As a question it means "Can you give me acknowledgement of receipt?")
A contest was sponsored for the design of a new QSL card to be used after the First Day acknowledgement. The
first place award was given to Donald W. Valentine, an illustrator in the Institutes of Environmental Research, for
his design motif "Indians giving way to settlers in the Ft. Collins area." The colonial setting of the earlier WWV
had given way to a setting associated with the opening of the West.
64
Of the six transmitters (plus two standbys) at the new facility, three were designed to radiate at 10 kW on 5, 10,
and 15 MHz, and the other three at 2.5 kW on 2.5, 20, and 25 MHz. Frequency control of the transmitters came
from three independent frequency generators, each including a commercial-type cesium beam atomic frequency
standard. By HF radio link these generators were phase-referenced to the NBS Frequency Standard at the Boulder
Laboratories; such comparisons were checked periodically by portable clock visits. The accuracy of the frequency
For more technical details see NBS Technical Note 611 [32].
11
transmissions in 1966 was 1 part in 10 .

Station WWV located at the NBS site near Ft. Collins, Colo., approximately 50 miles from the Boulder Laboratories.
The new WWV station was placed in operation at 5 p.m. mountain standard time, November 30, 1966.

282
At the "zero hour" of midnight Greenwich mean time and 5 p.m. m.s.t, November 30, 1966 (0000 hours December 1,
1966, G.m.t.) Dr. Helmut M. Altschuler (acting chief, Radio Standards Laboratory) throws switch to signal
initiating operation of WWV
at NBS site, near Ft. Collins, Colo. Flash by nearby free-lance photographer
momentarily blinded view by 80 spectators of the switching ceremony. TV cameraman at right. The final broadcast
announcement of time and frequency signals from WWV, Greenbelt, Md. was received by a local receiver.

First Day QSL cardsent to listeners of initial broadcast of signals from station WWV located at NBS site near Ft.
Collins, Colo.To qualify for card, the listener had to correctly identify the new voice announcements and have his
"
mailed reply postmarked by midnight of the "first day.

283
 imtL-kd (uqm# ml tint >ik uph md d jiMi 4 tk mil,

QSL (I acknowledge receipt) card designed for use by WWV after relocation of station to new NBS site near Ft.
Collins, Colo.Card was sent to listener acknowledging his reception of signals from WWV. The design motif is
"Indians giving way to settlers in the Ft. Collins area. "

Goodrid Hicks of the Frequency and Time Dissemination Section sorts the "mountains" of mail received after station
WWV went on the air at the NBS Ft. Collins site on November 30, 1966. Approximately 10,000 amateurs of the
radio audience reported correctly on the new WWV
voice announcements and mailed their reports in time to
qualify for First Day QSL cards.

284
 Beginning in 1928 and continuing to 1935 W. D. George was
engineer-in-charge of WWV. 65 From 1935 to 1950 Gordon H. Lester i

the engineer-in-charge. Later Lester joined the Harry Diamond

Laboratories in Washington, D.C. Frederick Sera was the engineer-in-
charge from 1950 to 1964. Sera is now with the Office of Communications,
Department of Commerce, Washington. 66 Leo W. Honea, formerly at
WWVH, Maui, was engineer-in-charge of WWV
from 1964 to the closing
date on December 1, 1966. He is now retired.
An interesting and informative account of the installation at Ft.
Collins and the NBS Time and Frequency program was published by Dr.
Yardley Beers for the amateur radio periodical QST shortly after WWV
was moved to Colorado [33]. At the time of writing Dr. Beers was chief of
the Radio Standards Physics Division at the Boulder Laboratories.

April 28, The voice announcements on WWV

and WWVH
began using the time
1967 reference of the Greenwich meridian in England rather than the local
time at each site.

July 29, WWV —

Day July 29, 1967, was the day selected to recognize the
1967 achievements made by NBS in the dissemination of time and frequency
standards via radio broadcasting. The day was featured at the Ft. Collins
site with an address by the Honorable Gordon Allot, U.S. Senator from
Colorado.

August 1, The International Amateur Radio Union awarded its "Worked all Con-
1967 tinents"' (WAC) certificate to WWV. Concurrently, the American Radio
Relay League awarded its "Worked all States" (WAS) certificate. Nor-
mally, these certificates are awarded on the basis of two-way commu-
nication; these awards to WWV are unusual in that the communication is

a one-way operation.

1968 Propagation characteristic studies of WWVB

(60 kHz) and (20WWVL
kHz) transmissions indicated that significant improvement of the
precision of timing signals could be achieved at distant receiving
locations. Taken into account were phase fluctuations of the signals and
correlation between signals from the two stations.

May The VHF radio continuous phase loop, used between Ft. Collins and
1968 Boulder, Colo, for comparing the broadcast master clock with the NBS
67
clock, was replaced with a new television (TV) technique.

December NBS began broadcasting HF time signals on the coordinated Universal

1968 Time (UTC) system coordinated by the Bureau International de
as
l'Heure (BIH), Paris, France (International Time Bureau).

65
See footnote 61.

66
In February 1962 Sera was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service, the
citation reading "for outstanding achievement and improvement of the continuous broadcast of technical radio
services from Station WWV."
This method was originally by Tolman, et al. in Czechoslovakia. Initially, horizontal sync pulses from Denver TV
67

stations were used but were replaced in November 1969 by the line-10 horizontal sync pulse in the odd field of the
vertical blanking interval. The Boulder and Ft. Collins master clocks can be synchronized to at least 30
nanoseconds [34].

285
July 1, WWVH initiated transmissions from its new location near Kekaha on
68
1971 the Island of Kauai, Hawaii.

68
The older site of WWVH
on the Island of Maui was being eroded by sea water and had to be abandoned. Also, the
transmitting equipment of the late 1940's had reached a state of obsolescence.
The 10-kW transmitters operate at frequencies of 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 kHz. Frequency control comes from
locally based commercial-type cesium beam atomic frequency standards. These standards, in turn, are compared
with the NBS Frequency Standard by phase-locked signals from WWVB, portable clock checks, and through U.S.
Navy clocks via Loran-C measurements.
Charles L. Trembath, formerly of the Electromagnetics Division, was placed as engineer-in-charge of the new
WWVH facility. Previously, Sadami Katahara had been engineer-in-charge of the transmitter at Maui. In 1966
Katahara received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for Superior Service "for continued, faithful, and
competent performance as chief of the NBS field station at Maui, Hawaii."
The Silver Medal for Meritorious Servicewas awarded to Katahara in 1971 and was presented to him on
August by Assistant Secretary of
24, 1971, Commerce James H. Wakelin at the dedication of the new WWVH
station on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii. The citation read in part, referring to the former station on the Island of
Maui: "The outstanding reputation of this field site is primarily due to the outstanding leadership of its Engineer-
in-charge, Sadami Katahara. The excellence in engineering, planning, and organization provided by Mr. Katahara
has resulted in optimum efficiency in providing the vital service of time and frequency. He has coordinated
. . .

the efforts of his own staff and other agencies in bringing about solutions to difficult problems. Mr. Katahara's
constant willingness to assume additional duties for the U.S. Department of Commerce reaches far beyond normal
requirements and expectations."

286
July 1, At stations WWV and WWVH voice announcements of Greenwich mean
1971 time were made each minute instead of at 5-minute intervals. Also, audio
tone of 500 Hz added to those of 440 Hz and 600 Hz, and Geoalerts and
Propagation Forecasts were in voice instead of code. time WWVH
announcements were given by a feminine voice, with a masculine voice
at WWV.
July 1, Time-of-day live broadcasts via telephone were initiated by direct dialing
1971 of a Boulder, Colo, number (303-499-7111). By 1975 the calling rate was
about 1 million calls per year.

January 1, A time-scale adjustment was made on transmission from WWV, WWVH,

1972 and WWVB such that the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) system
would be an integral number of seconds difference in respect to
International Atomic Time (IAT), a base for the UTC system, as
maintained by the Bureau International de l'Heure (International
Bureau of the Hour), Paris, France. This action was taken at the
recommendation of the International Radio Consultative Committee
(CCIR).

June 30, The first "leap second" in history was made by WWV and WWVB at 6:00
1972 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, corresponding to 0000 hours Greenwich
mean time on July 1, 1972. WWVH
made a corresponding addition of 1
second to its time scale. The addition of 1 second to the UTC system was
in accordance with the agreement with the International Radio
Consultative Committee (CCIR) and was the first action taken after the
69
initial adjustment for the new scale on January 1, 1972.

July 1, NBS VLF station WWVL

(20 kHz) transmissions were curtailed. This
1972 transmission was generally considered experimental and is available to
broadcast VLF programs on an intermittent basis, depending upon needs
70
and funds.
1973 NBS observed the golden anniversary of WWV
years of with 50
broadcasting of standard frequencies dating from 6, 1923 [35]. March
Standard time announcements were to come more than 20 years later.
Thanksgiving Day, November 22, marked the silver anniversary of
WWVH, Hawaii, first on the Island of Maui, then in 1971 on the Island of
Kauai.

April 1, Time-of-day telephone announcements were initiated from WWVH. This

1973 service accommodates the Hawaiian Islands. The calling rate in 1975 was
about 200,000 calls per year.

July 4, Beginning of round-the-clock broadcasting by WWVB

on its 60-kHz
1973 standard frequency plus standard time signals and time intervals.

January 1, Upon recommendation CCIR the long-used announcement of WWV

of the
1974 and WWVH in Greenwich mean time (G.m.t. was changed to Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC) on January 1, 1974). UTC designates, more
precisely, the reference time scale maintained and disseminated by NBS
for a number of years.

69
An interesting and fairly extensive popular account of the first "leap second" can be found in the August 27, 1973
issue of The New Yorker.

70
From its beginning in 1960, station WWVL located at Sunset in Four-mile Canyon near Boulder was operated on
an experimental basis to determine its feasibility as a standard time and frequency broadcasting facility. Although
showing relatively good success for frequency comparisons, time comparisons were more difficult and would require
additional new VLF equipment at the Ft. Collins site. Even in its new Ft. Collins location, the radiated power of
about 2 kW was quite limited in comparison with similar installations such as operated by the U.S. Navy.
Advancing technology has brought on low frequency communication and navigation systems (Omega and Loran-C)
which could serve well for the dissemination of standard frequency and time information.

287
January 1, The fourth leap second in history (since the first at the end of the day of
1975 June 30, 1972) was added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or the
international time scale, to change the standard time signals of WWV,
WWVH, and WWVB. The change occurred at Boulder Laboratories at
5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, December 31, 1974, corresponding to
0000 hours January 1, 1975, at the Royal Greenwich Observatory,
England (on zero meridian for time zones). 71
January 8, An extensive 4-month user survey was initiated to determine which
1975 services of WWV
and WWVH
could be modified with least inconvenience
to the general public. Alternatives for operating these HF broadcasts
would be based upon a government-wide effort to reduce costs and to
conserve energy. The survey indicated that the voice time-of-day
announcements are the most used services of the HF broadcasts [37].

71
The fourth leap second differed from the previous three in that a change in the procedure was recommended by
the CCIR in July 1974. The change consisted of a 0.9- second tolerance between UTC and UTI (astronomical time)
time scales in place of the former tolerance of 0.7 second [36].

QSL (I acknowledge receipt) card designed for use by WWVH, Kauai, Hawaii, in recognition of Hawaii 's celebration

of U.S. Bicentennial. The card honors Bicentennial voyage of a Polynesian voyaging canoe that sailed from
Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976 without modern navigational aids. The voyage was sponsored by the National
Geographic Society and private individuals. Illustration was furnished by Polynesian Voyaging Society. Card (in
color) was sent to listener acknowledging his reception of signals from WWVH. (David Lewis, " Hokulea' follows
the stars to Tahiti, "National Geographic Mag., Vol. 150, No. 4, Oct. 1976, pp. 512-537.)

288
 Sequel to the WWV Story
Advanced technology has revealed that it is possible to disseminate time signals with
very high accuracy by methods other than by direct transmission to the user from ;

specialized broadcasting station. Also, systems exist (or can be modified) other than the
WWVL transmitter (now discontinued as a regular VLF transmitter) by which standard
references can be disseminated at VLF or higher frequencies. 72

1. The synchronization of time and frequency signals

The synchronization of time scales and of time signals has been carried on successfully
by NBS since 1963 by physically transporting a crystal clock or atomic frequency standard
from one location to a distant location. For synchronization by comparison on a continuous
basis, a phase-lock system was used via radio transmission between two locations. Each of
these systems supplements the other for check on the accuracy of synchronization.
Nevertheless, they are independent methods and the "traveling clock" can suffice without
radio transmission in a synchronizing process [38]. Although moving a portable atomic clock
from one location to another as a comparison method yields high precision, it is an
expensive and time-consuming operation.
Within recent years there has been a growing need for the synchronization of timing
systems controlled with the precision of atomic clocks. These systems range from two-station
coordination to scattered worldwide systems. Vagaries of transmission, due primarily to
irregular skywave reflections, place limitations on the radio method of synchronization. This
was true even for the relatively short-distance use of the closed-loop phase-locked servo-
system formerly used via VHF signals between Boulder and Ft. Collins, Colo.

a) Synchronization via satellites

During a 10-day period June and July 1967, NBS was successful in synchronizing
in
precision clocks (portable-type crystal and cesium beam to 5 microseconds) at several widely
separated locations (Barstow, Calif, and Maui, Hawaii; Barstow and Boulder, Colo. This was
accomplished by using a VHF satellite transponder (reception at 149 MHz, transmission at
135 MHz) operating on the NASA Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-1)[39].
More recently, beginning in August 1971, the Frequency-Time Dissemination Research
Section engaged in a 2-year program of determining the advantages that might be gained in
broadcasting time and frequency signals from a satellite stationed at a fixed position above
the Earth's equator (geostationary). After various considerations of antennas and receivers
and programming of information, successful experiments were carried out with the
transmitter at Boulder Laboratories and receiving stations located at Boulder and
Massachusetts in the United States and at observatories in Peru and Brazil. A transponder
on the NASA ATS-3 satellite received the 149-MHz signal from NBS Boulder and
retransmitted the information at 135 MHz. Coverage of the signals retransmitted from a
location about 35,000 km above the equator included the North and South American
Continents, much of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and portions of Europe and Africa
totaling about 40 percent of the Earth's surface with line-of-sight propagation. This contrasts
with the WWV
and WWVH
high frequency signals which, besides being limited by noise
and propagation vagaries, cover only 10 to 15 percent of the Earth with equal reliability.
Programmed information relayed over the system contained voice announcements of
time-of-day and position of satellite, second ticks, 1-kHz frequency-modulated signals, and a
time code based on the NBS time scale. The 15-minute program was relayed twice a day, 5
days a week. Time delay, from the NBS master clock (UTC) to the receiver or user's clock,
was approximately one-fourth second with a time accuracy of several milliseconds [40,41].
72
Omega is a VLF navigation system presently designed for the basic frequency of 10.2 kHz using the hyperbolic
mode of navigation. Eight transmitters located at fixed points will enable global navigation. Completion of the
system is expected by late 1976 with the exception of one transmitter. The system is quite adaptable to the

dissemination of precise time and of a standard frequency as atomic oscillators are used for frequency sources.
Loran-C is a navigation system operating with pulsed modulation on a carrier frequency of 100 kHz, using the
hyperbolic mode of navigation. Unlike Omega, it is more susceptible to terrain effects and sky-wave transmission
because of the higher frequency. The system is quite adaptable to the dissemination of precise time and a standard
frequency.

289
 There was ample evidence that some features of the system were superior to and WWV
WWVH transmissions and certainly it could supplement the services of these two stations.
There also was optimism that accuracy of measurement could be substantially increased.
Engaged in the 2-year satellite program were D. Wayne Hanson, Wallace F. Hamilton,
and Alvin J. D. Clements.

b) Synchronization via TV transmission

Among the several methods of accurately disseminating time information today is a

relatively simpleand quick method developed and tried in Europe in 1964, that of utilizing
the synchronizing pulses of an existing television system (incorporating microwave relay
compare precision clocks.
links) to
The Frequency-Time Dissemination Research Section commenced extensive study of
synchronization via TV signals for adaptation to NBS systems [42]. From May 1968 until
December 1969 the master clock (operated from a local cesium beam standard) for WWV
was compared daily with the UTC (NBS) clock at the Boulder Laboratories by using the
horizontal synchronization pulses from a nearby TV station as the transfer standard. Since
December 1969 the daily clock comparisons have employed a refined procedure using the
line-10 horizontal sync pulse in the odd field of the vertical blanking interval from Denver
TV stations. Synchronization of WWV time signals to at least 30 nanoseconds is obtained by
this procedure, a marked advance over the earlier methods used.
For additional information on the synchronization and dissemination of time signals by
73
television see NBS publications [43-45].
A became available in 1974, that of
service of interest to users of frequency standards
several methods of calibrating frequency standards and oscillators via live color TV
programs. The service comes from a rubidium frequency standard at the originating studio
of each of three major television networks that is measured at NBS Boulder with respect to
the rate of the NBS Atomic Time Scale, AT(NBS). One method yields an accuracy of
n 74
frequency measurement of 1 part in 10 over a 15-minute observation period [46].
Today, no special receiver is necessary to tune in on WWV. The time signals can be
received on the nearest telephone anywhere in the continental United States ("Lower 48" or
contiguous states). This service out of Boulder, Colo, from a direct line to the station at Ft.
Collins became available on September 10, 1970, although publicly announced later (July 1,
1971). The signals include a voice announcement of Greenwich mean time (now UTC) every
minute, 1 -second time intervals, standard audio-frequency tones, and special announcements
of interest to radio operators, geophysicists, and navigators. A time-of-day service also
became available from WWVH
in April 1973.

73
For a recent and extensive coverage of the generation, dissemination, and applications in the domain of time and
frequency, the reader is referred to a special issue on the subjects in Proceedings of the IEEE [47]. J. L. Jesperson,

B. E. Blair, and L. E. Gatterer of the Frequency-Time Dissemination Research Section served as guest editors.

A selection of NBS papers of considerable interest relating to the radio dissemination of standard frequencies
and time signals will be found in NBS Special Publication 300 (Precision Measurement and Calibration), Volume 5,
entitled "Frequency and Time."

More recently, an NBS Monograph of a tutorial nature under the editorship of Byron E. Blair was published in
1974 that gives extensive coverage to time and frequency subjects [48]. In addition to NBS authorship, several
outside authors were invited to participate in the writing of this informative volume.

Dicky D. Davis of the Time and Frequency Service Section has been the principal investigator in the TV timing
74

project. On November 6, 1975, Davis received the NBS Applied Research Award "for the development of novel time
and frequency dissemination methods, equipment, and services using existing nationwide television signals." The
award was established in 1975 to recognize superior achievement in the practical application of the results of
scientific or engineering research. Davis was the first recipient.

290
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Relationship (December 31, 1975) between the NBS Frequency Standards and the NBS broadcasting and
dissemination of standard time and frequency, initiated May 1968 and later improved. Time of day from WWV
signals via telephone were initiated July 1, 1971; from WWVH
signals were initiated April 1973.

291
2. On duty with WWV
Beginning with the formation of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory in 1946,
WWV was operated by the High Frequency Standards Section under the general
supervision of W. D. George, chief of the section. With the formation of the Radio Standards
Division after the move to Boulder, Colo, in 1954, the Radio Broadcast Service Section was
organized within the division with Alvin H. Morgan as chief. Although located near
Washington. D.C., WWV
was supervised by this section from the Boulder Laboratories. The
same was true of the Hawaiian station WWVH. Early in 1962 the section became a part of
the newly formed Radio Physics Division (later to be known as the Radio Standards Physics
Division) with Morgan continuing as section chief.
In 1963 operations of the Radio Broadcast Service Section were divided among two
newly formed sections, the Frequency-Time Dissemination Research Section, with Morgan
as chief, and the Frequency-Time Broadcast Services Section, with David H. Andrews as
chief. The latter section had responsibility for operating stations and and WWV WWVH
later the added stations WWVL
and WWVB. The time and frequency programs became a
part of the new Time and Frequency Division in September 1967 and included the two
sections mentioned above. James A. Barnes was appointed division chief, and Morgan
became a consultant to the chief of the Division. 75 After the retirement of Andrews on
January 15, 1968, Peter P. Viezbicke became chief of the Frequency-Time Broadcast Services
Section with general supervision of the Ft. Collins and Hawaii facilities. James L. Jesperson
became chief of the Frequency-Time Dissemination Research Section.
As facilities at the Ft. Collins site became operative in 1963, Richard F. Carle was
76
designated as engineer-in-charge and served in this capacity until October 1969. John T.
Stanley became engineer-in-charge, after entering the Bureau on June 19, 1969, until
October 1974 when he was assigned as project leader for automation of NBS broadcast
stations controlled by the Time and Frequency Division. The duties of engineer-in-charge
then were taken over by John B. Milton. On January 1, 1975, the Frequency-Time
Dissemination research Section and the Frequency-Time Broadcast Services Section were
combined as one section in the Time and Frequency Division with the title Time and Fre-
quency Services Section. Roger E. Beehler was appointed chief of this new section with
combined responsibilities of the previous two sections; James Jespersen became a consultant
to the division. In August 1975, Peter Viezbicke was transferred to station WWVH, Kauai,
Hawaii to aid in antenna modification and the automation of this HF broadcast station.
Others associated with the Frequency-Time dissemination Research Section in recent
years are: Byron E. Blair, Dicky D. Davis, R. Lowell Fey, Lawrence E. Gatterer, Wallace F.
Hamilton, and George Kamas.

ATOMIC FREQUENCY AND TIME STANDARDS 77

The concepts of utilizing the resonances of atoms and molecules as frequency and
length standards in terms of recent electronic technology have existed only within the past
several decades. However, it is interesting to note that Lord Kelvin proposed the use of
atoms as fundamental natural standards nearly a century ago [49]. It was at Clerk
Maxwell's suggestion that Lord Kelvin proposed the use of the vibrational states of
78
hydrogen and sodium atoms as natural standards of frequency and length (wavelength).

75
Alvin H. Morgan retired from NBS on December 28, 1968.

76
Richard F. Carle entered August 18, 1963, and resigned from NBS on January 17, 1970.

77
This account of the development of frequency and time standards covers the period through 1974, although the
program continued to be very active thereafter.

78
most interesting that the cesium atom (a member, along with sodium, of the alkali metal family) was the
It is

firstelement to be used in an atomic beam frequency standard in 1952 and the hydrogen atom in a hydrogen maser
as a frequency standard in 1960. The world had to wait approximately 75 years before Lord Kelvin's proposal came
into being as an atomic frequency standard.

292
 1. The world's first atomic clock
—
The first atomic clock based upon a frequency standard using the strong ammonia
— 80
absorption line had its origin in the field of microwave absorption spectroscopy. The 3.3
inversion frequency of ammonia was reported by Cleeton and Williams of the University of
Michigan in 1934 as the first experimentally observed microwave spectrum line. Their
apparatus was crude by present-day standards and it was not until after World War II that
a large variety of microwave equipment became available that would provide the means of
making microwave spectra useful for many purposes. During the period of 1947-1948 several
groups of investigators reported on the experimental frequency stabilization of klystrons
with a spectral line (ammonia). It would now be a significant step forward to achieve the
inverse (time rather than frequency), that of stabilizing a clock to a sufficient degree that
the device would surpass all former clocks in accuracy of timekeeping. Such a device could
truly be called an "atomic" clock. Early in 1948 Dr. Harold Lyons, chief of the Microwave
Standards Section, and several of his coworkers initiated an experimental study of the 3.3
absorption line of ammonia for use as a frequency standard. This would be accomplished by
the application of microwave techniques. On April 30, 1948, at the Washington meeting of
the American Physical Society, Dr. Lyons presented an invited paper entitled "Microwave
Frequency Standards," which outlined the advantages to be gained in the use of atomic (or
molecular) vibrations for frequency standards [52].
The (CRPL) Quarterly Report for April, May, June 1948 stated:
Dr. Lyons presented a discussion of atomic clocksand frequency standards
using spectroscopic methods in his paper. This was the first proposal of a
clock using the method of stabilizing a complete quartz-crystal oscillator-
frequency multiplier chain.

On August the world's first atomic clock was given its initial run. This clock,
12, 1948,
operating the 23,870.1-MHz absorption line of ammonia, was given a public
from
announcement to the press on January 6, 1949 [53]. At this press conference, held at the
Bureau, Secretary of Commerce Sawyer spoke on the potential uses of such a clock and Dr.
Condon explained in simple terms the property of the ammonia molecule as it applied to the
clock. Dr. Lyons presented a simple explanation of the clock and spoke on some of the
applications it would have in science and engineering.

79
The terms "atomic clock" and "atomic frequency standard" are used interchangeably to a considerable extent in
Bureau has used the term "spectrometer" in place of clock or frequency standard.
this discourse. Occasionally the
Within NBS the term atomic clock was used almost exclusively in the early stage of development of the atomic
frequency standards program. And the first development was truly a clock that indicated real time. (In actuality,
an atomic clock incorporates electronic circuitry that integrates the cycles of pulsations of an atomic frequency
standard over a considerable length of time. Later developments were more in the direction of frequency standards
)

per se. For an interesting discussion on such terminology the reader is referred to Richardson's paper "Time and Its
Inverse" [50].

The term "atomic clock" first appeared in the NBS literature during the 1920's. On the first page of the
Bureau's Standards Yearbook, 1928, Miscellaneous Publication 83 (the second of a series of seven yearbooks from
1927 to 1933) was the following paragraph:

Time measurements today are taking account (sic), which

of the latest findings of astronometry
is so precise that a change of 40 seconds has been measured. For small time intervals,
in 80 years
the oscillation of a quartz crystal at constant temperature is used to standardize radio-frequency
(waves per second) and inversely to measure time, giving a time scale subdivisible into hundred-
millionths of a second or less. Any radiation frequency emitted by an atom is the ticking of an
atomic clock, the oscillation mechanism of which causes hundreds of trillions of waves per
—
second. The accurate standardization of these frequencies some of which, like those of the iron
—
atom, have thousands of distinctive rates is the basis of spectroscopy, which has created a new
astronomy, a new chemistry, and a new physics.

Two decades would have to pass before a better knowledge of the vibrational states of atoms and the techniques of
microwave spectroscopy borrowed from radar would be employed by NBS to develop the first atomic clock.
80
An excellent survey of the development of atomic frequency standards appeared in an historical review in 1967
by R. E. Beehler of the National Bureau of Standards [51].

293
Dr. Harold Lyons (right), inventor of the ammonia absorption cell atomic clock, observes, while Dr. Edward U.
Condon, director of NBS, examines model of ammonia molecule. Frequency control, and thus time-rate control of
clock, came from the inversion or absorption frequency of ammonia at 23,870.1 MHz.

294
World's first atomic clock as it appeared January 6, 1949 on occasion of public announcement. Ammonia absorption
cell of 25 ft of K-band waveguide is coiled around the 50-Hz electric clock. Frequency deviation recorder at upper
left.

Additional publicity in the form of two radio broadcasts on the development of the
atomic clock followed the announcement of January 6. On January 12 Condon and Lyons
appeared on the Voice of America broadcast of the Department of State, followed on
January 14 by a 5-minute interview with Lyons by Edward R. Murrow over the CBS
Network.
On January 10, 1949, Dr. Lyons presented a paper entitled "Microwave Spectroscopic
Frequency and Time Standards and Measurements," at the First Conference on High-
Frequency Measurements. 81 The paper presented technical details of the clock and its
potential uses. The clock received publicity in the press and in both technical and popular
magazines. It was the basis for an Exceptional Service Award (Gold Medal) at the
Department's first Honor Award Program and for the first Arthur Fleming Award by the
Junior Chamber of Commerce of Washington, D.C. These two awards were given to Dr.

This conference was the first of a series, held in Washington, that was cosponsored by the Bureau with the AIEE
81

and the IRE. The conferences have been continued in Boulder beginning in 1958. In recent years these biennial
conferences have taken on an international flavor and are now called the Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
Measurements (see ch. XVIII). A number of technical groups have sponsored the more recent conferences.

295
Lyons early in 1949. In 1958 the Franklin Institute awarded its Certificate of Merit to Dr.
Lyons for his pioneering developments of atomic clocks. In the same year he was elected as a
fellow in the Institute of Radio Engineers "for his contributions to the development of
atomic frequency standards."

1400 1500 1600 1700

Historic rate-constancy recording of first atomic clock showing frequency control of quartz crystal by ammonia (1
part in 10 million), and deviations (as much as 10 parts in 10 million) when servo control was removed.

In its original form the first atomic clock had an accuracy of 1 part in 10 million, but
unlike other frequency standards in existence such as quartz crystals, the frequency was
82
invariant [53-58]. Its frequency was not dependent upon environment, age of components,
83
or upon perturbing forces. Basically, the clock (or frequency standard) consisted of a 100-
kHz quartz crystal oscillator, a frequency multiplier chain (multiplication factor of 237,600)
and frequency discriminator or servo-circuit locked to the ammonia line, a frequency divider
driving a 50-Hz clock from the 100-kHz oscillator, and a waveguide absorption cell. The
rectangular, K-band, copper waveguide (1/2x1/4 inch outside dimensions) was
approximately 30 feet long and spiraled around the synchronous-motor clock. It was gold-
plated both inside and out to minimize corrosion and filled with ammonia gas at a pressure
of about 10 microns mercury.
It was evident that many kinds of atomic and molecular vibrational states of substances

were useful for frequency standards and that many circuit arrangements were useful in
obtaining automatic frequency control. In the first atomic clock the short-term stability was
provided by the quartz crystal oscillator and the long-term stability by the ammonia line
[52]. An improved design of the servo-system led to the development of the NBS Model 2
Ammonia Clock in which the servo-system corrected for drifts in the crystal oscillator
without affecting the normal short-term stability of the oscillator [59-62]. This clock had a
frequency stability of about ±2 parts in 10 8 (originally stated as: approached 1 part in 50
million). Development of a Model 3 Ammonia Clock was to incorporate klystron tubes that
were better suited for the circuit requirements and an improved discriminator circuit that
would allow operation more precisely on the center frequency of the ammonia line [62]. It
was expected that this clock would have a stability of about 1 part in 100 million which

82
To maintain a time relation with the terminology, understanding, and writings of the period the term "invariant"
is retained in this historical account of the earliest atomic clock. Understanding, at a later date, of the processes
involved has shown that the term "invariant" is not correct except, possibly, as a descriptive term that was suitable
only in the early 1950's.
83
Although the inversion frequency of the ammonia molecule is invariant, the actual operating microwave
frequency of the clock was subject to the perturbations of collision broadening and Doppler broadening. Although
these perturbations could be reduced by some degree, progress of the order of a number of magnitudes in increased
accuracy of operation lay in the direction of atomic beam techniques.

296
appeared to be about the upper limit for the ammonia absorption line operation. However,
the potentials for much greater accuracy with atomic beam techniques overshadowed the
ammonia-cell method and the third model of the ammonia clock was never completed.

Model 2 ammonia-cell atomic clock (right) which attained an accuracy of five times better than the original atomic
clock. At left is improved model of microwave frequency standard, equipped for the calibration of frequency meters.

Other gases for frequency control by spectral lines also looked promising. Oxygen lines
in the neighborhood of 60,000 MHz offered advantages that were much greater than by
using ammonia. These lines have a higher Q (approximately 10 times that of ammonia),
much less collision broadening, and lower saturation. However, the oxygen lines are of lower
intensities and are affected by the Earth's magnetic field. Nevertheless, a study was made of
the possibilities of oxygen for an atomic frequency standard. The frequency of the 60,435-
MHz line was accurately determined by John M. Richardson to 1 part in 10 7 [63]. 84 Although
the line was not used experimentally to control a frequency standard because of advances
with the cesium clock, it was believed that a stability of 1 part in 1 billion could be attained.
The move to Boulder meant the disassembly of the Model 2 ammonia-cell clock. It was
never reassembled. Only portions of the Model 3 clock had been constructed. In view of new
approaches to the atomic frequency standards program, the limitations of accuracy did not

84
Although the early study of using an oxygen spectrum line in place of the ammonia inversion line for an atomic
clock was initiated in Washington, the experimental equipment was set up in Boulder, Colo, beginning in the
summer of 1952. Dr. John M. Richardson, formerly with the Denver Research Institute, University of Denver, was
assigned to the project. He was assisted by George E. Schafer, then a graduate student at the University of
Colorado. The equipment was first set up at the National Guard Armory Building and in 1954 was moved to the
new Boulder Laboratories building. Richardson received the 1959 Boulder Scientist Award from the Boulder
Branch of the Scientific Research Society of America (RESA) for his publication "Experimental evaluation of the
oxygen microwave absorption as a possible atomic frequency standard."

297
warrant further study of this type of clock. The first ammonia-cell clock has been retained
as a museum item.
Closely associated with Lyons in the development of the ammonia-cell clock were
85
Benjamin F. Husten and Emory D. Heberling. Lauren J. Rueger took over in further
developments of the ammonia-cell clock, both on Models 2 and 3. Lyons and Husten were
86
issued a basic patent in 1955 of considerable scope on atomic clocks.

2. Atomic oscillators and microwave frequency dividers

Concurrent with the development of the several models of the ammonia-cell clock,
investigations were being made of atomic oscillators and microwave frequency dividers
87
operating from spectral lines of gases and solids [56,62,64]. The atomic oscillators
incorporated regenerative feedback rather than a servo-system as used in the ammonia-cell
clock. In one type a special klystron amplifier operating at the 23,870-MHz ammonia line
frequency was used in the feedback circuit. The ammonia cell could be coupled into the
system through a microwave magic-tee or a waveguide six-arm junction. With a combination
of frequency-multiplier and amplifier klystrons, it proved feasible to operate a frequency
standard as well as a frequency divider in the range of 3000 to 9000 MHz. Deuterated
ammonia, which has spectral lines in this frequency range, was used in the gas cell or
absorption-line filter in such a system.
A study was made of the possibility of utilizing nuclear electric quadrupole absorption
spectra as a means of precision frequency control [62]. Crystalline halogen substances
appeared to be rather promising as a medium for frequency control at frequencies below
microwaves. Experimental investigations proved that the signal-to-noise ratio was too low
for practical types of circuitry. Also, advantages of simplicity and compactness that may
have been gained in such a device were outweighed by inherent weaknesses of the system.

3. Studies in microwave spectroscopy

In association with the atomic clock and the atomic oscillator and microwave frequency
divider programs came a series of projects in support of or allied to these programs. Lauren
J. Rueger and Richard G. Nuckols developed and constructed a Stark-cell microwave
spectrograph for operation over a frequency range of less that 900 to above 17,000 MHz.
Although some features had been developed by others, Rueger and Nuckols adapted the
spectrograph for the lower frequencies by incorporating coaxial equipment. With this
versatile equipment the microwave spectroscopy group measured well over 100 microwave
spectral lines of the 3 deuterated ammonias.
As a project in the microwave spectroscopy program, Professor Charles H. Townes of
Columbia University initiated the compilation of a set of molecular microwave spectral
tables that was published in 1952 as an NBS Circular. This was followed many years later
(1964-1968) by a five-volume NBS Monograph on microwave spectral tables prepared by Paul
F. Wacker and others.

4. Developing a cesium beam atomic frequency standard

Almost from the beginning of the Bureau's atomic clock program it was believed that
the atomic beam technique offered the best approach to an atomic frequency standard of the
highest precision and accuracy (25 years later this earlier belief proved to be quite correct).

85
Husten and Heberling transferred to the Corona Laboratories in 1951. The Bureau's missile research and
development and related work had been transferred to Corona, Calif. In 1954 the Corona Laboratories were
transferred to the Navy and became known as the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Corona.
86
Harold Lyons and Benjamin F. Husten filed for a patent on an atomic clock on April 30, 1949. Patent 2,699,503
was issued on January 11, 1955, entitled "Atomic Clock."
87
Beginning in August 1948 and extending for a period until after the move to Boulder, Colo, in 1954, Professor
Charles H. Townes of Columbia University was retained as a consultant in the Microwave Standards Section for
the programs of gas and quadrupole absorption techniques. In 1964 the Nobel Prize in Physics was shared jointly by
Professor Townes with two Russian scientists. He was cited for "fundamental work in the field of quantum
electronics which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle."

298
Borrowing from a method of measuring nuclear magnetic moments by the molecular beam
88
resonance technique of Rabi and others, an experimental program was started in the
summer of 1949 to develop an atomic beam clock incorporating a quartz crystal oscillatoi
[56,57,62]. Professor Polykarp Kusch of Columbia University, a coworker with Rabi, was
retained as a consultant to take part in the development of a cesium beam atomic clock (or
89,90
frequency standard). It was well understood that the molecular beam technique had the

advantage of greatly increasing the Q over that of the ammonia cell by the nearly complete
elimination of line broadening due to collisions and Doppler effect. By using cesium or
thallium atoms in the beam, it was believed that an accuracy of 1 part in 10 billion could be
achieved. This predicted and hoped-for accuracy was to be exceeded a decade later with
improved techniques.
Briefly, the first atomic beam device, including a quartz oscillator, was constructed at
NBS and consisted of a large cylinder evacuated to a very low pressure (1 x 10" 6 mm Hg) and
housing the cesium oven, beam-collimating slits, beam-deflecting magnets, means of
excitation of the cesium atoms at a microwave frequency, and a detector. Surrounding the
large vacuum chamber was a large Helmholtz coil to minimize effects caused by changes in
the Earth's or nearby magnetic fields. The quartz crystal oscillator, error- signal and control
91
circuitry, frequency multiplier, and divider circuits were external to the beam chamber.
Jesse E. Sherwood, with the assistance of Robert N. McCracken, was largely responsible
for the design and construction of the beam portion of the cesium beam clock. Early in 1952
the team of Sherwood, Lyons, McCracken, and Kusch reported on the first direct
measurement of the field-insensitive cesium line (approximately 9192 MHz) [67]. 92
In the summer of 1954 the cesium beam clock was disassembled for shipment to
Boulder. Several years later it became known as NBS-I Atomic Frequency Standard as it
entered into the larger atomic frequency standards program. In 1966, the NBS-I standard
—
was disassembled after serving a useful life of 15 years a long record for experimental

88
The use
of atomic and molecular beams goes back to 1911 but it was Professor I. I. Rabi of Columbia University
who suggested in 1945 their use as frequency standards. This suggestion is ascribed to Rabi in the Richtmyer
Lecture given before a joint meeting of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics
Teachers on January 20, 1945, in New York City.

89
Professor Kusch began his services in the Microwave Standards Section in September 1948 and continued there
until after the move to Boulder in 1954. In 1955 Professor Kusch shared the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics
"for his determination of the magnetic moment of the electron."

90
Kusch presented a paper entitled "Some design considerations of an atomic clock using atomic beam techniques,"
at a symposium organized by Lyons. This symposium, as a session (April 30, 1949) of the spring meeting of the
American Physical Society in Washington, consisted of six invited papers on atomic frequency and time standards.
Two other papers were presented by the CRPL staff (Kusch and Townes as consultants), one by Lyons entitled "The
Atomic Clocks of the National Bureau of Standards," and one by Townes entitled "Ultimate accuracy of an atomic
clock using absorption lines."

91
Technical explanations of frequency standards (including quartz crystal oscillatorsl and atomic clocks are beyond
the scope of this historical account. A tutorial discussion on the basic concepts, with a nonmathematical treatment,
is found in an NBS Technical Note [65].

In another NBS Technical Note is found a technical discussion of the physical basis of atomic frequency
standards [66]. The reader is referred to this informative paper in order to gain a greater knowledge of the
operating principles of atomic frequency standards as involved in the energy levels of atoms and their interaction
with electromagnetic radiation. The essential features of cesium beams, hydrogen masers, and rubidium gas cells
are covered.

Reported was a frequency of 9192.632±0.002 MHz for the v 0 transition frequency at zero field (ground state
92

measured with excitation over a transition region of a 1 cm path length. At a later time with a transition
splitting)
region of 50 cm path length (Ramsey method), the frequency measurement was 9192. 63187±0. 0001 MHz. This
measurement was not published but was noted in the Annual Report of CRPL (July 1, 1952, to June 30, 1953), NBS
Report 2793, September 14, 1953. This measurement, in terms of WWV
and Naval Observatory time, made with
equipment that had a resonance sharpness with a "Q" of about 30 million, was probably the most accurate physical
measurement that had ever been made. See [62].
It is interesting to note that Essen and Parry of the National Physical Laboratory (England) reported a value

in 1955, and later in 1958, for the cesium transition frequency of 9192.631770+0.000020 MHz, the value in terms of
the second of ephemeris time. Based upon this value by Essen and Parry and later confirmation in 1967, the 13th
General Conference of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) defined the second as "the
duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels
of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom."

299
Cesium beam frequency standard constructed and set into operation in 1951. This was the first of a series using a
beam of cesium atoms, and after reassembly at the Boulder Laboratories it became known as the NBS-1 Atomic
Frequency Standard.

laboratory equipment. Portions of the beam equipment now form parts of the Time and
Frequency items of the NBS Museum at Gaithersburg, Md. The cesium source or oven is on
permanent display with the standards for the base units of mass, length, and time.

5. An atomic frequency standard program gets underway in Boulder

It was Bureau should engage in a long-range program to exploit
clear by 1954 that the
the possibilities and time standards incorporating control by invariant
of frequency
spectrum lines. The possibility of frequency standards with accuracies of four, five, or more
orders of magnitude greater than had been available with the ammonia clock was reason for
much optimism and enthusiasm. Not only would such frequency-controlled devices be useful
as a new standard of frequency, but they would have application for astronomical and
geophysical observations, navigational aids, in military equipment, and for study of physical
phenomena such as relativity. As a frequency or time standard such a device could serve as
a reference along with a whole new order of physical units on an atomic basis [68].
Although the maser principle is credited to Professor Townes, its realization as an
operational device in the form of the ammonia maser was a team effort on the part of
Townes and his colleagues, Gordon and Zeiger, at Columbia University in 1954 (also Basov
and Prokhorov in the USSR in the same year). 93 The maser provided another method of
frequency control by spectral lines within the microwave region. Work was initiated during
the first year at Boulder, under the direction of Lyons, on the construction of an ammonia
molecular beam clock using the maser principle. A second ammonia maser was constructed
94

93
The acronym "maser" comes from microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

94
Bureau in May 1955 as assistant chief for research in the Radio Standards
Dr. Harold Lyons resigned from the
Division to become a senior member of the technical staff of the Research Laboratories, Hughes Aircraft Co.,
Culver City, Calif.

300
in 1957 for a critical study of the stability of these devices [69]. It incorporated a double
beam for minimizing Doppler effect in order to give greater reproducibility of a particular
transition frequency (the Bohr frequency of the transition). Lack of reproducibility of the
generated frequency offset some of the advantages otherwise gained in the ammonia maser.
It was now possible to determine the relative stability of two masers of somewhat different
construction. Under carefully controlled conditions this was found to be about 1 part in 10 12
for short periods of time (minutes) —
a very high order of stability for laboratory apparatus.
An intensive effort was now in order to improve upon and refine the many component
parts of two rather complex systems, the cesium atomic beam apparatus and the ammonia
maser, that incorporated many features in the field of physics and electronic engineering. It
was quite evident that one or both of these systems had great potential as a frequency
standard of unprecedented stability and accuracy. A program comparing beam techniques
with maser techniques has been in progress since about 1957 with notable success. Among
the studies made was the stabilization of the multiplier chain itself, with a maser, in order
to increase the reliability of a cesium beam operating in conjunction with a quartz crystal
oscillator. The ammonia maser had also proved to be a useful tool in the analysis of noise,
sideband modulations, and other extraneous frequencies found in a frequency standard,
particularly in the crystal oscillator [70].
Beginning in May 1955, the atomic frequency and time standards program came under
95,96
the immediate direction of Richard C. Mockler and continued so until July 1965.
Associated with the program over a portion or the whole of this period were David W. Allan,
James A. Barnes, Roger E. Beehler, R. Lowell Fey, David J. Glaze, Donald W. Halford, F.
Russell Petersen, Jack B. Snider, and Richard L. Strombotne with the laboratory assistance
of Henry F. Salazar, Charles S. Snider, and Arthur E. Wainright.
A second (NBS-II) and much more refined cesium beam standard was constructed in
1958-1959, incorporating a transition region for excitation of the cesium atoms that was
three times longer (164 cm) than in the previously built apparatus [71,72]. At a later time
the apparatus was designed to accommodate thallium, an element with a higher transition
frequency (21,310.8 MHz) than cesium and having other advantages over cesium.

6. In quest of an ultimate in atomic frequency and time standards — Cesium

atomic beam frequency standard
The first cesium beam apparatus (constructed in Washington) was completely rebuilt in
1958 in order to gain greater precision of measurement. By the spring of 1959 it was in
regular operation. With this frequency standard, now known as NBSJ, it was possible to
compare the stability of two highly-developed cesium beam devices which differed,
essentially, in their transition regions (55 cm for NBS-I, 164 cm for NBS-II) and thus in the
resonance linewidths achieved and in their beam cross-sections. A comparison between the
two was made over a period of many months, the frequencies agreeing to an accuracy of
11
about 1.5 parts in 10 with a measurement precision over a period of several hours of 2
12 97
parts in 10 [73]. The transition frequency was given as 9 192 631 770.0 MHz.

95
In 1961 Mockler was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service "for scientific
leadership and personal technical contribution of the highest order in the achievement of a frequency and time
interval standard of previously unknown accuracy, one which has brought the U.S. frequency standard to a level of
accuracy and precision believed to exceed any other similar standard in the world." Later, Mockler received the
Bureau's 1963 Wesley Stratton Award for outstanding achievements in leading the NBS atomic frequency and time
standards program.
96
In July 1965, Dr. Mockler transferred from chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time Interval Standards Section to

chief of the Quantum Electronics Section. He resigned from the Bureau in September 1966 to teach in the Physics
Department of the University of Colorado.
97
The same value to an equal number of significant figures had been reported by Essen and Parry in 1955 and later

in 1958. See footnote (92).

301
 On January 1, 1960, the cesium beam equipment with the longer transition region

(NBS-II) was adopted as the U.S. Frequency Standard (USFS) [74]. 98 In turn, this standard
was regularly compared with several commercial atomic frequency standards and the data
used to correct the standard frequencies transmitted by Stations WWV, WWVH, and
WWVB. Occasionally, for the next 3 years, NBS-II was compared with NBS-I as a means of
checking the performance of one with the other and as an assurance factor of their relative
stability and accuracy.
As another step in the direction of increased accuracy, construction was started in 1959
on a third cesium beam standard to be known as NBS-III. It was designed for a transition or
oscillatory field region of 366 cm, over twice the length of NBS-II. This standard became
operational in September 1963. With a spectral line width of about 48 Hz, the instrument
had a phenomenal Q-value of approximately 2x 10 8 The radio art had come a long way from
.

early tuning circuits with Q's of 10 to 100. However, operation of an atomic frequency
standard with high accuracy is more than the attainment of an extraordinarily high Q.
There are many perturbations and types of fluctuations that contribute toward the
instability of operation and inaccuracy of measurement that restrict attainment of the
ultimate accuracy."
During the succeeding years from the time of construction and initial evaluation of the
NBS-III standard, much effort has gone into the analysis and minimization of the more than
a dozen sources of errors. There have been changes in the design of various components to
bring about better performance or to minimize the effects of systematic errors or bias. Much
of the former electronic circuitry that used vacuum tubes has been converted to solid-state
operation, with improved performance. Much of this overall effort has been directed toward
reduction of frequency modulation caused by flicker noise (the noise that has its power
—
spectrum in the lowest frequencies the power content being inversely proportional to
frequency).
In order to reach the maximum possible frequency stability with the cesium beam
standard it would be necessary to reduce all sources of noise to such states that the
irreducible minimums are governed only by an operable condition of the equipment. It is
then that one must cope with the random processes of particulate matter and "Nature"
takes over in the limiting conditions. This assumes, of course, that all other perturbating
forces and biases have been minimized beyond the effects of noise-induced errors. It is in the
direction of minimizing the very small errors at their respective sources that the NBS-III
standard has been undergoing modifications since 1965 culminating in a largely new
standard, designated NBS-5 (peripheral parts of NBS-III were used to construct NBS-5).
After several years the NBS-III cesium frequency standard was found to be operating
with a precision of ±1 part in 10 and with an accuracy, in terms of the uncertainty, of ±5
13

12 100
parts in 10 (So-) [76].

98
Beginning groups of quartz crystal oscillators had served as frequency standards in the Radio Section and
in 1929,
as the standard for monitoring WWV. Although these groups of quartz crystal oscillators were retained for this
purpose in the 1950's, they were gradually being supplanted by atomic frequency standards. First came the use of
several commercial-type atomic frequency standards to initiate conversion from quartz crystals. For a period of a
few months in the fall of 1959 and up to January 1, 1960, the rebuilt and reevaluated cesium beam NBS-I served as
the United States Frequency Standard. Beginning January 1, 1960, it began to serve as an alternate to NBS-II [74].
Although originally designed as the USFS, comparable commercial atomic frequency standards provided an
impetus to designate these laboratory atomic standards as the NBS Frequency Standards.

"A definitive account by NBS authors of the error sources in cesium beam frequency standards is found in the
international metrology journal Metrologia [75].

100
Expressing the performance of atomic frequency standards in terms of the above indicated precision and
accuracy is an oversimplification. First, the standard deviation expressed in o-'s (sigma) of the mean of the random
errors must be taken into account. Second, calculation of the standard deviation takes into account the sampling
time and the total period of sampling of the observations. Third, estimates of the systematic errors or biases can be
subject to considerable complexities.
The definition of the precision of measurement in this account refers to the uncertainty within which a
frequency standard gives reproducible measurements under specified sampling. Usually it is expressed in terms of
lcr.

Definition of the accuracy of measurement in this account refers to the uncertainty in determining the true
value of an atomic state separation of the free atom associated with the particular frequency standard. It is
expressed in terms of 3cr for random errors and by the estimated extreme limits of the systematic errors.

302
 With the improvements attained with the NBS-III standard by August 1969, the
precision (expressed as the relative frequency stability) had improved to 1 part in 10 13 while
the accuracy had improved to the extent that the uncertainty was no greater than 1.5x 10 l ;

101
(3cr) [77]. On the basis of a measurement of the transition frequency of cesium, the
accuracy of this last measurement was more than a millionfold improvement over that of
the first measurement by the NBS team back in 1952. The Bureau had come a long way in
its achievement of conducting some of the world's most accurate physical measurements. At
each period the degree of accuracy was almost without precedent.
After evaluation in 1969, the NBS-III cesium standard was dismantled and some of its
components were used in a newly designed system to be known as NBS-5. Assembly of the
standard (NBS-5) was completed in August 1972. By the summer of 1974 a series of
comparisons had been completed between the NBS-4 and NBS-5 devices (with each
considered to be a primary frequency standard) that indicated a stability of 9 parts in 10 15
10" 15 where expressed as fractional frequency stability) for an averaging
(9 X , period of 20,000
102
seconds. An evaluated accuracy ranging from 1 to 2 parts in 10 13 was indicated [78]. This
accuracy, translated to the time scale of an atomic clock, represents an uncertainty in time
measurement approaching 1 second in 300,000 years. This recent work has been under the
guidance of Helmut Hellwig and David Glaze of the Time and Frequency Division.

101
During the fall of 1965 a series of comparisons was made with the NBS-III cesium beam standard, a commercial-
type cesium beam standard, and two commercial-type atomic hydrogen masers. The result of these comparisons
12
indicated that the accuracy capability of the NBS-III standard, in terms of the uncertainty, was 1.1 parts in 10 .

102
A cesium standard first known as NBS-X4, later named NBS-4 after new techniques demonstrated its usefulness
as a primary standard, was completed in 1973. The NBS-II cesium standard was first converted for operation with
thallium and later dismantled. Some of its parts have been used in investigations of methane stabilized helium-
neon lasers. NBS-X4, constructed in a joint effort between NBS and the Hewlett Packard Co., was not originally
envisioned to be used as a primary cesium-beam frequency standard. Novel techniques, coupled with its design
quality and high stability, enable its use as a primary frequency standard.

SCHEMATIC ILLUSTRATION OF MAJOR COMPONENTS AND BEAM PATHS OF NBS-5

'VERTICAL SCALE EXAGERATE0

FIRST MAGNET SET SECOND MAGNET SET

SOLID LINES SHOW OPTIMAL APPLICATION OF THE MICROWAVE FREQUENCY AND

POWER TO THE CAVITY TO EFFECT A COMPLETE CHANGE OF ENERGY STATE

Simplified schematic of atomic beam frequency standard, showing path taken by ionized atoms in traversing the
several beam-control and other components from oven source to detector.

303
 .

Progressive stages in development of the cesium beam frequency standard at NBS. Upper left, frequency standard
NBS-II that became the U.S. Frequency Standard on January 1, 1960. Its transition region was three times (164
cm) that of NBS-I (first developed at NBS Washington 1950-1952 and later reassembled and developed further at
Boulder Laboratories after 1954, and called standard NBS-I). Upper right, standard NBS-III that became
operational in September 1962, with transition region twice (366 cm) that of NBS-II. Together, until October 1965,
NBS-II and NBS-III served as the National Bureau of Standards Frequency Standard. NBS-III operated with
accuracy, in terms of uncertainty, of ±5 parts in iff
At lower left is the beam section of NBS-X4 that has served both for experimental purposes and as mutual
support to NBS-5 as the primary NBS frequency standard. Lower right is NBS-5, operational since January 1973,
that emerged from NBS-III after disassembly and reconstruction, and serves as one of two components of the NBS
Frequency Standard. Accuracy, in terms of uncertainty, is 1 to 2 parts in Iff 3
.

304
 THE ACCURACY OF TIMING THROUGH HISTORY

CONTINUOUS FLOW APERIODIC RESONANCE O.lmillimicro

- NBS-4 -- I
millimicro
NBS -5
(1974)
0
1

01 micro
NBS - ii "/ Momi c Clo ck" (1965)--
1

01 micro >
o
1
1
1
i
1
1

NBS- ii "/
Uomi c Clc ck" (1 960)-. o
I micro c
XI
>
''
- o
.--PRECIS ON OF EPHEM ERIS TIME NPL Atom ic Cl< )ck" (
955)-
100 micro
Ml*GNITUDE OF VARIATIONS-.
IN EARTHS, RATE \ 0.001
o
First "At omic Clock " (NE S-I9< o
1
1 1
—7- 0 01
o
Quartz-Crystal Oscilla tor/. CO
1 1 1
1

TJ
Electrically Driven.. m
Tuning Fork > j)

Grovity o
Pendulum
2c

Hair Spring a nd Balance Chro lomet er--.

100
CRUDE MECHANICAL CLOCKS
PERIOD OF TIME CANDLES AND LAMPS
WATER CLOCKS, CLEPSYDRA ./ Verge and Foliot
I 000
SUN INDICATORS '
(little is known of accuracy in this perioo) Balance
10 000
5000 1000 ^BC AD- 500 1000 1400 1600 1800 1900 2000

YEARS

After W.A. Marrison, BTSJ (1948); also, Richardson and Brcckman, Am. Phys. Teacher, Sept. 1966

Accuracy of timing in relation to evolvement of clock mechanisms, from BC era to NBS-5 atomic clock in 1974.
Progressively, through the years, the period of clocks became smaller and smaller, from observations of a day in
length to oscillations of 10~"' second.

7. Thallium atomic beam frequency standard

Kusch of Columbia University had suggested, in 1957, the possible advantages of using
the element thallium in place of cesium in an atomic beam frequency standard. Upon this
suggestion, Beehler and Glaze converted the original cesium beam equipment used in
Washington (later known as the NBS-I frequency standard) to operation with thallium. 103
Several changes had to be made in the beam equipment, including the detection system, in
order to accommodate the use of thallium.
After conversion in the fall of 1962, the thallium beam was operated over a period of
about 11/2 years to evaluate its performance. Typical performance indicated a precision of
12 11
2 parts in 10 and an accuracy with an uncertainty of 1 part in 10 On the basis of .

comparing the performance of this thallium beam, and that of a later version using NBS-II,
with the NBS-III cesium beam standard (having a transition or interaction length seven
times that of the thallium beam), the thallium beam was comparable to the cesium beam.
However, certain advantages favored the cesium beam and the thallium beam project was
discontinued.
Beehler and Glaze had the opportunity of measuring the specific energy state transition
frequency of thallium in terms of the measured frequency of cesium. This could be done
with a high degree of accuracy. The measured frequency was 21 310 833 945.9±0.2 Hz [79].

103
1964 Beehler was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for
In
beam and frequency devices, specific evaluation of the cesium beam atomic
contributions to the invention of atomic
frequency standards, and the thallium prototype standard, and to research which makes the United States
Frequency Standard the most accurate in the world."

305
8. The hydrogen maser at NBS
After becoming familiar with maser techniques in the form of ammonia masers, F.
Russell Petersen constructed two hydrogen masers in the mid-1960's. After some
modifications these masers were used in a cooperative effort of NBS with Harvard
University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to evalute the accuracy
potential of hydrogen devices. This effort was led by Helmut Hellwig and gave a new
number for the hydrogen frequency as 1 420 405 751.768 Hz with an accuracy of lxlO" 12
[80]. This the presently accepted accuracy of the hydrogen maser which is limited
is

principally by the wall-collision effect; thus it might be ranked below cesium beams as

primary frequency standards.

Hydrogen still looked promising. However, other new device techniques also looked
promising. As a result, two new hydrogen devices were developed by Hellwig and their
feasibility was successfully tested during 1971-1972. The hydrogen dispersion device and the
13
hydrogen storage beam tube in combination showed a frequency stability of 4 parts in 10
13
(or 4 x 10~ By coupling the two devices, their good features could be maximized and their
).

poorer features minimized [81].

An excellent survey paper on recent advances in atomic frequency standards, including
hydrogen masers and related devices, was published by Hellwig in early 1975 [82].

9. Lasers as frequency standards

Lasers should not be ruled out as frequency standards. Recently they have served as a
part of a frequency measurement system at NBS in arriving at a new value for the speed of
light in combination with a new determination of a wavelength of light. It is true, of course,
that the frequency measurement was based on the NBS-III cesium frequency standard but
"4 1

this does not rule out other methods of approach. For a more detailed account see chapter
XV on the subject of lasers.

10. Engaging in the technology of precision timing

a) Development of a portable rubidium clock

Of the two alkali metals, cesium and rubidium, that have proved to be the chemical
elements most suitable for use in atomic frequency standards, rubidium has gained the
favor for use in the commercial development of portable-type atomic clocks. A recent and
corollary project in the program of the Frequency and Time Standards Section has been the
modification of a commercial rubidium portable clock such that the temperature and
12
environment characteristics give stabilities in the 10" range under typical clock-carrying
conditions. A tenfold reduction in weight was obtained from a 100-kg cesium "portable"
clock to a 11-kg rubidium clock. From the portability viewpoint, this was a modification
from two-man handling and stowage as extra baggage to that of the atomic clock being
carried aboard an aircraft as hand luggage by the traveler.

b) A SUPPORT PROJECT FOR ATOMIC FREQUENCY STANDARDS IN SATELLITES

Another recent project within the Frequency and Time Standards Section is that of
evaluating prototypes of rubidium atomic frequency standards for use in the Global
Positioning System (GPS) satellites. Rubidium, cesium, and hydrogen frequency standards
are in various stages of development for the system. The GPS is planned to be a major
navigational and time dissemination system in the 1980's, employing 24 clock-carrying
satellites and permitting global time synchronization to nanoseconds and navigational
positioning to within a distance of 10 meters or less [83].

104
Development of a saturated absorption stabilized laser using methane for a frequency standard, is being
conducted by the Time and Frequency Division. The methane frequency of 88.3762 THz had been measured by the
Quantum Electronics Section by comparison with the NBS-III frequency standard via a harmonic generator chain.

306
11. The atomic second
The second, as the unit of time, has been labeled with several definitions in recen
years. Prior to 1956 the second was defined in terms of the rotation of the Earth on its axis.
In 1956 the second was redefined in terms of the revolution of the Earth around the Sun and
became known as the "ephemeris second." The ephemeris second is defined as the fraction
1/31,556,925.9747 of the tropical year for 1900, January 0 at 12:00 ephemeris time.""
Exacting determination of both of these "seconds" is by painstaking astronomical
observations over periods of many months. But Nature has endowed atoms and molecules
with vibrational states that, seemingly, are invariant in frequency. With the rapid strides
made with atomic frequency standards in several laboratories during the 1950's, it appeared
to be quite feasible to again redefine the second, this time on the basis of a frequency
106
associated with a particular atomic vibrational state.
As a procedural step in the operation of the International Bureau of Weights and
Measures (BIPM) to establish an atomic definition of the second, the Consultative
107
Committee on the Definition Second met in Paris in December 1963.
of the J. M.

Richardson, then chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory, and R. C. Mockler, chief of the
Atomic Frequency and Time Standards Section, were among the members of the committee
representing various laboratories. Representing one of the various astronomical institutions
was W. Markowitz of the U.S. Naval Observatory who, along with Essen of NPL (England)
and others, determined the resonance frequency of cesium in terms of the second of
Ephemeris Time. The committee met to evaluate several types of atomic frequency
standards and to recommend the method of defining an atomic second to the next General
Conference. Among the actions taken by the 12th General Conference on Weights and
Measures meeting in Paris during October 1964, was a temporary definition of the atomic
second. The definition was in as close agreement with the 1956 definition based on the
Ephemeris Second (based on observation of the Earth's orbit of the Sun) as was
experimentally possible. The definition was:

The standard to be employed is the transition between the two hyperfine

levels F=4, m F =0, and F=3, m F =0 of the fundamental state S 1/2 of the
2

atom cesium-133 undisturbed by external fields and the value

9 192 631 770 hertz is assigned.

A. V. Astin, director of NBS, was the U.S. voting delegate to the General Conference.
The Consultative Committee on the Definition of the Second met again in July 1967
with Richardson attending. By now there was wide acceptance of the atomic second. By an
overwhelming General Conference, meeting in October 1967, adopted an
vote, the 13th
on the Earth's orbital motion around the
atomic definition to replace the definition based
Sun. The atomic second was now more simply defined:

The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation

corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the

fundamental state of the atom of cesium-133. 108

Again, Astin was the voting U.S. delegate.

In brief, the recent story of defining the second is that of accurate knowledge of
movement in the microcosmic world supplanting that in the macrocosmic world. But further
research and development is not to cease in order that a higher accuracy in the definition of
the atomic second may be attained. NBS continues to lend a hand in this direction [87].
105
Ephemeris refers to ephemeris time, the measurement of time based on the revolution of the Earth around the
Sun. The tropical year, or solar year, is the time interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the

same equinox.
106
As a result of the (see [84]) on transition frequency of the fundamental state of cesium-
work by Essen and Parry
133, Sir E. C. Bullard, director of the National Physical Laboratory (England), suggested in 1955 "to define a
'physical second' in terms of the natural period of the cesium atom, choosing the numerical value so that it agrees
as well as may with the current estimates of the second of Ephemeris Time" [85].
107
For an understanding of the operations of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and how it

functions through an echelon of organizational structure see [86].

108
The selected frequency was that obtained with a cesium beam frequency standard by Essen and Parry at the
National Physical Laboratory, England, and Markowitz at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C. [84,88].

307
12. NBS atomic time scale
On January 1, 1960, the NBS-II cesium beam equipment was adopted as the NBS
Frequency Standard. NBS now had the means of setting up an atomic time scale by
counting the cycles or oscillations of this frequency standard using some reference base as a
starting point in the counting process. However, in itself, an atomic time scale is useful
primarily for scientific purposes only. On the other hand, the world's time scales which
serve the needs of navigation and astronomical observations, or to determine the civil day or
year, are based on the Earth's rotation on its axis or its rotation around the Sun. The two
time scales differ and thus diverge; however, procedures were established for periodically
relating the two within stated limits [89].
From the welter of possible time scales, NBS presently maintains two to serve its own
needs and to be most useful to the Nation. These are the AT (NBS) or Atomic Time Scale,
and the UTC (NBS) or Coordinated Universal Time and are based on an ensemble of
109
continuously running cesium clocks [90]. NBS atomic clocks directly contribute to the
world's uniform time scale, the International Atomic Time Scale (TAI) maintained by the
Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH) in Paris, France. By international agreement,
beginning on January 1, 1972, the UTC scale has differed from the International Atomic
Time Scale (TAI) by an integral number of seconds. The first adjustment of the UTC scale
came on June 30, 1972, with the addition of a "leap second" [91]. It was followed on
December 31, 1972, with a second one. The AT (NBS) atomic time scale serves as the base or
reference scale for NBS and is not normally adjusted.
The cesium beam equipment used as the NBS Frequency Standard does not lend itself
for direct use as a time measurement system (clock). In consequence, an ensemble of clocks
has served as the timekeeping devices (working standards) which, compared with the cesium
beam Frequency Standard, provided for the AT (NBS) and UTC (NBS) time scales. Initially,
this ensemble started with three quartz crystal oscillators. Later, two rubidium gas cells
were added. The ensemble then consisted of nine commercial-type cesium beam standards.
During 1975 the NBS-4 primary standard was modified for clock operation and showed a
performance for stability and accuracy superior to that of the ensemble of nine commercial
atomic clocks. Since joining the "elite" NBS clock ensemble it receives heavy weighting
because of its superior performance and, as a result, the NBS time scale generation shows
improvement.
The method of statistically combining all of the comparison processes and stabilities of
an atomic time scale becomes quite involved. The computed atomic clock scale has been
referred to as a "paper" time scale. But the complexity of the measurement system and the
number of individual clocks available are such that elegant statistical methods must be
resorted to for optimum performance of the time scale. For technical details of the
procedures that have been developed at NBS for timekeeping by atomic frequencies, the
reader is referred to fairly recent publications with an accompanying list of references
[93,94].

13. Contributors to recent programs

James A. Barnes became the acting chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time
In 1965
110
Interval Section until he became chief of the Time and Frequency Division in 1967. It was
then that Donald Halford became chief of the section and directed the research until
November 1972 when the section was dissolved and team projects established. In 1974 the
familiar section structure was reestablished with two sections relating to the frequency and
time program: the Frequency-Time Standards Section with Helmut W. Hellwig as chief and
the Time and Frequency Services Section with Roger E. Beehler as chief. Engaged in the
various research programs with Halford and Hellwig were David W. Allan, James E. Gray,

109
To obtain a unified time system for the United States based upon the "timekeeping" systems of NBS and the
U.S. Naval Observatory, on October 1, 1968 the two systems were synchronized within almost 1 microsecond to
attain a new accuracy for the Nation's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) [92].

""Barnes received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service in 1965 "for the
establishment of an atomic time scale of unsurpassed accuracy and for contributions in the area of atomic
frequency standards and spectral analysis of signal generators of high stability."

308
 —

David J. Glaze, Stephen Jarvis, Jr., Howard Machlan, Allan S. Risley, Fred L. Walls, David
A. Howe, and John Shoaf. Laboratory assistance has been given by Howard E. Bell, Henrj
F. Salazar, Jorge L. Valega, and Arthur E. Wainright. Guest workers on a yearly program
basis have been Andrea DeMarchi of Italy, Alain Geutrot of France, Peter Kartaschoff of
Switzerland, and Kazuyki Yoshimura of Japan.

14. NBS celebrates 25th anniversary of first atomic clock

With passage of the years there came an appropriate time that NBS could justly set an
anniversary occasion for recognizing the accomplishment of the Bureau's development of
the first atomic clock. Although August 12, 1948, was the date of the first operation of the
ammonia-cell atomic clock and January 6, 1949, the date of its public announcement, for
reasons of a convenient date, February 22, 1974, was selected for the 25th anniversary
recognition of the initial development of the atomic clock. Fittingly, the Boulder
Laboratories was host to the anniversary program, for in 1954 the atomic frequency
standards program was moved to Boulder [95].
111
Five short talks were presented at the morning program. Two speakers, Dr. Condon,
former director of NBS, and Dr. Lyons, who developed the first atomic clock, had been
speakers at the public announcement ceremonies of a quarter century before (see pp. 293-
295). Charles Sawyer, former Secretary of the Department of Commerce, who also spoke at
the 1949 announcement ceremonies, was expected to attend the 25th anniversary but was
prevented from coming to Boulder at the last moment. A significant statement was made by
Lyons in closing his presentation, in referring to the work on atomic frequency standards by
the present group at Boulder Laboratories:

. .These people have done an outstanding job in a field that is already

.

very sophisticated and where it is difficult to push out further. But they
have been doing that, and they have been creatively looking at all possible
directions to push the frontiers out further. So that the time may come
when we won't be so very far from a fundamental and rather exciting
limitation of nature itself, which is the famous quantum-mechanical
uncertainty principle. And really, they're not so far, I believe, from actually
reaching that limit.

On display in the lobby of the Radio Building was the original ammonia-cell atomic
clock, very nearly in its original form of 25 years
on display were exhibits on
before. Also
timekeeping through the centuries, literally "A Walk Through Time," the title of a
brochure that was made available for distribution. The entire event, as well as the scientific
world, was saddened by the death of Dr. Condon a month later.

111
Speakers at the morning program, February 22, 1974, of the "25th Anniversary Celebration of Atomic Clocks"
were:

B. W. Birmingham, Deputy Director, Institute for Standards,

Basic National Bureau of
Standards and Head of the Boulder, Colorado Laboratories — "Welcome and Introduction"
Dr. Richard W. Roberts, Director, National
—
Bureau of Standards "Atomic Clocks in
Perspective"

Dr. Betsy Ancker-Johnson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology
"Promises and Fulfillment of Atomic Timekeeping"
Dr. E. U. Condon, Director, National Bureau of Standards in 1949— "Why the Atomic Clock Was
Developed"
Dr. Harold Lyons, Chief, Microwave Standards Section in 1949
— "How the First Atomic Clock
Was Developed"
Dr. James A. Barnes, Chief, National Bureau of Standards Time and Frequency Division
"Cesium Atomic Clocks, Today and Tomorrow"

309
At celebration of 25th Anniversary (1974) of the world's first atomic clock, at Boulder Laboratories in Colorado, Dr.
Lyons and Dr. Condon stand in front of original clock and again examine the selfsame mode! of ammonia
molecule that was pictured in photograph of January 6, 1.94-9. Condon died 1 month later.

References
[1] Helmut Hellwig and Donald Halford, "Accurate frequency measurements: Relevance to some other areas of
metrology," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Monogr. 140, Ch. 7, May 1974, pp. 137-149.
[2] J. H. Dellinger, "Reducing the guesswork in tuning," Radio Broadcast, Vol. 3, July 1923, pp. 241-245.
[3] R. T. Cox, "Standard radio wavemeter, Bureau of Standards Type R70B," J. Optical Society of America, Vol. 6,
No. 2,Mar. 1922, pp. 162-168.
[4] Grace Hazen and Frieda Kenyon, "Primary radio frequency standardization by use of cathode-ray
oscillograph," Bur. Stand. Sci. Paper, Vol. 19, 1923-1924, pp. 445-461.
[5] C. B. Jolliffe and Grace Hazen, "Establishment of radio standards of frequency by the use of a harmonic
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[6] Francis W. Dunmore and Francis H. Engel, "A method of measuring very short radio wave lengths and their
use in frequency standardization," Proc. IRE, Vol. No. 5, Oct. 1923, pp. 467-478.
11,

[7] E. L. Hall, "The standard wavemeter of the Bureau of Standards," The Sibley J. of Engineering, Vol. 38, No. 5,

May 1924, pp. 123-126, 134.

[8] W. G. Cady, "The piezo-electric resonator," Proc. IRE, Vol. 10, No. 2, Apr. 1922, pp. 83-114.
[9] August Hund, "Uses and possibilities of piezoelectric oscillators," Proc. IRE, Vol. 14, No. 4, Aug. 1926, pp. 447-
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[10] V. E. Heaton and W. H. Brattain, "Design of a portable temperature-controlled piezo oscillator," Proc. IRE,
Vol. 18, No. 7, July 1930, pp. 1239-1246. (Also published in the Mar. 1930 issue of the J. Res. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.).)

[11] W. D. George, "The testing of frequency monitors for the Federal Radio Commission," Proc. IRE, Vol. 22, No. 4,

Apr. 1934, pp. 449-456.

310
[12] J. H. Dellinger, "The status of frequency standardization," Proc. IRE, Vol. 16, No. 5, May 1928, pp. 577-590 pk
discussion.
[13] "New fundamental frequency standard," Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., May 1930, p. 43.
[14] Elmer L. Hall, Vincent E. Heaton, and Evan G. Lapham, "The national primary standard of radio frequency
J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.J, Vol. 14, No. 2, Feb. 1935, pp. 85-98.
[15] Ibid.
[16] "Improvements in the NBS primary standard of frequency," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 37,
No. Jan. 1953, pp. 8-12.
1,

[17] J. M. Shaull and J. H. Shoaf, "Precision quartz resonator frequency standards," Proc. IRE, Vol. 42, No. 8, Aug.
1954, pp. 1300-1306.
[18] B. E. Blair and A. H. Morgan, "Control of and WWV WWVH
standard frequency broadcasts by VLF and LF
Radio Science, J. Res. NBS/USNC-URSI, Vol. 69D, No. 7, July 1965, pp. 915-928.
signals,"
[19] David H. Andrews, "LF-VLF frequency and time services of the National Bureau of Standards," IEEE Trans.
Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-14, No. 4, Dec. 1965, pp. 233-237.

[20] Benjamin F. Husten and Harold Lyons, "Microwave frequency measurements and standards," Trans. Am. Inst.
Elec. Engrs., Vol. 67, Pt. 1, May 1948, pp. 321-328.
[21] L. J. Rueger and A. E. Wilson, "The microwave frequency standard," Electronics World, Vol. 49, No. 3, Mar.
1953, pp. 5-7, 40-41.
[22] Hoy J. Walls, "The standard-frequency set at WWV," QST, Vol. 8, No. 3, Oct. 1924, pp. 9-12.

[23] L. Mickey and A. D. Martin, "Development of standard frequency transmitting sets," J. Res. Bur. Stand., Vol.
No. 1, Jan. 1934, pp. 1-12.
12,
[24] W. D. George, "WWV standard frequency broadcasts," FM and Television, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1947, pp. 25-27,
44.
[25] G. H. Lester, "Experimental standard-frequency transmitting station, WWVH," Communications, Vol. 29, No.
9, Sept. 1949, pp. 20-23, 32-33.
[26] "Experimental staandard frequency broadcast at 60 kilocycles," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol.
41, No. 7, July 1957, pp. 99-100.
[27] J. A. Barnes, D. H. Andrews, and W. D. Allan, "The NBS-A time scale —
its generation and dissemination,"

IEEE Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-14, No. 4, Dec. 1965, pp. 228-232.
[28] John B. Milton, Standard Time and Frequency: Its Generation, Control, and Dissemination from the National
Bureau of Standards Time and Frequency Division, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 379, Aug. 1969, 27
pages.
[29] D. W. Allan, J. E. Gray, and H. E. Machlan, "The National Bureau of Standards atomic time scales,
generation, dissemination, stability, and accuracy," IEEE Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-21, No. 4, Nov.
1972, pp. 388-391.
[30] "New standard frequency broadcasts," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 44, No. 7, July 1960, pp.
120-122.
[31] "NBS low-frequency station WWVB to broadcast international unit of time," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech.
News Bull, Vol. 49, No. 2, Feb. 1965, p. 27.

[32] Peter P. Viezbicke, NBS Frequency-Time Broadcast Station WWV, Ft. Collins, Colorado, Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.), Tech. Note 611, Oct. 1971, 29 pages.
[33] Yardley Beers, "WWV moves to Colorado,"
QST, Vol. 51, Jan. 1967, pp. 11-14; Pt. II, Feb. 1967, pp. 30-36.
[34] D. D. Davis, Byron E. Blair, and James
Barnaba, "Long-term continental U.S. timing system via television
F.
networks," IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 8, No. 8, Aug. 1971, pp. 41-52.
[35] "Golden anniversary of WWV," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 57, No. 6, June 1973, pp. 140-
142.
[36] "New time rules," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Dimensions, Vol. 59, No. 2, Feb. 1975, pp. 40-41.
[37] J. A. Barnes and R. E. Beehler, Report on the 1975 Survey of Users of the Services of Radio Stations WWV and
WWVH, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 674, Oct. 1975, 91 pages.
[38] "Atomic clocks, international travelers," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 56, No. 10, Oct. 1972, p.

233.
[39] J. L. Jesperson, George Kamas, Lawrence E. Gatterer, and Peter F. MacDoran, "Satellite VHF transponder
time synchronization," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 56, No. 7, July 1968, pp. 1202-1208.
[40] D. W. Hanson and W. F. Hamilton, Time and Frequency Broadcast Experiments from the ATS-3 Satellite, Nat.
Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 645, Nov. 1973, 115 pages.
[41] NBS, "At the signal.. .via satellite time," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Dimensions, Vol. 58, No. 4, Apr. 1974, p. 94.
[42] "Time dissemination and clock synchronization via television," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol.
54, No. 6, June 1970, pp. 125-126.
[43] ibid.
[44] John B. Milton, Standard Time and Frequency: Its Generation, Control, and Dissemination from the National
Bureau of Standards Time and Frequency Division, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 379, Aug. 1969, 27
pages.
[45] D. D. Davis, Byron E. Blair, and James F. Barnaba, "Long-term continental U.S. timing system via television
networks," IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 8, No. 8, Aug. 1971, pp. 41-52.
[46] "Color TV used to calibrate oscillators," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 58, No. 8, Aug. 1974, pp.
188-189.
[47] Special issue on Time and Frequency, Proc. IEEE, Vol. 60, No. 5, May 1972.
[48] Byron E. Blair, ed., Time and Frequency: Theory and Fundamentals, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Monogr. 140, May
1974, 459 pages.

311
[49] Wilbert F. Snyder, "Lord Kelvin on atoms as fundamental natural standards (for base units)," IEEE Trans.
Instr. and Meas. (Correspondence), Vol. IM-22, No. 1, Mar. 1973, p. 99.
[50] John M. Richardson, "Time and its inverse," Science and Technology, Vol. 1, No. 6, June 1962, pp. 54-61.
[51] R. E. Beehler, "A historical review of atomic frequency standards," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 55, No. 6, June 1967, pp.
792-805.
[52] Harold Lyons, "Microwave frequency standards," Phys. Rev., Vol. 74, No. 9, Nov. 1, 1948, p. 1203. An invited
paper of the Washington Meeting, American Physical Society, May 1, 1948. Noted by title only.
[53] Atomic Clock Developed by the National Bureau of Standards, NBS Technical Report General, TRG-6057, Jan.
6, 1949.
[54] The Atomic Clock, an Atomic Standard of Frequency and Time, NBS Technical Report 1320, Jan. 1949.
[55] Harold Lyons, "The atomic clock," Instruments, Vol. 22, No. 2, Feb. 1949, pp. 133-135, 174.
[56] "The atomic clock, an atomic standard of frequency and time," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol.
33, No. 2, Feb. 1949, pp. 17-24.
[57] Harold Lyons, "Microwave spectroscopic frequency and time standards," Electrical Engineering, Vol. 68, Mar.
1949, p. 251 (abstract only).
[58] Harold Lyons, "Atomic clocks," Scientific American, Vol. 196, No. 2, Feb. 1957, pp. 71-82.
[59] —
Harold Lyons, "The atomic clock A universal standard of frequency and time," The American Scholar, Vol.
19, No. 2, Spring 1950, pp. 159-168.
[60] Harold Lyons, "Microwave spectroscopic frequency and time standards," URSI Proc. IXth General Assembly
(Zurich, Switzerland, Sept. 11-12, 1950— Commission I), Vol. VIII, Pt. II, Paper No. 91, 1950 (Sec. Gen. of
URSI, Brussels, Belgium), pp. 47-57.
[61] B. F. Husten, "Improved NBS ammonia clock," Proc. IRE, Vol. 39, No. 2, Feb. 1951, p. 208 (abstract only).
[62] Harold Lyons, "Spectral lines as frequency standards," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 55,
Art. 5, Nov. 1952, pp. 831-871.
[63] John M. Richardson, "Experimental evaluation of the oxygen microwave absorption as a possible atomic-
frequency standard," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 29, No. 2, Feb. 1958, pp. 137-145.
[64] Harold Lyons, "Microwave frequency dividers," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 21, No. 1, Jan. 1950, pp. 59-60.
[65] Helmut Hellwig, Frequency Standards and Clocks: A Tutorial Introduction, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note
616, Apr. 1972, 65 pages.
[66] A. S. Risley, The Physical Basis of Atomic Frequency Standards, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 399, Apr.
1971, 54 pages.
[67] J. E. Sherwood, Harold Lyons, R. H. McCracken, and P. Kusch, "High frequency lines in the hfs spectrum of
cesium," Phys. Rev., Vol. 86, No. 4, May 15, 1952, p. 618 (abstract only). Presentation at Annual Meeting of
American Physical Society, New York City, Feb. 2, 1952.
[68] R. D. Huntoon and U. Fano, "Atomic definition of primary standards," Nature, Vol. 166, July 29, 1950, pp. 167-
168.
[69] R. C. Mockler, J. Barnes, R. Beehler, H. Salazar, and L. Fey, "The ammonia maser as an atomic frequency and
time standard," IRE Trans. Instr., Vol. 1-7, No. 3-4, Dec. 1958, pp. 201-202.
[70] J. A. Barnes and R. C. Mockler, "Power spectrum and its importance in precise frequency measurements," IRE

Trans. Instr., Vol. 1-9, No. 2, Sept. 1960, pp. 149-155.

[71] R. C. Mockler, R. E. Beehler, and C. S. Snider, "Atomic beam frequency standards," IRE Trans. Instr., Vol. 1-9,
No. 2, Sept. 1960, pp. 120-132.
[72] "Atomic frequency standards," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 45, No. 1, Jan. 1961, pp. 8-10.
[73] R. E. Beehler, R. C. Mockler, and C. S. Snider, "A comparison of atomic beam frequency standards," Nature,
Vol. 187, Aug. 20, 1960, pp. 681-682.
[74] NBS, "National standards of time and frequency in the United States," Proc. IRE (Correspondence), Vol. 48,
No. 1, Jan. 1960, pp. 105-106.
[75] R. E. Beehler, R. C. Mockler, and J. M. Richardson, "Cesium beam atomic time and frequency standards,"
Metrologia, Vol. 1, No. 3, July 1965, pp. 114-131.
[76] R. E. Beehler and D. J. Glaze, "The performance and capability of cesium beam frequency standards at the
National Bureau of Standards," IEEE Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-15, No. 1-2, Mar.-June 1966, pp. 48-
55.

[77] D. J. Glaze, "Improvementsatomic cesium beam frequency standards at the National Bureau of Standards,"
in
IEEE Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-19, No.
3, Aug. 1970, pp. 156-160.

[78] David J. Glaze, et al., "Accuracy evaluation and stability of the NBS primary frequency standards," IEEE
Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-23, No. 4, Dec. 1974, pp. 489-501.
[79] R. E. Beehler and D. J. Glaze, "Evaluation of a thallium atomic beam frequency standard at the National
Bureau of Standards," IEEE Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-15, No. 1-2, Mar.-June 1966, pp. 55-58.
[80] Helmut Hellwig, et al., "Measurement of the unperturbed hydrogen hyperfine transition frequency," IEEE
Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-19, No. 4, Nov. 1970, pp. 200-209.
[81] Helmut Hellwig and Howard E. Bell, "Some experimental results with an atomic hydrogen beam frequency
standard," Metrologia, Vol. 8, No. 2, Apr. 1972, pp. 96-98.
[82] Helmut W. Hellwig, "Atomic frequency standards: A survey," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 63, No. 2, Feb. 1975, pp. 212-229.
[83] B. W. Parkinson, "Global Positioning System an evolutionary research and development program," Proc. Sixth
Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Planning Meeting (held at U.S. Naval Research
Laboratory, Washington, D.C.), Dec. 3-5, 1974, pp. 465-495.
[84] L. Essen and J. V. L. Parry, "An atomic standard of frequency and time interval," Nature, Vol. 176, Aug. 13,
1955, pp. 280-282.
[85] E. C. Bullard, "Definition of the second of time," Nature, Vol. 176, Aug. 13, 1955, p. 282.

312
[86] J. Terrien, "The manner in which progress is made in the standards for physical measurement," Metrologia,
Vol. 4, No. 4, Oct. 1968, pp. 190-195.
[87] H. Hellwig, "Areas of promise for the development of future primary frequency standards," Metrologia, Vol. 6,
No. 4, Oct. 1970, pp. 118-126.
[88] W. Markowitz, R. Glen Hall, and J. V. L. Parry, "Frequency of cesium in terms of ephemeris time,"
L. Essen,
Phys. Rev. Letters, Vol. No. 1, Aug. 1, 1958, pp. 105-107.
1,

[89] "New time rules," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Dimensions, Vol. 59, No. 2, Feb. 1975, pp. 40-41.
[90] John B. Milton, Standard Time and Frequency: Its Generation, Control, and Dissemination by the National
Bureau of Standards, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 656, June 1974, 21 pages.
[91] E. J. Kahn, Jr., "The leap second," The New Yorker, Vol. 49, No. 27, Aug. 27, 1973, pp. 50, 52, 54-58.
[92] "Nation Gets Unified Time System," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 53, No. 2, Feb. 1969, p. 34.
[93] James Barnes, "The development of an international atomic time scale," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 55, No. 6, June 1967,
pp. 822-826.
[94] David W. Allan, James E. Gray, and H. E. Machlan, "The National Bureau of Standards atomic time scales:
Generation, dissemination, stability, and accuracy," IEEE Trans. Instr. and Meas., Vol. IM-21, No. 4, Nov.
1972, pp. 388-391.
[95] "Atomic timekeeping 25 years later," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Dimensions, Vol. 58, No. 3, Mar. 1974, pp. 68-69.

313
 Chapter IX

NBS FACES A SECOND WORLD WAR

Radio work in World War II

The suddenness of attack upon the United States by Japan at Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941, did not find the National Bureau of Standards completely disassociated
from the technical developments that had already emerged from World War II. Hostilities
had opened more than 2 years before, on September 1, 1939, and there had been rumblings
of war several years in advance of actual hostilities. The newly organized National Defense
Research Committee (NDRC) had made early overtures to NBS for development and
investigations into areas related to war on a global scale and modes of warfare that involved
the latest technological advances.
This was no new experience to some of the NBS employees. However, in World War I
they had experienced the conditions of wartime operation for a much shorter time than
—
during World War II the war period for the United States was much less and NBS was but
little engaged in any war activity in advance of hostilities. As a reflective thought on the
experience by NBS in World War I one reads in the Introduction to the historical account,
War Work of the Bureau of Standards [1]:

It is hoped that those who read the following pages will find some material
of assistance to them in their work, as it is the belief of this Bureau that
many of the problems — the solution of which was undertaken as a war
measure — are of equal or even greater importance in the arts of peace.
Their solution was one of the real benefits resulting from the war.

Possibly those the World War II period at NBS had a somewhat different
who experienced
viewpoint — was not expressed in an account of the latter.
if so, it

The historical account of the work of NBS in World War II was prepared by Dr. Lyman
J. Briggs shortly after cessation of hostilities and after he became Director Emeritus. On
October 11, 1945, Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Commerce, wrote to Dr. Briggs stating:

... I very much wish

that you could prepare at your leisure, but complete
an account of the part played by the Bureau of
in the not too distant future,
Standards in winning the war. You owe it to yourself, to the Bureau, to the
Department, and to the country to shake off some of your customary
modesty and let the world know something of what was done.
With the help of many contributors, Dr. Briggs wrote NBS War Research— The National
Bureau of Standards in World War II [2]. Although completed by, and dated August 15,
1946, a year after hostilities ceased, it was not issued until September 1949. Even at that
late date and for a period thereafter, certain radio projects of the war period remained in a
security classification and could not be revealed in their full scope. This was particularly
true of work performed by the Radio Section for the Navy Department. In this present
account, written nearly 30 years later, the nature of these projects can be fully revealed—
see section on Radar Countermeasures.
1

1
Because much of the material in this chapter has been written for the first time for publication due to the lifting
of secrecy, there is considerable detail involved in describing the various projects and in listing the personnel who
participated.

315
 The historical account by Dr. Briggs gives considerable coverage in the area of "radio
—
weather" the work of the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL). In his
opening paragraphs Dr. Briggs stated:

Perhaps the four most significant as well as striking projects in which the
Bureau was engaged during the war were the atomic bomb project, the
proximity fuze, guided missiles, and "radio weather." Each represented a
major scientific effort, and in each the Bureau took an active part in
collaboration with other agencies.

Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack and declarations of war, arrangements were
made for the rapid shutting down of any of the Radio Section's transmitters as might be
required, including the standard frequency and the ionosphere transmitters. However, such
action was not required for the duration of the war.
For a broader perspective of the Bureau's work in World War II in relation to the
period leading up to the war period and the period that followed, the reader is referred to
—
Cochrane's history, Measures for Progress [3]. In chapter VII World War II Research (1941-
—
45) Cochrane presents a fairly extensive and an interesting account of the role played by
NBS. Chapter VI sets the stage for chapter VII, and chapter VIII relates the tapering-off
cycle after the high pitch of activity during the war.

The Radio Section in relation to NDRC of OSRD 2

Unlike wars of old, modern military operations require close association with the
prevailing technology and there must be planning by the military for future developments
in technology. So it was that the Council of National Defense was created in 1916 during the
World War I period. This Council of six Departmental secretaries (War, Navy, Interior,
Agriculture, Commerce, Labor) created the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC)
on June 27, 1940, with the approval of President Roosevelt. Dr. Vannevar Bush, president of
the Carnegie Institution of Washington, was appointed chairman. The committee was
directed to correlate and support scientific research on the mechanisms and devices of
warfare, except those relating to problems of flight included in the field activities of the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). All operations would be carried on
by contract.
Five divisions were created within NDRC, of which Division C (Communications and
Transportation) would have its influence on the Radio Section through Section C-l
3
(Communications) under the chairmanship of Dr. C. B. Jolliffe. Dr. Dellinger was
designated a member of Section C-l in October 1940. This position carried over into the
period when NDRC became a part of OSRD.
The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was created by Executive
order on June 28, 1941, as an organization of larger scope than NDRC to:
1. include engineering development;

2. correlate research with other groups such as NACA;

3. expand military medicine.

OSRD was headed up by Vannevar Bush as director, with the chairmanships of

divisions and sections of NDRC carrying over into OSRD. NDRC became an advisory group
to OSRD, but the total organization was usually referred to as NDRC of OSRD. With the
new organization came Division 13, entitled Electrical Communication, with Jolliffe as chief.
Within this division was organized a section designated as Section 13.2, Radio Propagation
Problems, with Dellinger as chief. Dellinger also served as a member of the Direction-Finder
Committee.

2
NDRC (National Defense Research Committee) of OSRD (Office of Scientific Research and Development). For a
detailed account of these organizations in World War II see [4]. Also, see [5] for the story of developments in
weapons and other technical advances in World War II by the OSRD.

Dr. Charles B. Jolliffe was formerly of the Radio Section during the period of 1922 to 1930. He was a radio
3

engineer of the RCA Laboratories at the time of his appointment to the NDRC as vice-chairman of Division C.
Later he was to become executive vice-president and technical director of RCA and the RCA Laboratories.

316
 —
new group, Division 15 Radio Coordination, was organized
Later in the war period a
with member. Within this division was organized a Committee on Propagation
Jolliffe as a
on which Dellinger and T. J. Carroll served as members. 4
During the war period of 1941 through 1945 the OSRD assigned and supported many
war-related development projects at NBS in areas of Bureau specialization.

The Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory 5

By 1939 a sufficient amount of knowledge of the ionosphere had been gained by the
Radio Section that the step was taken as a published statement to predict the effect of the
ionosphere upon radio propagation for a period of 1 month. 6 This first step was for rather
simple and limited situations of radio transmission, but progress had been made and it was
opening the door to a new application of scientific knowledge.
During the period 1941-1942 the NDRC requested the Radio Section to prepare a "radio
transmission handbook." The first book, entitled Radio Transmission Handbook,
Frequencies 1000 to 30,000 KC, was issued January 1, 1942, and followed by others.
During the summer of 1942 the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) was
established as a part of the operations of the Radio Section by order of the U.S. Joint Chiefs
of Staff acting through the Wave Propagation Committee of the U.S. Joint Communications
Board. The IRPL was directed to centralize radio propagation data and furnish the resulting
information to the armed services. Dr. Dellinger and Dr. Newbern Smith directed the
operations of IRPL (see ch. XI).

HIGH-FREQUENCY DIRECTION-FINDER RESEARCH

The development of radio frequency direction finders had its beginning in the early
1900's as an outgrowth of observing the directional characteristics of some of the early forms
of antennas. Over the ensuing years it was found that direction-finding (d-f) antennas were
subject to various errors and many designs were developed to increase the accuracy of
directional bearings [6]. Further improvements came slowly during the 15 years preceding
World War II. Within the Communications Division (Division 13, later known as Electrical
Communication), NDRC of OSRD, a Direction-Finder Committee was formed of which
Dellinger was one of five members. This committee awarded many contracts during the war
period, several of which were given to the National Bureau of Standards. One of these
contracts, Research Project C-18, High-Frequency Direction-Finder Apparatus Research,
approved April 1941, received development by Harry Diamond, as project leader, Harold
7
Lifschutz, and La Verne M. Poast, all of the Radio Section. Kenneth A. Norton of the
Federal Communications Commission gave a substantial contribution to this project with his
comprehensive theoretical study of the polarization of downcoming ionospheric radio waves
8
[7]. Six reports were submitted to the NDRC during the course of the investigation. These
reports are listed in the bibliography associated with the summary and final report
published by NDRC in 1946 [8].
Work on the project covered the period of April 1941 through June 1942. The frequency
range was from 2 to 30 MHz so that emphasis was placed on the problems of direction
finding associated with ionospheric radio waves. A direction finder can be responsive to both

4
Upon organization of the CRPL in 1946 Dr. Thomas J. Carroll was appointed chief of the Basic Microwave
Research Section.

°The IRPL came into existencefrom the exigencies of World War II. But it was inevitable that many of its
functions, operations,and achievements would have come into existence within the not too distant future had there
been no war. A detailed account of this technical growth appears in a more continuous pattern by incorporation
into chapter XI. The story of the IRPL covers the transition period between the ionospheric propagation work of
the 1930's and the organization of the CRPL in 1946.
6
Refer to date of February 17, 1939, Chronology, chapter I. Also, see chapter VII, p. 236.

7
Harold Lifschutz changed his surname to Lyons by court order in 1944.

8
Kenneth A. Norton had been in the Radio Section during the period 1929-1934, and in 1946 rejoined NBS with the
formation of CRPL.

317
verticaland horizontal polarization, and a combination of both polarizations in a
downcoming ionospheric wave can result in more or less random combinations of
polarizations. However, in general, the average of a series of swinging bearings will give a
bearing that is close to the true bearing if the swinging is caused only by polarization error.
For the study of polarization errors a method was developed having advantages over
previously used methods and was applicable to many d-f antenna systems. In this method a
figure-of-merit designated as the "pickup ratio" was introduced. The pickup ratio was
defined as the ratio of the pickup factor, h, of the d-f antenna system for desired radiation
field components to its pickup factor, k, for the undesired field components. Knowing the
pickup ratio and the directional pattern of the response of the d-f system, it was possible to
determine polarization errors for downcoming skywaves. Advantages of this method were
that measurements could be made near the ground and that it yielded the maximum
polarization error. The figure-of-merit for the polarization error was independent of ground
constants and of the height of the direction finder above the ground.
Upon development of a theoretical basis and experimental technique for the
determination of errors of measurement in direction finders, a group of direction-finder
9
systems of different designs was examined in different localities.
It was found that d-f systems using loop-antenna elements showed much lower

polarization errors and site errors than those using open-antenna elements. During the
study a new method for rapidly measuring the ground constants of a site was developed.
In the seven-volume history prepared by the OSRD for its scientific accomplishments in
World War II, the commendation was made in the volume on Applied Physics [9] that the
two reports cited above, references [7] and [8], had become of great importance in direction-
finder developments. The history states: "A great deal of the subsequent direction-finder
development, not only within NDRC but within the Allied Services as well, is based upon
the fundamental theories expounded in these two reports." Of Norton's report the history
states that it was: "a thorough development of the physics of ionosphere reflections, (and)
has become a classic on the subject."

Correlation of direction-finding errors with ionosphere

measurements
Although observations with direction finders were suspect under varied conditions of
reflection of signals from the ionosphere, there had been no coordinated study made of this
disturbing factor previous to World War II. The prospect of a global war with its need of
long-distance communication and navigation made it a necessity that d-f errors be better
understood and be minimized by correction. A coordinated study of the problem on an
extended geographical scale was in order.
After a series of conferences within Division C of the NDRC, beginning in January 1941,
plans were formulated and a contract made with NBS (Research Project C-13) for systematic
observations of ionosphere characteristics and of d-f errors in the range of 2 to 30 MHz. The
work would be coordinated by the Radio Section. Observations of the ionosphere and field
intensity measurements were made at five stations located at: Washington, D.C. (Meadows,
Md); College, Alaska; Baton Rouge, La.; Palo Alto, Calif.; and Puerto Rico. NBS also had the
cooperation of the Louise A. Boyd Arctic Expedition in the summer of 1941 to make
observations in waters west of Greenland. It was the first time that comprehensive data on
the ionosphere were obtained in the vicinity of the north magnetic pole (see ch. VII, p. 225).
Signals from a large number of radio stations spread over the world were observed at these
several stations for a period of 1 year (July 1, 1941, through June 30, 1942). Data were also
obtained at six d-f stations of the Navy and eight d-f stations of the Federal Communications
Commission.
Research Project C-13 with NDRC closed out on June 30, 1942. The final report,
prepared by Theodore R. Gilliland, was issued to the NDRC of OSRD as a Confidential

9
1) A rotatable, balanced-H antenna of the Adcock type, at Laurel, Md.; 2) an SCR-551-T1 installed at Ft.
Monmouth, N.J.; 3) a 10-frequency Adcock system using balanced-H antennas, located at La Guardia Airport, New
York City; 4) an elevated, rotatable, spaced loop-antenna system, at Laurel, Md.; and 5) a Collins CXAL direction

finder installed at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

318
document April 26, 1943 [10]. Much of the work was of a pioneering effort toward correlating
ionosphere information for predicting transmission characteristics several months in
advance. Further knowledge was gained of those conditions in the ionosphere that cause the
irregularities of transmission. There was better understanding of the causes of d-f errors by
the ionosphere from great-circle bearings on distant stations. The study also indicated the
importance of predicting ionosphere conditions for radio communication in military
operations. Much of this earlier work led to the development of the prediction service given
later by the IRPL (see ch. XI).
Another project was set up in the Radio Section by the Communications Division,
NDRC of OSRD, for a Coordinated Study of Correlation of High-Frequency Direction-Finder
Errors with Ionospheric Conditions (Project 13.2-92) during the period July 1, 1943, through
June 30, 1944. It was a cooperative project of five laboratories using d-f sites at Washington,
D.C. (Sterling, Va.); College, Alaska; Palo Alto, Calif.; Puerto Rico; and Cambridge, Mass.
Measurements were made of approximately 30 radio stations scattered in direction,
distance, and frequencies within the range of 6 to 19 MHz. The study provided the
relationships for bearing errors, field intensities, maximum usable frequencies, skip
distances, geomagnetic disturbances, absorption in the ionosphere, transmitter antenna
directivity, and also the effects of sporadic-E scattering and ionosphere disturbances.
The study indicated that, at the higher frequencies, deviations from true bearing of the
d-f equipment was largely due to the maximum usable frequency dropping below the
predicted value. Large errors accompanied weak field intensities. Bearing inaccuracies
during geomagnetic disturbances were largely associated with transmission paths across the
auroral zone. With strong absorption of signals in the ionosphere, deviations of more than 50
degrees were observed on some transmission paths at the lower frequencies. The final report
on this investigation was issued August 31, 1944, to the NDRC of OSRD as a Restricted
document and was prepared by La Verne M. Poast [11].

THE RADIO PROXIMITY FUZE

Along with the atomic bomb and radar, the radio proximity fuze is rated with the
outstanding technical achievements of World War II. Its conception, as an aid in weaponry,
came later than the early forms of radar, but development came at a very rapid pace with
war breaking out in Europe.
A proximity fuze project was brought to NBS by NDRC in 1940 with the objective of
investigating several principles of fuze operation. The most promising of several methods
appeared to be that of the Doppler effect of reflected radio waves. The experience gained by
Harry Diamond and Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. in the development of the radiosonde in the
Radio Section made them especially prepared to take part in the earliest developmental
11
stages of the radio proximity fuze of the nonrotating type " at NBS. Dr. Allen V. Astin, who
1

also had experience with a type of radiosonde and with a radio telemeter method for
observing cosmic rays, soon became a member of the team engaged in developing the
proximity fuze. Both Diamond and Hinman served as consultants to Section A-Ordnance of
NDRC early in the development stage of the proximity fuze. Hinman transferred from the
Radio Section in 1941, Diamond in 1942, to join the group that was later known as the
Ordnance Development Division. 12 13 Accounts of the development of the radio proximity
fuze can be found in Briggs's historical account, NBS War Research, and Cochrane's
Measures for Progress. Technical information on the development of the radio proximity fuze
of the nonrotating type will be found in papers by Hinman and Brunetti [12], and by Page
and Astin [13]; also refer to the Technical News Bulletin [14].
10
Proximity fuzes of the nonrotating type are used in bombs, mortar shells, and rockets.

11
Harry Diamond became chief of the Ordnance Development Division and retained this position until his death,
June 21, 1948. Astin became chief of the Electronics and Ordnance Division, and director of NBS in 1951 (first as
acting director, and then director, May 30, 1952).

12
The Ordnance Development Division became known as the Electronics and Ordnance Division until 1953, Wilbur
S. Hinman, Jr. becoming chief when Astin became acting associate director of NBS in 1950. In 1950 the former
Electronics and Ordnance Division was divided into three divisions: Electronics, Ordnance Development, and
Missile Development. In 1951 the Missile Development Division was moved to Corona, Calif., and remained with

319
This bronze plaque was unveiled on May 6, 1.94-9, in a conference room at the National Bureau of Standards in
memory of Harry Diamond, first ch ief of the Electronics and Ordnance Division.

(Continued)

NBS until Sept. 27, 1953. In 1953 most of the NBS ordnance development activity was transferred to the Army
Ordnance Corps and took on the name of the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories (DOFL), with Hinman as
technical director. In 1962, after reorganization of technical services within the Army, DOFL was changed in name
and became known, as it is today (1975), as the Harry Diamond Laboratories. This research and development
laboratory is organized within the Army Materiel Command. Hinman retired from Government service in 1963.
At the First Honor Award Program held by the Department of Commerce on February 14, 1949, Harry
Diamond was awarded, posthumously, the Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, the citation reading "for
contributions to electronic ordnance, meteorological instrumentation, and radio aids to air navigation."

13
Members of this research facility (now named the Harry Diamond Laboratories) and others of the friends of
Harry Diamond initiated a move in 1949 to establish a suitable award program in his memory. Thus was
established the Harry Diamond Memorial Award in the IRE (now the IEEE) which is one of nine IEEE Field Awards
presented annually. The Award:
was established in 1949 by friends of the late Harry Diamond who felt that his professional life

exemplified the highest type of scientific effort in government service. The award shall be made
by the IRE (IEEE) Board of Directors on the recommendation of the appropriate Field Awards
Committee and the Awards Board for outstanding technical contributions in the field of
government service in any country, as evidence by publication in professional society journals.
The award consists of a certificate and one thousand dollars.
Staff members of the National Bureau of Standards who have received the Harry Diamond Memorial Award
for contributions in areas of radio engineering and science are the following:* Newbern Smith (1952), W. S.
Hinman, Jr. (1956), J. W. Herbstreit (1959), K. A. Norton (1960), William Culshaw (1961), James R. Wait (1964),
Allen V. Astin (1970), and David M. Kerns (1978).
Note: In recognition of his early contributions to the field of radio and electronics, Diamond had been awarded
fellowship in the Institute of Radio Engineers "for his contributions to the development and application of radio
aids in air navigation and meteorology."
'Three other staff members of the NBS have received the Harry Diamond Memorial Award for work not directly
related to radio, namely: Chester H. Page (1974), Louis Costrell (1975), and Jacob Rabinow (1977).

320
 Air-launched automatic weather station
Development of the radiosonde by Diamond, Dunmore, and Hinman, beginning in 1935,
led to thedevelopment of an automatic weather station, reported in 1940 [15]. During World
War II, the Bureau of Ships, Navy Department, supported a program within the Radio
Section for the development of an automatic weather station that could be launched from a
plane and descend by parachute into enemy territory. In its first form it was designed to
land on the ground and was called "Grasshopper;" in a later form the equipment was
housed within a buoy for floating on water. After landing, the radio transmitter would send
signals that revealed the local weather conditions at the landing site. The weather
information received could be an aid in planning a military operation in the area (see pp.
137-138).

Automatic weather station designed for descent by parachute from airplane to observe weather conditions in remote
sectors of enemy territory. The sensing equipment and radio transmitter were patterned after the radiosonde that
had its initial development about 7 years earlier in the Radio Section. The six "legs" of "Grasshopper" (the name
selected after initial development) are shown in their folded position for carrying in bomb rack.

321
Upon contacting the ground, an explosive charge released the parachute and set "Grasshopper" in upright position
stabilized by its six legs. Another charge elevated the whip antenna. An electric clock sequenced circuits for sensing
temperature, barometric pressure, and relative humidity; the corresponding radio signals could be received up to
100 miles.

Buoy-type automatic weather station developed for the Navy, shown here disassembled in three sections for
transportation. Copied in principle after "Grasshopper, " this remote weather station was the first of a series of the
buoy-type developed by NBS for the Navy since World War II. Observation of wind speed and direction was an
added feature. Today, these stations operate for many months at a time wihout servicing.

322
 This wartime project, carried on by Percival D. Lowell and William Hakkarinen of the
Radio Section, is described in greater detail as a sequence of developments in
radiometeorology in chapter VI. The May 1951 issue of the Technical News Bulletin gave a
short account of "Grasshopper" [16].

Wind velocity measurement by radar method

1. Pulse repeaters
In April of 1942 the Navy Department, through the Bureau of Ships and the Bureau of
Aeronautics, requested NBS to further its activities in the development of radio-operated
weather observation equipment. Although the Radio Section was requested to continue
development of wind-velocity measurement by the phase-variation method, the Navy
believed it more urgent to develop a method that could make use of radar equipment that
was installed orwas rapidly being installed on board Navy vessels. In particular, the Navy
had in mind making use of the Mark 4 fire-control radars, although some search-type
radars could also be used.
Although the Navy had requested development of a radar method of measuring wind
velocity, it is interesting to note that the Radio Section had come up with essentially the
same method several years earlier sans benefite military-type radars. During FY 1939 a
balloon-borne, two-tube, re-emitter was designed and constructed for pulse operation at 65
MHz with a superregenerative detector. The ground-station transmitter operated at 200
MHz with pulses of about 4 microseconds in duration at a repetition rate of 1500 Hz. The
receiving equipment incorporated a cathode-ray tube with a sweep circuit operating at 15
kHz. Vertical markings from the sweep circuit gave a time scale, hence a scale for
determining distance to the re-emitter. With this equipment it was possible to observe the
change in distance of the drifting balloon, and thus know the wind speed from the time rate-
14
of-change of the balloon's position.
The first pulse repeater (re-emitter) for use with the Mark 4 radar incorporated five
vacuum tubes with a superregenerative detector that also served as the transmitter. A
common tuned circuit (700 MHz) served for both the receiver and transmitter, thus
minimizing change in carrier frequency of the radiated pulse in reference to the received
signal. The bent dipole antenna made reception and transmission fairly omnidirectional.
Considerable effort went into the design and choice of a power supply. In order to
minimize weight (final weight of total equipment 2 3/4 lb), yet to maintain good
performance for 2 1/2 hours at temperatures ranging from +40°C to -40°C, the use of dry
cells was out of the question. Perchloric acid cells (a reserve-type cell), with introduction of
the electrolyte just before use, became the answer. Two batteries, one at 7.2 volts, the other
at 175 volts, were required.

14
Francis W. Dunmore, who had participated in this pulse-echo project of measuring wind velocity, filed for a
patent on November Patent 2,582,971 was issued on January 22, 1952, entitled "Pulse echo distance and
10, 1939.
direction finding." In addition to the pulse technique of measuring distance to the drifting balloon on a cathode-ray
tube, Dunmore describes the use of a Yagi antenna to determine direction of the balloon by observing the azimuth
reading on a cathode-ray tube.

323
Balloon-borne pulse repeater of 220-MHz radar signals for wind velocity measurement (wind speed and direction).
The four-tube circuit served both as a receiver of the radar signal and as a transmitter, sending a repeated signal
back to the radar receiver. Time rate-of-change of signal at radar receiver gave wind speed; azimuth reading gave
wind direction. Perchloric-acid batteries for operation at low temperatures occupied about two-thirds of container.
The bent dipole served as antenna with approximately omnidirectional characteristics.

Some effort was given to the design of the high-voltage supply by powering a high-
frequency synchronous vibrator from the low-voltage battery. However, the state-of-the-art
had not progressed sufficiently at the time to give full development to this system. In the
meantime several manufacturers were successful in developing a lightweight, high-voltage,
perchloric acid battery that had a long shelf life.
After a series of successful field tests with a Mark 4 radar mounted at the Chesapeake
Bay Annex of the Naval Research Laboratory, the pulse repeater was placed in production
by a contractor and many thousands were built for the Navy. Another model was designed
for use with a fire-control radar operating at 900 MHz, still another to operate with a
search-type radar at 220 MHz.

324
Navy Mark 4 radar, converted for shore station operation, to measure wind velocity up to 60,000 ft by use of balloon-
borne pulse repeater.

Unlike the phase-variation scheme (see ch. VI, pp. 132-136), which required both a
direction-finder and a pressure method of determining altitude, the radar technique had a
built-in method of determining both azimuth angle and altitude. These features allowed the
radar technique to be immediately adaptable to shipboard use.
By strapping the pulse repeater to a radiosonde and using a balloon of sufficient lifting
capacity, it was possible by a single observational flight to obtain all of the essential
readings for weather conditions at various altitudes in the local area. Such information was
particularly valuable for ships in remote areas of the seas.
As a precaution against injuring people or damaging property, it was necessary to
return the pulse repeater (and radiosonde) to earth by parachute. Upon bursting of the
balloon at high altitudes, the parachute and its load dropped at a safe speed when nearing
land or water.

325
Balloon-borne pulse repeater, attached to parachute, for determination of wind velocity to altitudes of 60,000 ft by
radar method. Parachute provided for slow descent of 3-lb repeater after bursting of balloon at high altitude.

Development on these pulse repeaters for the Navy Department continued for several
years after the close of World War II. Capability of observing a flight extended out to
distances of more than 100 miles, with altitudes up to 50,000 feet.
Personnel engaged in this project under the direction of Harold Lyons were Jacob J.
Freeman, Wilbert F. Snyder, Emory D. Heberling, and others.

2. Reflectors of radar signals

Pulse repeaters served their purpose well for wind-velocity measurement but they were
quite expensive and required considerable manipulation before launching. These
disadvantages were offset by the recording of strong re-emitted signals, by obtaining high-
altitude observations, and by long tracking distances. In contrast, signal reflections from
passive devices suspended from balloons were relatively weak, thus limiting the altitude of
wind measurement (maximum tracking distances of 20 miles limited radar readings to the
lower altitudes of balloon ascension due to the shorter elapsed time of flight). Difficulty in
observing the weaker signals reduced the accuracy of wind-velocity determinations.
Nevertheless, further study of reflectors deserved attention.
Over a period of several years a variety of passive devices were tried as reflectors, the
studies being made concurrently with development of the pulse repeater. Antenna arrays of
dipoles sized to the radar wavelength met with only partial success. Various geometric
forms of metallic surfaces were tried, with the greatest success in the use of a multiple,
cube-type, aluminum reflector.
Each cube-type the assembly served as a "corner reflector" to provide a good
cell of
return of the radar signal in the direction from its reception. The aluminum foil was backed
with pliofilm for increased strength against tearing. A lightweight frame of balsa wood,
together with cords, supported the foil. The packed assembly opened by means of a delayed-
action timer after launching of the balloon. The reflector weight of 2 3/4 pounds was
approximately that of a pulse repeater. These reflectors were manufactured in large
15
quantities.
15
Francis W. Dunmore and Harold Lyons filed for a patent on a multicorner reflector on September 27, 1946.
Patent 2,498,660 was issued on February 28, 1950, entitled "Collapsible multicorner reflector for ultra high
frequency radiant energy." The patent states that the reflector can be carried from a free balloon and with a radar
the wind velocity can be determined at all heights traversed by the balloon.

326
 Reflectors of the 12-cube size designed for 700-MHz radars could be tracked fairly
accurately out to about 20 miles. Smaller reflectors, consisting of fewer cube cells, were used
for short-range observations. In order to gain altitude in a shorter time, small-size reflectors
were inserted within the balloon at time of inflation to reduce drag on the balloon. Balloons
were also covered with a lightweight metallic mesh. However, none of these experiments to
reduce drag met with any marked success, primarily because of reduced signal return in
comparison with that from the 12-cube reflectors.
Personnel of the Radio Section engaged in the radar reflection studies were Dunmore,
Freeman, and Heberling, under the direction of Lyons.

Twelve-cube, accordion-type reflector with 48 reflecting surfaces of aluminum foil, backed with Pliofilm, used for
determination of wind velocity by radar method. The balloon-borne reflector of radar signals was serviceable out
to distance of 20 miles. It came folded in a small package for storage.

RADAR COUNTERMEASURES
In the science of warfare, as an offensive weapon is developed it is eventually countered
or neutralized by a defensive weapon, although often not quickly enough, thus causing
defeat of the defender. The same has been true in the tactics of warfare, and in the logistics
that support the fighting forces. Such was the case in the use of radar during World War II.
Although unknown to the world at large, search-type radar had been under development for

327
 "

several years before hostilities broke out on September 1, 1939, in Europe. Countermeasures
to combat usefulness of radar by the enemy naturally followed. Large groups of physicists,
mathematicians, and electrical and electronic engineers were organized to combat the use of
radar. Such an operation was that of Division 15 within the National Defense Research
Committee [17]. The various groups were scattered among a number of laboratories in the
United States, with some work performed in England. These groups operated within
security measures of a very high order, even more than that placed upon radar itself [18].
Thus came jamming, deception, false targets of a passive nature ("window," "chaff," "rope"),
false targets by pulse-repeater devices, and means of analyzing the enemy's signals. So it
was that the Radar Countermeasures Section of the Bureau of Ships, Navy Department,
approached the Radio Section for aid in the development of equipment and systems to
—
combat the use of radar by the enemy Japan, Germany, and Italy.
To meet the growing need and commitment to the Navy Department for development of
radar equipment to pursue the war effort, a group (Navy X Group or Radar
Countermeasures Group) was organized within the Radio Section under the leadership of
Harold Lyons for the development of radar countermeasures.

1. Project CXFD — "Moonshine," radar deception equipment

Already, the Navy Department, through the Bureau of Aeronautics, had requested NBS
to develop a method of sensing the direction and measuring the speed of wind by use of
radar facilities on board ship. Early in 1942 the Bureau of Ships revealed to the Radio
Section some radar countermeasure methods that had undergone development in England
for use against long-range search radar. A pulse-repeater of low power, borne by a small
balloon, could be triggered by an enemey radar and transmit signals to the radar's receiver
that would indicate a target (ship) that actually did not exist. By delaying the returned
signal, the receiver would indicate a nonexistent ship at a more distant location. This
method of radar deception took on the name of "Moonshine. lh The U.S. Navy contracted for
some of these devices to be built by a manufacturer of communications equipment. By
employing a group of these balloon-borne pulse-repeaters it would be possible to confuse the
enemy's observer with false signals, but this type of deception had little tactical value.
Greater possibilities could be foreseen in a tactical use of pulse-repeaters and
"Moonshine" developed into a sophisticated device to deceive the enemy on a grandiose
scale. Project CXFD evolved into the development and manufacture of equipment to deceive
Japanese long-range search radars by generating false signals simulating the approach of a
large fleet of bombing planes. The objective was to confuse the enemy's air-warning and the
fighter-plane command with the decoying of interceptors to areas at the choice of the U.S.
forces. Tactical operation is shown on p. 329. A single plane carries the "Moonshine"
equipment which simulates an approaching fleet of planes, flying at high altitude, on the
enemy's radar screen. The enemy's interceptor planes find nothing; even the single plane
has made a speedy and evasive return to its base after a near approach to the enemy's
radar. Meanwhile, the real bombing fleet has taken a circuitous course at very low altitude
to escape radar detection with the purpose of destroying the airfield without engaging the
enemy's interceptor planes. Such tactical use of CXFD equipment was much more suitable
among the islands of the Pacific than in the European theater of operations.
The CXFD equipment was specifically designed to operate against long-range search
radars developed by the Japanese. Two of these radars were found in the South Pacific, one
at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, after being abandoned by the Japanese. They were
reworked, installed, and operated by the Naval Research Laboratory at its Chesapeake Bay
Annex facility at Randle Cliff, Md. With a degree of irony, these two radars were given
names of the "Snake" and the "Viper." With the aid of Navy personnel, the two radars were
used in the development stage of "Moonshine" in order to test the equipment under condi-
tions of field operation.

""The radar deception method designated by the code name, "Moonshine," was described briefly by R. V. Jones in
his recently published book entitled The Wizard War— British Scientific Intelligence 1939-1945, (Coward, McCann
and Geoghegan, Inc., New York, 1978). In the Glossary, Jones defines the Moonshine radar deception method as:
"Device used to amplify radio echoes to make one aircraft appear as a swarm."

328
 Distance from Radar to plane may range up to lOOmiles

Circular diogroms show what Enemy sees on his Rodar equipment .with cn-J wilnout CXFC equipment, also transmitted
Radar signal

CXFD or "MOONSHINE" in operation

The Navy's Project CXFD or "Moonshine" was conceived in England for use in the European war theatre, but it was
uniquely suited for use among the islands of the Pacific. While the "phantom fleet" of planes approach an island
to be intercepted by enemy planes, the real fleet comes in undetected from a different direction to perform its
mission.

In brief, the important requirements for CXFD equipment to operate against the
Japanese search radars were:
1) Pulse-repeater operation, with a superheterodyne receiver picking up enemy radar
signal and translating to a transmitter that simulates a fleet of planes.
2) Operation in two frequency bands, 65-85 MHz and 85-115 MHz.
3) Operation of receiver and associated equipment at pulse repetition rates from 50 to
2000 Hz and pulse width of 2 to 25 microseconds.
4) Delay between reception of enemy signal and re-emitted signal less than 1

microsecond.
5) Re-emitted signal from transmitter of a nature to simulate on the enemy radar
screen the approach of a fleet of planes, that is, a "phantom fleet." Adjustment for operation
to simulate flights ranging from 0.5 mile to 5 miles in depth.
6) Automatic control of strength of re-emitted signal by strength of enemy radar and
distance from enemy station.
7) Blanking of receiver to prevent feedback during transmission.
8) Aural monitoring and visual indication of enemy's signal strength.
9) A nondirectional antenna to receive and transmit a horizontally polarized wave.
Work on CXFD was started in December 1942 and a prototype was tested and sent to
the manufacturer in the summer of 1943. Fifteen units were manufactured by July 1, 1944
by General Electronic Industries, Greenwich, Conn., with Radio Section personnel carrying
out a major portion of the production engineering and testing.

329
CXFD or "Moonshine" equipment for operation on board a fighter plane, shown here on right, with power supply
and auxiliary circuitry at The enemy's radar pulse signal was received and then triggered a return signal to
left.

the enemy's radar that appeared as a fleet of incoming planes rather than the single plane bearing the CXFD
equipment.

In addition to successful flight testing in the Chesapeake Bay area out to distances of
over 100 miles, manufactured units of CXFD were tested and used in maneuvers by the
Navy in the Pacific area. These tests were made against U.S. Navy radars having the same
characteristics as the Japanese search radars. Although the Navy reported successful
operation of the equipment in these tests, the nature of conflict with the Japanese in the
closing months of World War II did not allow for actual combat use of "Moonshine."
In a letter to the director of NBS, dated 17 May 1944, the group within the Radio
Section that engineered the development of CXFD was commended by the Bureau of Ships,
Navy Department, for: "a) The high degree of interest demonstrated and willingness to set
personal convenience aside to help get the job done promptly, b) The excellent level of
technical skill demonstrated."
Radio Section personnel who took a major part in the development of the CXFD
equipment were: Lyons, Snyder, Howard E. Sorrows, and Samuel J. Kryder.
Although this system of radar deception proved to be a reality in World War II, it would
not be possible today. Even before World War II terminated, methods were developed to give
a detailed analysis of the characteristics of radar pulses received either directly from a
transmitter or by reflection from an object. Thus the enemy could "read" on his receiver the
difference in signals from an actual fleet and a "phantom fleet" of planes.

2. Project OBV — Test equipment and monitor for CXFD

In the development of CXFD (see previous section) it was soon realized that for its full
and proper effectiveness as a radar deception device, it would be necessary to carefully and
continuously monitor its operation while in flight during an actual mission against the
enemy. This need led to the development of the OBV test equipment and monitor for CXFD
equipment. The two units were weakly coupled to the CXFD antenna through a resistive
network. A built-in and small cathode-ray oscilloscope provided visual indication of the
signals emitted by the CXFD.

330
For successful use of CXFD equipment it was very necessary to monitor the tactical operation. Project OBV
equipment was designed to serve a dual purpose. When out of range of enemy's radar, OBV provided a signal that
simulated the enemy's radar pulse and allowed monitoring of the "false fleet" signals transmitted by the CXFD
equipment. Within range of the enemy's radar, OBV served only as a receiver to observe the enemy's signal.

OBV served two purposes:

In operation,
1) Onthe ground or during flight when out of range of the enemy radar, the
transmitter served as a miniature radar and was used to activate or "trigger" the CXFD.
The action was the same as would be caused by an enemy radar when CXFD was used on a
tactical mission. The signal emitted by CXFD was picked up by the OBV receiver and
viewed on the oscilloscope. The two pieces of equipment working in conjunction with each
other gave an overall test.
2) During an actual tactical mission when CXFD was being activated or "triggered" by
the enemy radar, the OBV was used as a receiver only, with the oscilloscope indicating the
character of the "false fleet" signal being transmitted by the CXFD. Because of the
complexity of operation of CXFD and the precise and delicate nature of the deception
requirements, it was only through the use of this special equipment that the operator could
be assured that CXFD was functioning properly. Lyons and Ralph Deutsch directed the
design and construction of the OBV equipment.

3. Project CXJX — A
"False Fleet" of ships consisting of radar reflectors
and jammers, and simulated microwave search radar
In planning for amphibious and other fleet operations in the Pacific theater of the war,
the Navy did not overlook the many possibilities of using deceptive radar signals to confuse
the enemy or of using jamming techniques to clutter up his radar screens. One hopeful fact
remained, that the enemy's development of radar had not progressed to the stage where the
more elementary methods of deception and jamming were no longer usable. Thus project
CXJX was assigned to the Radar Countermeasures Group of the Radio Section led by Harold
Lyons.

331
 CXJX equipment was of several kinds, but all housed on buoys that could be dropped
overboard from PT boats or other small craft. In a tactical mission the equipment would
simulate a "false fleet" of boats or an "augmented" fleet of boats preparing for a landing
operation or on a reconnaissance mission. By a combination of jamming signals, simulated
radar signals, and reflected signals, plus simulated communication signals, the enemy's
radar and radio communication equipment would reveal fleet operations which could not
otherwise easily be observed and verified on a dark night or in foul weather. Thus the
enemy could be confused or delayed in its counteroperations.
The jamming equipment consisted of two ultra-audion, self-blocking oscillators, one
tunable in the frequency range of 95 to 145 MHz, the other in the range of 135 to 205 MHz.
The blocking action of the oscillator resulted in a square-wave modulated carrier useful for
jamming. The oscillator was mechanically frequency-modulated by a rotating capacitor,
with a 5-MHz sweep. A folded-dipole turnstile antenna with a nondirectional pattern was
specially designed for the purpose. The antenna could be assembled with ease and was
mounted on a 12-foot collapsible mast. The whole assembly was mounted on a buoy (one
buoy for each of the two frequency ranges) that would sink in approximately 4 hours
(effective time of power supply and sufficient time for a tactical mission) by means of a
water-soluble wax plug.

As a component of the Navy's Project CXJX of simulating a false fleet of ships was this buoy-supported jammer of
radio signals. The turnstile antenna gave an omnidirectional pattern to the radiated signals. Small boats could be
used to launch these jammers along an enemy shoreline in preparation for an amphibious landing. A water-
soluble plug allowed the device to sink after several hours of operation.

332
 Although the power output was designed to give only partial but a vexing amount of
jamming to low-power Japanese search radars, it was found that the square-wave
modulation was less effective in jamming than noise modulation.
17
Corner reflectors were to be used to simulate the presence of small boats by returned
radar signals from the reflectors. However, the tests conducted on Chesapeake Bay indicated
that much larger reflectors and supporting buoys were required than were furnished by the
Navy. Signals from reflectors placed a few feet above the water's surface did not simulate
the presence of small naval boats to the extent of giving sufficiently defined deception
signals on a Japanese radar.
The directive on CXJX also called for the design and development of an S-band radar
transmitter in a buoy to simulate a Japanese shipborne search radar. Fitted with a rotating
parabolic antenna system, the total assembly would simulate the presence of a radar-
equipped boat in an offshore maneuver or reconnoitering mission. The development unit
incorporated a package-type magnetron, a battery-operated vibrator power supply, and a
dipole-fed parabolic antenna that would rotate on a shaft extending from the buoy.
Cessation of hostilities with Japan terminated further developments and production of
CXJX equipment. Sophistication of radar techniques soon made these deceptive devices
obsolete.

4. Other radar countermeasures projects

Project "Chick" was the development of a deception jammer to be dropped from an

airplane and descend slowly by parachute. A large number would be used in tactical
operations within 10 miles of an enemy observation point to make it difficult for a radar
operator to observe a flight of planes within this range. The same jamming-type circuitry
was used as in the CXJXWhen tested in the Chesapeake Bay area "Chick"
jammers.
successfully jammed "Snake" 18 radar operated by the Naval Research
the Japanese
Laboratory at the Chesapeake Bay Annex facility. However, further development was
cancelled in favor of the development of CXJX jammers for Navy fleet operations.
It was believed possible for a ship to remain out of range of an enemy radar, operating
at search-radar frequencies, if its superstructure was beyond the line of sight. This would be
true except for anomalous transmission caused by bending of the line of propagation by
refraction through atmospheric ducts or, as was learned a few years later, by some degree of
forward scatter effects. By means of a pulse repeater (transmitter activated by a coupled
receiver) elevated some hundreds of feet above the ship and supported by a captive balloon,
it would be possible for a ship to cruise out of range of the enemy's radar yet would be able

to observe the enemy's searching activity. The pulse-repeater would intercept a radar signal
from the enemy's long-range search radar and relay it to the ship below by means of a very
low-powered transmitter to minimize detection by the enemy. Of course, the enemy's radar
frequency would have to be known in order to tune a simple receiver of the pulse repeater.
The transmitters, in relaying the pulse to the ship, would operate at quite a different
frequency from the enemy radar to further escape detection. With this equipment it would
be possible to determine if the enemy were searching with radar and if he possibly suspected
the presence and position of the ship.
A prototype pulse-repeater was designed, built, and found successful in operation to
meet the Navy's requirements. Anemometer cups caused the antennas to revolve in the
wind, thus obtaining omnidirectional patterns to the dipole antennas.
Other radar-related projects were of a relatively minor nature and required but little
time and effort in contrast with those described in this account.

''See section 2, Wind Velocity Measurement by Radar Method, for description and use of reflectors for radar
signals.

18
Refer to p. 328 of section on Project CXFD.

333
Prototype of balloon-borne pulse-repeater for captive use on shipboard. Elevated several hundred feet above deck,
enemy search-radar signals could be retransmitted at very low power and observed on shipboard while cruising at
distances much beyond the horizon without detection by enemy radar. The anemometer cups rotated the equipment
giving omnidirectional patterns to the antennas.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF MICROWAVE STANDARDS

The very rapid development of microwave technology during the late 1930's, in the
laboratories of both England and the United States, gave impetus to the development of
radar for military purposes. World War II spawned an enormous expansion of this
technology. But slow in catching up with these developments was the means of accurately
measuring the electrical quantities involved in microwave energy. It was out of this
19
situation that the Joint Communications Board made its request to the National Bureau of
Standards to establish a national frequency standard for microwave frequencies in the
range of 1550 to 11,000 MHz.
Assistance to this new project in the Radio Section in 1944 was given by the Armed
Forces, OSRD, and the NDRC through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Radiation
Laboratory), and by various industrial laboratories. Members of the Radio Section taking
part in these early developments included: Freeman, Deutsch, John M. Shaull, and others,
under the leadership of Lyons and William D. George.
Within a year after the request from the Joint Communications Board, frequency
standards became available covering the microwave range continuously up to 30,000 MHz,
with an accuracy of 1 part in 10 million. Fixed frequencies at approximately 1-percent
intervals were made available from 300 to 30,000 MHz with an accuracy of 1 part in 100
million. These standard frequencies were derived by frequency multiplication and mixing

See chapter X, p. 345.

334
from the group of quartz-crystal oscillators that constituted the national frequency standard
at that time. Calibration services for frequency standards of the Armed Services and their
contractors became available before the close of hostilities. Improvements in equipment, in
accuracy, method of measurement, and increase in frequency range has continued to the
present.
It soon became clear that to fulfill its mission to the rapidly expanding microwave

industry and its application to national defense, the Radio Section would have to apply its
talents to the development of standards and measurement techniques for the various
electrical quantities at microwave frequencies. Before the war effort came to a close, studies
were initiated for the development of waveguide below-cutoff attenuators and power
measurement techniques. A supporting program was the assembling of an extensive
reference library of classified American and British reports. These reports embraced the
subjects of microwave theory, microwave components, and electron tubes for the generation
of microwaves. Also collected were reports on measurements at both high and microwave
frequencies covering the range from 30 kHz to 30,000 MHz. This library proved to be a
source of valuable information for many years.
The reader is referred to chapter X for a more detailed account of these developments
and facilities.

PROJECT FLAPPER— VORTEX GENERATOR

In the fall of 1944 the Navy Department asked the Radar Countermeasures Group to
investigate the possibilities of the use of vortices in air for several purposes, including the
reflection of radar signals and the possible destruction or disabling effect upon aircraft. The
possibility of vortex motion in air as an antiaircraft weapon had been proposed by various
persons, partly because of the effective area of a large (and powerful) vortex. The possibility
of using a large-scale vortex gun against Japanese suicide pilots in small "Kamikaze (Divine
Wind)" planes was also considered. It was learned that the Germans had been making a
study of vortex motion produced by a special type of explosive projectile for use against
aircraft [19]. Radar reflections from vortices could have application similar to "window," the
reflecting foil scattered by planes.
The early laboratory experiments made by the group were with small-scale vortex
generators or "guns," making studies of the efficiency of the gun mechanisms and the
properties of the vortices, particularly their translational propagation characteristics. It was
found that with a handgun using 22-caliber blank cartridges and several designs of an
elongated funnel system (serving somewhat as a venturi system) good vortices could be
generated having fairly high speeds and long ranges. The vortex gun had the ability to
strike a target with surprising accuracy. Having developed an effective small-scale vortex
gun, a large number of observations were made in an unused airplane hangar to study the
translational motion of vortices. Muzzle velocities up to 300 feet per second and ranges up to
120 feet were obtained. Outer diameters of the vortex rings expanded to about 6 to 10
inches, depending upon gun configuration, and remained constant in diameter after
travelling about 20 feet. Size of vortex could be observed by means of a flat target consisting
of several hundred rotating vanes. Translational velocities at any point along the trajectory
were measured by means of an electronic counter circuit and pressure-operated electronic
switches. The distant target operated on the principle of a condenser microphone.
Concurrent with the development of the small-scale vortex gun was a search of the
literature on aerodynamics for information on the properties of vortices. Very little was
found on the translational motion of vortices. After diligent search of related literature, it
was found that a number of studies of this nature had been made and published in several
European countries at the turn of the century. A concerted effort had been made by
meteorologists, engineers, physicists, ordnance engineers, and others in the attempt to
minimize hail damage to vineyards by "shooting" vortices toward hail-forming clouds. The
result of this extensive undertaking was the calling together in Graz, Austria, in 1900, of an
International Conference of Experts on Wetterschiessen (Weather Shooting). A second
conference was held in Padua, Italy in 1901. A 160-page report of this conference appeared
in an Austrian periodical [20]. Reported was the use of large-scale vortex guns with a muzzle
velocity of 500 feet per second and working distances up to 1600 feet.

335
 Field experiments with medium-size vortex guns were planned to be staged at the
Chesapeake Bay Annex of the Naval Research Laboratory, located at Randle Cliff, Md. For
the initial experiments a gun had been designed by the Bureau of Ships and fabricated by a
Massachusetts contractor. The design was such that many configurations of the gun
assembly could be made in order to obtain optimum results for projection of vortices. The
majority of the muzzle diameters was approximately 15 inches. An optimum powder charge
was 30 grams of smokeless powder loaded into a 20-mm cartridge case. A special breech
mechanism housed the loaded cartridge. Firings under optimum conditions of gun
configurations yielded vortices of 5 to 6 feet in outer diameter and travel distances to beyond
500 feet. Total flight times were as long as 10 seconds.
Observation of the travel of a fairly powerful vortex can be a weird experience. The
sound produced can be described best as a "screaming sound like a banshee wail." As the
vortex progresses in its flight, the composite of frequencies trails off to a lower pitch due to
reduction of energy in the swirling mass of air. In appearance the vortex has the shape of a
large and thick doughnut or a large-size automobile tire. It is easily seen in the daytime due
to the refraction of light caused by different densities in the swirling mass of air. An
unusual optical effect is observed on humid days. On the face of the vortex, as observed from
a position behind or to a side of the gun, can be seen a series of six to eight light and dark
bands across the width of the vortex annular ring. In color, the bands are bluish but with
very definite shades in the light and dark bands. Several explanations have been given for
this banding phenomenon. In the course of these experiments many observations were made
of the velocity of travel at different distances from the gun.
In the fall of 1946 another vortex gun of somewhat larger size than the previous gun
was field tested. The muzzle diameter was approximately 21 inches for most configurations
of the gun's assembly. The optimum charge for this gun was 90 grams of smokeless powder
loaded into a "one-pounder" shell case. Vortex diameters averaged 6 feet. Ranges of travel
were beyond 600 feet with flight times as high as 15 seconds. On several occasions colored
motion pictures were made of the vortex flights.
Although a few field tests were made in the summer of 1947, the Navy's interest in
Project Flapper was waning. The planned tests of the aerodynamical effects of vortices on
drone planes were dropped, and so were the tests scheduled for radar reflections from
vortices. In consequence, no large-scale vortex guns were developed.
Associated with this project were Lyons, Snyder, and Edwin A. Pellett.

PROJECT PHANTOM— VAPORS AND AEROSOLS AS RADAR REFLECTORS

The developing art of using radar in World War II had a powerful influence on the
development of ideas and concepts to counteract or neutralize the advantages gained by use
of radar.
Although had ceased, the Bureau of Ships, Navy Department, requested NBS
hostilities
vapors or aerosols as "phantom" targets.
to explore the possibilities of using large clouds of
The clouds would be formed by dispensing chemicals from planes, artillery or mortar shells,
or by rocket devices. Upon formation, the chemical cloud would serve as a false target to an
enemy's radar signal, as radar camouflage or screening, or as a target to fire proximity-type
detonators under chosen conditions. The firing could take place at quite a distant spot from
the target selected by the enemy. The usefulness of phantom as a countermeasure was
worthy of investigation. The project was assigned to the Radar Countermeasures Group in
the latter part of 1945 and was later continued by the Microwave Standards Section after
organization of CRPL.
In 1944 the Countermeasures Section of the Electronics Division, Bureau of Ships, in
cooperation with Elco Division of the Electric Boat Co., conducted investigations in the
Chesapeake Bay area on the reflection of radar signals by artificial fog or clouds. The basic
material used in these experiments was iron pentacarbonyl, Fe(CO) 5 a liquid that readily
,

diffuses in the atmosphere. It has properties that made it unique as an aerosol for the
Phantom project. In its pure state it is a viscous yellowish liquid with a specific gravity of
about 1.5. Upon release from an air- and light-tight container it oxidizes very rapidly, and
especially so in sunlight by photochemical decomposition. Oxidation can be so rapid that the

336
substance will ignite into a flaming cloud when a large amount of the liquid is thrown into
the air on a sunny day.
Oxidation of iron pentacarbonyl is a complex reaction of photochemical decomposition
when under the influence of sunlight. Rate of reaction is quite dependent upon various
factors. Suffice it to say, the end products of oxidation are iron oxide in the Fe 0 form and
2 3

carbon monoxide. The iron oxide appears as a fine brownish yellow dust that forms a dense
cloud. The liquid, being a metal carbonyl, is highly toxic. Upon oxidation, with the
formation of ferric oxide, the material loses its toxicity. For purposes of security and
identification, iron pentacarbonyl was designated as XI in all reports and communications.
Field experiments by the Bureau of Ships contractor had found the action of Xi in the
atmosphere as a reflector of radar signals to be quite erratic. For this reason, NBS was
requested to make a detailed study of its action as a reflector and/or absorber of
electromagnetic energy at radio frequencies. The initial step in the study was a literature
survey of the physical and chemical properties of iron pentacarbonyl and, to a limited
extent, that of nickel carbonyl (a very toxic substance). The literature references amassed to
over 200 in number. A survey was made of intelligence reports and microfilms of German
documents on radar camouflage and related subjects to determine if the Germans had been
working on a project similar to Phantom. Nothing was found to indicate their interest in the
subject.
As a laboratory approach to the problem, a study of the dielectric properties of XI
during reaction with air appeared to be the most promising. At the time, no equipment
its
was available for such a study. Several methods of measurement showed possibilities of
yielding information; the one selected being that of observing changes in the resonance
frequency of a microwave cavity during flow of a gas through the cavity, or of an aerosol as
in the case of XI. For the basic unit of a measurement system, a cavity Q-meter was
obtained from the Radiation Laboratory at MIT. It was during this initial period of study
that the Microwave Standards Section had taken on a new employee George Birnbaum. —
Birnbaum's training and experiences in physics, chemistry, radio, and microwave work
made him especially suited for the Phantom project.
During a period of more than a year after procuring the cavity Q-meter, a system was
developed by Birnbaum whereby the dielectric constant and loss of gases and aerosols could
be measured in a microwave cavity. Early observations were made with dry and moist air.
Later, measurements were made on carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen,
ammonia, and water vapor. All of these early measurements were made at 9000 MHz in the
X-band region. Many radars had been designed during the war for operation at frequencies
in the X-band (8200-12,400 MHz).
Measurement of the dielectric constant and loss of XI as a continuous process under
varying conditions of oxidation brought on many new problems with the measurement
system. There were the problems of introducing pure iron pentacarbonyl (commercial grade
of the XI material was purified by the NBS Chemistry Division) into the measurement
system, of controlling the rate of oxidation caused by air and sunlight, and measurement
under conditions of flow of the aerosol through the cavity.
Two transmission-type cavities of identical dimensions were formed out of a common
block of metal of sufficient mass that the two cavities are maintained at a uniform and
constant temperature over short periods of time. Each cavity is swept through its resonance
frequency from an oscillator in the cavity Q-meter. One cavity serves as a reference, the
other contains the gas being measured, either by being filled with the gas or by a gas
flowing through the cavity. In the measurement process the dielectric constant is
determined from the difference of the resonance frequencies of the two cavities. Dielectric
loss is determined by power absorbed in the gas being measured. With special circuitry and
a recorder it was possible to determine the changes in the dielectric constant and loss with
time due to changes brought on by oxidation of XI. 20

20
For a detailed account of a recording refractometer for the measurement of the dielectric constant of gases or
changes in the dielectric constant of liquids and solids at microwave frequencies, see [21]. Measurement methods
and measurements at microwave frequencies of the dielectric properties of various substances and of the
atmosphere are described in considerable detail in chapter X.

337
Glass enclosed ionization chamber for observation of effect of sunlight upon iron pentacarbonyl (Project Phantom).
The equipment (partially shown) was a form of double-cavity refractometer for measurement of dielectric properties
of vapors at microwave frequencies.

In addition to the dielectric properties of XI as determined by laboratory observations,

the Navy Department was furnished with calculations on the extent of reflection to be
expected from a cloud of XI, based upon information available at that time (1948). The
calculations indicated the not too promising possibility of using XI as a reflector of radar
signals. Nevertheless, field experiments were planned in order to test the concept of using
XI for such a purpose.
Seven radars of the Naval Research Laboratory's Chesapeake Bay Annex facility were
made available in the fall of 1948 to conduct field tests on XI. These radars ranged in
frequency from 200 to 9000 MHz. Observations were made on several different days to
determine any presence of echoes under normal weather conditions without the artificial
formation of aerosol clouds. Occasionally echoes were observed with no cause for their
presence due to ships, planes, birds, or any other visible objects. These mysterious echoes
could be troublesome when searching for any weak echoes from XI.
Early in November initial field tests were made by dispensing 50 to 60 gallons of water
from a plane flying at about 500 feet above the Bay's surface. A long cloud of mist was
formed at about 5000 yards from the radars. No echoes were observed at any of the radar
frequencies. Test runs with the dispensing of an FS smoke mixture (a smoke screen that
forms sulphuric and hydrochloric acid in reaction with moisture in air) gave definite echoes
at some frequencies. In the calm of the day these echoes lasted more than an hour. The
echoes were of a signal strength comparable to that from a plane.
Tests with the dispensing of XI were dramatic experiences. A billowing and flaming
—
yellowish cloud followed the plane "a chariot of fire" through the air. An echo was
observed on one radar. A test run was made with a combination of FS smoke and XI. On
this run definite echoes were observed on all but one radar, the cloud forming at a distance
of about 7000 yards.
The Navy Department was not encouraged by the results of the field tests. Considering
the problems and danger in handling and dispensing XI, no further field tests were made.
But the project had spawned several new measurement techniques and a number of
research projects for the future.
Personnel of the Microwave Standards Section associated with this project included:
Lyons, Birnbaum, Snyder, and Kryder.

338
 Quartz crystal research during World War II

The Radio Section gave support to the quartz crystal inspection and testing service
provided by a large group under the supervision of the Polarimetry Section of the Optics
Division. During the war period this group inspected over 10 million pounds of quartz from
which were selected crystals of a grade that was suitable for use in radio equipment for
21
military use. With quartz crystals as oscillators, it was possible to operate transmitters
within very narrow frequency intervals and frequency bands, thus providing for a greater
number of operating channels. Also, the frequency band could be changed in a brief moment
with the assurance of operating and remaining within a selected frequency band.
A valuable asset to the quartz inspection service was the operation of a small research
laboratory and pilot plant for the fabrication of experimental quartz oscillator plates. This
facility was headed by Francis P. Phelps of the Optics Division, who later became associated
22
with CRPL.
The Radio Section furnished equipment to the Optics Division and developed
measurement techniques by which the quartz laboratory could measure the operational
characteristics of the finished experimental quartz plates.
The demands made upon the large-scale production and quality testing of quartz
crystals and plates during World War II for oscillators in radio transmitters brought on the
need for measurements of parameters that would be the most useful to engineers.
Heretofore, measurements of the characteristics of quartz plates were made on
multielement circuits with the plate as one of the components. To the design engineer it is
more useful if he knows the parameters associated with the quartz plate itself. Of greatest
interest are the parameters of impedance, equivalent reactance, and equivalent resistance.
From this information the engineercan predict the overall performance of an oscillator or
filter circuitincorporating a quartz plate.
To meet this need that was accelerated by the war, several members of the Radio
Section initiated a program in the spring of 1944 on the correlation of quartz-crystal
oscillator performance with the electrical parameters of quartz plates. The team of William
D. George, Myron C. Selby, and Reuben Scolnik reported their extensive investigation in two
periodicals several years after the war [22,23]. They found that the several measurement
parameters of interest could be determined with RF bridges, Q-meters, and a stable RF
generator. Graphical representation of the parameters on a log graph simplified the use of
these parameters for engineering design of quartz-crystal units. A method was developed for
observation of spurious responses that are of a "nuisance value" in the design of quartz
oscillators and filters. This investigation was particularly valuable in connection with the
precision calibration of new types of crystal-unit test sets.

A MISCELLANY OF EVENTS
1. Mica — A strategic material
The restraints placed on the importation of strategic materials during the war made it
necessary to seek domestic sources of mica. Formerly, the high-grade mica from India was
used almost exclusively for the manufacture of radio capacitors. To meet the requirements
of high performance at radio frequencies, mica is usually selected on the basis of a low
power factor which is indicative of low power loss. Over a period of several years during the
war the Radio Section conducted a program, under the guidance of Elmer L. Hall, on
measuring the power factor of many samples of domestic micas. This program was carried
on at the request of the Council of National Defense, Bureau of Mines, Geological Survey,
War Production Board, and the Board of Economic Warfare. During the program Hall
published a paper describing the measurement method and some observations on the
electrical properties of various types of mica [24].

21
See Cochrane, Measures for Progress, chapter VII.
22
The quartz project in the Optics Division, and later in the Mineral Products Division, was transferred to the High
Frequency Standards Section, CRPL, in 1952. Phelps retired from the Radio Broadcast Services Section at Boulder
in 1960, after engaging in quartz crystal research for 20 years.

339
2. Space, and a new field site

The Radio Section encountered a sizeable share of the Bureau's problems relating to
physical facilities during the war. With an enlarged working force it was necessary to seek
larger quarters to house the added personnel and equipment. The staff had grown from 23
employees on July 1, 1940 (increased by 1 during FY 1940), to 160 at the time of organization
of CRPL (May 1, 1946). Tentative plans for a third floor to the Radio Building (completed
October 1918) were prepared in October 1941, with construction completed in May 1943.
Previously, the Radio Section had overflowed from the Radio Building into 10 rooms
constructed out of the Bureau's main lecture room in the East Building. There was no time
during the war for the usual Friday morning lectures in this room that had become
traditional at NBS. Later, the section took on additional quarters on the third floor of the
Northwest Building.
On November 6, 1940 station WWV
was nearly completely destroyed by fire. Although
a vestige of frequency broadcasts was resumed by November 11, it was not until December
1942 that partial restoration of services began in the new building.
Early in September 1942 the Bureau was notified that the Meadows, Md. receiving
station would have to be vacated to make way for a new airfield for the Army Air Force.
The became known as Andrews Field (Andrews Air Force Base) and was better known
site
in later years as the airport used by the President and other Government officials in high
office, as well as being used as the reception and departure airfield for foreign dignitaries.
Radio receiving facilities were temporarily set up in the vicinity of at Beltsville WWV
while search was made for a new site in the Washington area. A 450-acre tract of very
nearly level land at Sterling, Loudoun County, Va., to the northwest of Washington, was
selected as the future site for various types of field work. The site was procured by the Office
of the U.S. Army Engineers. The station, with its newly constructed brick buildings, was
turned over to NBS in June 1943 for operation and maintenance. It was at this site that the
Radio Section and CRPL conducted direction-finder and antenna research, ionosphere and
troposphere observations, and field-strength measurements, until the move to Boulder. Once
again, about a decade later, an NBS field site yielded to the demands of aviation, and the
Sterling station was abandoned for development of the Dulles International Airport.

3. Visitors on war missions

The war brought a large number of visitors to the Radio Section, ranging from among
the officialdom of Washington to visitors from allies abroad. Among those from England
were the well-known men of radio, Sir Edward Appleton, then Secretary of the British
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and Dr. R. L. Smith-Rose of the National
Physical Laboratory.
Eighty-eight were in attendance at the International Radio Propagation Conference
held at NBS from April 17 through May 5, 1944. The conference was held under the auspices
of the Wave Propagation Committee of the Combined Communications Board, with the
IRPL serving as host (see ch. XI, p. 411). The purpose of the conference was to determine
ways and means of increasing the usefulness of radio propagation information for the
Services. Dellinger took a leading role in the conference.

REFERENCES
[1] War Work of the Bureau of Standards, Bur. Stand., Misc. Publ. 46, Apr. 1, 1921.
[2] Lyman J. Briggs, NBS War Research — The National Bureau of Standards in World War II, issued Sept. 1949
(no NBS publication classification).
[3] Rexmond C. —
Cochrane, Measures for Progress A History of the National Bureau of Standards, Nat. Bur.
Stand. Misc. Publ. 275, July 1966.
(U.S.),

[4] Irvin Stewart, Organizing Scientific Research for War (The Administrative History of the Office of Scientific
Research and Development/, Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1948.
[5] James Phinney Baxter, 3d, Scientists Against Time, Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1946.
[6] Ronald Keen, Wireless Direction Finding, 4th Ed., published for Wireless World by Iliffe and Sons, Ltd.,
London, 1947.
[7] K. A. Norton, "The polarization of downcoming ionospheric radio waves," FCC Report 6V047, National Bureau
of Standards, May 1942.

340
 "
[8] Direction Finder and Antenna Research, Summary Technical Report of Division 13, NDRC, Vol. I, Ch. 2,

high-frequency direction-finder research," pp. 22-54, OSRD, Washington, D.C. 1946.

[9] Applied Physics, Book One: Electronics, edited by C. G. Suits (OSRD history, Science in World War II, Littlt

Brown and Co., Boston, 1948), p. 136.

[10] T. R. Gilliland, Coordinated Study of Ionospheric Transmission and Direction Errors at High Frequencie
National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C, Apr. 26, 1943.
[11] L. M. Poast, Coordinated Study of Correlation of High-Frequency Direction-Finder Errors with Ionospheric
Conditions, National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C, Aug. 31, 1944.
[12] Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. and Cledo Brunetti, "Radio proximity fuze design," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol.
37, No. 1, July 1946, pp. 1-13.
[13] Chester H. Page and Allen V. Astin, "Survey of proximity fuze development," Am. J. Phys., Vol. 15, No. 2,
Mar.-Apr. 1947, pp. 95-110.
[14] "Radio proximity fuze development," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull. Vol. 31, No. 1, Jan. 1947, pp.
3-8.

[15] H. Diamond and W. S. Hinman, Jr., "An automatic weather station," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 25,

No. Aug. 1940, pp. 133-138.

2,

[16] "An air-launched automatic weather station," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 35, No. 5, May
1951, pp. 61-63.
[17] Applied Physics, Book One: Electronics, edited by C. G. Suits, (OSRD history, Science in World War II, Little,

Brown and Co., Boston, 1948), Pt. 1: History of Division 15, NDRC, pp. 9-122.
[18] Ibid, p. 11.
[19] Leslie E. Simon, Report on German Scientific Establishments, A.S.F., Office of Chief of Ordnance, Washington,
D.C, Sept. 1945.
[20] J. M. Pernter, "International Conference of Experts on Weather Shooting," Jahrbucher der K.D. Central-

Anstalt fur Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus, Wien, Vols. 38-39, 1901-1902; Supplement "Bericht uber
—
—
die Internationale Experten Conferenz fur Wetterschiessen in Graz."
[21] George Birnbaum, "A recording refractometer," Rev. Sci. Inst, Vol. 21, No. 2, Feb. 1950, pp. 169-176.
[22] William D. George, Myron C. Selby, and Reuben Scolnik, "Electrical characteristics of quartz-crystal units and
their measurement," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 38, Mar. 1947, pp. 309-328.
[23] W. D. George, M. C. Selby, and R. Scolnik, "Precision measurement of electrical characteristics of quartz-
crystal units," Proc. IRE, Vol. 36, No. 9, Sept. 1948, pp. 1122-1131.
[24] E. L. Hall, "Equipment and method of measurement of power factor of mica," Proc. IRE, Vol. 32, No. 7, July
1944, pp. 393-396.

341
 Chapter X

A NEW WORLD OF STANDARDS AND MEASUREMENTS

The introduction to microwaves

1. "Romance of Measurement"
Upon his retirement in 1938, Henry D. Hubbard, 1
assistant to the director of NBS,
circulated to a small brochure of his own writing, entitled, "Romance of
the staff
Measurement." Hubbard's viewpoint and evaluation of the science of measurement as he
observed it for nearly four decades within the Bureau was summarized so well in a legend
which he related in the brochure.
In days of old a poor man mood asked a wise man, "Why am I
in thoughtful
poor?" The wise man cuta staff thigh high, cut notches in it a hand width
apart, gave it to the poor man and said: "I give you the scepter of success, a
measuring stick. Measures rule the world. They come in pairs the —
measure of the sandal must match the measure of the foot. So all things are
made to measure, always two matched measures. Let this stick measure
what you make, measure well for use. Three loops of cord make it a balance
to weigh what you buy or sell. Set it upright in the sun and the stick will
—
measure the shadow hours of time allot them thy tasks. Tune thy life to
its circling shadows. When in spring the noon shadows grow short is time to

plant. Measure your portion and your neighbors. Make wisely, measure
truly, trade justly, and you will prosper."

Now us take a more contemporary view of the science of measurement. On May 1,

let
1953, Dr. Astin, director ofNBS, in giving an invited address, "The National Bureau of
Standards," before the American Physical Society at its Washington meeting, stated:

We believe that there is romance in precision measurement, and that

ability to extend the absolute accuracy of measurement by one decimal
place frequently demands as much in ingenuity, perseverance, and
analytical competence as does the discovery of a new principle or effect in
science.We believe further that many of the important advances in science
are possible only through the availability of instruments of high precision
which enable the measurement of small differences or minute effects [1].
of view of the wise man expressed in the legend, and that related by Astin in
The point
1953, has been a guiding force to a number of the personnel within NBS associated with the
development of standards and precision methods of measurement at radio frequencies,
especially since the mid 1940's. Their "romance" with measurement at radio frequencies
brought on a whole new world within the Bureau, to be passed on to the outside.

2. The doldrums period

During the two-decade period from 1925 into 1944, the Radio Section found itself in a
doldrums cycle in the area of standards and measurement (see ch. V, p. 110). Interests

1
Henry D. Hubbard came to the Bureau in 1901 from the University of Chicago with Dr. Stratton (first director) to

serve as secretary for the Bureau and to Stratton, and later as assistant to the director. He retired on September 1,

1938. He was known best for his modernization of Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements, first printed as a
large chart in 1924 and made available by the Welch Scientific Co.

342
within and outside the Radio Section were directed toward the use of radio for ;

navigation, the development of the radiosonde, the development of a national frequenc)

standard and WWV, and investigation of the ionosphere.
The lack of activity toward development of standards and precision measurement
during this doldrums period can be judged by the accounts found in the Bureau's Technical
News Bulletin. During the two-decade period only two articles (in 1927 and in 1928) relating
to standards and measurements, other than development of the frequency standard and
WWV, appeared in the TNB. Beginning in 1946, no less than 52 articles on these subjects
appeared by the end of 1973, each of these relating to the development of a new standard, a
new method of measurement, or a new calibration service. Such has been the activity since
World War II. In addition, many hundreds of papers in this area have been published by
Bureau personnel since 1946.
There was one isolated area of activity in measurement and testing that extended from
1938 to 1952, that of the examination of diathermy generators used for therapeutic heat
treatment of body tissue with high-frequency electromagnetic waves. This program was
conducted largely by E. L. Hall who previously had been active in the development of the
frequency standards. The earlier measurements were made for the amount of RF power
generated by the device. Later observations were related to the performance of maintaining
frequency within certain tolerances of the frequencies set aside for diathermy equipment on
an international basis, and to the maximum levels of harmonic radiation [2].

3. A flush of activity
Around the last day of April 1944, a secret document arrived at NBS via the Secretary
of Commerce from the Joint Communications Board of The Joint Chiefs of Staff. This
document, dated April 26, 1944, requested:
. .That as promptly as possible primary frequency standards for radio
.

frequencies between 1550 and 11,000 megacycles per second be established

and maintained by the National Bureau of Standards of the Department of
Commerce.
For reasons of security, all standards and information relating thereto at frequencies above
2400 MHz were to be classified as Secret.
This document proved its importance as it provided the means by which funds came to
NBS from the Department of Defense in support of a large and fast developing program of
standards and measurements at the higher radio frequencies. It was a document that
sparked an extensive standards and measurement program in the former Radio Section,
continued on through CRPL and the Radio Standards Laboratory, and at the present time is
a major effort within the Electromagnetics Division.
It was primarily the development before, and the continued development and use of
radar during World War II, that brought on the request of The Joint Chiefs of Staff for NBS
to extend the frequency range and, later, the scope of its standards and measurement
program at radio frequencies. It is most interesting that much of this program evolved from
the use of waveguide in radar which largely had its development in the pioneering work of
George C. Southworth, who was a member of the Radio Section during World War I. Much
of the development of waveguide and practical development of radar before World War II
came from the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., including the Bell Telephone
Laboratories, with whom Southworth was associated from 1923 to his retirement in 1955. 2
2
In his autobiography, Forty Years of Radio Research, Southworth gives a well-told account of his development of
microwave techniques for radio wave transmission [3]. Unknowingly at the time, the rudiments of Southworth's
pioneering of the development of waveguide as a means of transmitting microwaves had their beginnings in his
measurement of the dielectric constant of water at high radio frequencies. This was in 1920 when he was
experimenting with "resonant troughs" of water while a graduate student at Yale University. Years later, as he
states in his autobiography:

Remembering well the resonant troughs used at Yale in 1920 . . ., I decided in the late summer
of 1931 to go back and pick up the trail which I had left a decade earlier. This led to microwave
technique as we know it today.
This early work was with the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. In 1934 it was transferred to the Bell
Telephone Laboratories where waveguide techniques were well developed by Southworth by the time of World War
II. The development culminated in Southworth's textbook, Principles and Applications of Waveguide Transmission,

published in 1950, that became a classic in the technical literature [4]. Southworth died in 1972.

343
 THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
WASHINGTON
25 DC

JOINT COMMUNICATIONS BOARD 26 April 1944

My dear Mr. Jones UNCI A*

The Joint Communications Board has decided that there
is a need by our Armed Forces for primary radio frequency
standards for frequencies between 1550 and 11,000 megacycles
oer second. These standards are necessary for the proper
calibration of secondary standards by which the radio equip-
ments of our Armed Forces can be calibrated in the field.
No primary standards of frequency determination for use in
the radio spectrum between 1550 and 11,000 megacycles per
second are now known to be available.

The Joint Communications Board requests that as promptly

as possible primary frequency standards for radio frequencies
between 1550 and 11,000 megacycles per second be established
and maintained by the National Bureau of Standards of the
Department of Commerce.

The Joint Communications Board particularly requests

that these standards and information relating thereto, in
so far as frequencies above 2400 megacycles per second are
concerned, be made available to the U.S. Army and Navy, and
to NO OTHERS except by permission of the J.C.B., because the
security of tnis information is necessary for the successful
prosecution of the war.

The Joint Communications Board desires to cooperate

fully witn the National Bureau of Standards in any program
which may be undertaken to establisn standards in this fre-
quency band, and its representatives will be glad to furnish
furtner ctetails of the types of standards tnat would be most
useful to the Armed Forces when the program is undertaken.

The honorable G * 3* y

Jesse H . Jones Captain, U.S. Navy

Secretary of Commerce Secretary
Washington, D. C.

Unclassified in accordance with EO 11562

Letter of Joint Communications Board, The Joint Chiefs of Staff to Secretary of

Commerce, dated April 26, 19U,
set into motion the
requesting development of frequency standards extending into microwaves. This request
present time.
development of standards at microwave frequencies by the Bureau that continues to the

344
 By May 3, 1944, a letter was sent by the Secretary to the Joint Communications Boa.>
The Joint Chiefs of Staff that:
The Department of Commerce will be glad to undertake the establishment
at the National Bureau of Standards of standards for radio frequencies in
the range of 1550 to 11,000 megacycles per second.
No one within the Radio Section at the time realized the magnitude of such a program, a
program that has extended for more than three decades to the present time. However, there
was concern expressed in the letter of May 3, 1944. It stated:
A difficulty which must be foreseen is the lack of men with experience in
measurement at the super-high frequencies specified. It will therefore be
most advantageous if the Armed Forces can cooperate in the project by

assigning some qualified personnel to work with the Bureau of Standards

staff.

Through action taken by the Navy Department by July 1944, cooperation was obtained
from the NDRC (National Defense Research Committee) of OSRD (Office of Scientific
Research and Development) to supply information, equipment, and technical assistance to
the Radio Section for development of a microwave frequency standard (the consultative
3
project became known as AN-19). The Departments of Navy and the Army financed the
early stage of this new program at NBS (project I-6/AN, initially at $100,000 for the fiscal
year 1945). With the organization of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) the
program was supported by direct congressional appropriation.
Although the project began as a crash program to furnish the Armed Forces and the
country's development programs with microwave standards of frequency, it was soon
evident that the project would have to be expanded into other areas of standards and
measurements such as: attenuation, impedance, voltage, and power. Moreover, there was
the need to upgrade and expand the Bureau's total standards and measurements program at
radio frequencies from 30 kHz upwards into the microwave frequencies to 11,000 MHz, and
later to 40,000 MHz. Thus the Radio Measurements and Standards Group (also known as the
Radio Measurements and Standards Project) was organized within the Radio Section early
in 1945. In this early period the group was supervised by W. D. George and H. Lyons. Others
in the group, until the organization of the CRPL, included: R. Deutsch, R. E. Ellenwood, J. J.
Freeman, M. Greene, V. E. Heaton, E. D. Heberling, B. F. Husten, R. H. McCracken, W. J.
F.
Otting, F. Reggia, W. E. Ryan, J. M. Shaull, M. C. Selby, and H. E. Sorrows.
With the organization of the CRPL on May 1, 1946, the Microwave Standards Section
(above 300 MHz) was formed and the high frequency work expanded with the formation of
the High Frequency Standards Section (below 300 MHz). 4 Further expansion took place with
the new facilities in Boulder, Colo., leading to the organizing of the Radio Standards
Laboratory. Eventually three divisions came from this growth so that by 1967 there existed
the Radio Standards Physics Division, the Radio Standards Engineering Division, and the
Time and Frequency Division. The roots for this dramatic growth in standards and precision
measurements at radio frequencies largely trace themselves back to the document of April
26, 1944 —
it virtually became a directive to keep pace with a rapidly expanding technology.

During the formative period many conferences were held with liaison personnel of the
Navy, Army, MIT Radiation Laboratory, and commercial firms operating on defense
contracts. A series of lectures over a period of several months was given by Lyons and
Freeman on microwave theory and practice, the first introduction that the Radio Section
had to microwaves in the laboratory. During the introductory period the subject was
classified Secret, then reduced to Confidential, and finally to Unclassified. The project
having reached an Unclassified status, Dr. Lyons presented several illustrated lectures to
Washington technical groups on the wartime developments of microwaves and waveguide
components.

3
Assisting in this project was the MIT Radiation Laboratory. Other organizations taking part were: Naval Research
Laboratory, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Western Electric Co., General Electric Co., Radio Corporation of America,
and the Sperry Gyroscope Co. Hundreds of American and British classified reports in the area of microwave
developments were supplied by these organizations and soon became a sizeable collection that served as a small
library of valuable information.
4
For a short period these sections were known as the Microwave Measurement Standards Section and the
Ionospheric Measurement Standards Section.

345
4. The microwave frequency standard
By December 1944 work was in progress on the microwave frequency standard. Norman
C. Colby was detailed by the MIT Radiation Laboratory to assist on the project. Colby was
experienced in the development of frequency standards and microwave equipment at the
Radiation Laboratory. Because of its association with other wartime projects in the Radio
Section, the early development of the microwave frequency standard is treated in chapter
VIII (pp. 258-259), also chapter IX (pp. 234-235). By September 1945 a Confidential report,
entitled "Microwave frequency standards at the National Bureau of Standards," had been
sent to the chiefs and presidents of 150 Government agencies, industrial firms, and
universities, describing the new microwave frequency standard and the available calibration
services.
Beginning in June 1945, calibrations of microwave frequency meters and cavities (fixed
frequency) were made for various defense agencies. This calibration service would continue
as a fairly large-scale operation for the next 20 years; the frequency range would be
extended to around 100 GHz, with improvements in the measurement technique.

Norman Abshire of the Electronic Calibration Center calibrating a cavity-type wavemeter at microwave frequencies
in 1963. By this time,
18 years after the first microwave frequency standard had been developed by the Bureau, the
upper frequency limit of the standard had reached 90 GHz. Limits of uncertainty of measurement were about 2
6
parts in 10 .

346
5. A microwave standards program is set into motion
During the summer of 1945 and before the cessation of hostilities with Japan, a well-
planned program for the development of standards and measurement techniques at
microwave frequencies (with use of rigid waveguide) was underway, with concurrent
development in coaxial equipment below 300 MHz. 5
The early efforts of development were directed toward the most needed electrical
quantities that required precision measurement at radio frequencies. Included were the
quantities of power and voltage, and the quantities of impedance and attenuation (quantities
associated with circuit elements or standards).
During this early development period on a fairly wide front, field-strength meters were
developed to meet the need of measurement brought on by the increasing use of the FM and
TV frequency bands.

Meeting a Nation s measurement need'

1. Funding that set the wheels into motion
funding to set a microwave standards program into motion was to the extent of
Initial
$100,000 for FY 1945, shared equally by the Navy and War Departments. This was increased
to $150,000 for FY 1946, again shared equally between the two departments. By now both
the Army Signal Corps and the Army Air Force shared an interest in equally supporting the
War Department's funding. After organization of the CRPL, funding of the standards work
was largely supported by direct congressional appropriations. Beginning in FY 1957, the
Department of Defense came back into the funding picture, this time in support of the new
Electronic Calibration Center, and this large-scale support extended until 1968.

2. Progress on a broad measurement front

With the ample funding that became available, there was but little to deter a rapidly
advancing front in the development of standards and precision measurement methods across
the frequency spectrum from 30 kHz to 24,000 MHz, later to be extended to 40,000 MHz and
beyond. The areas of early development were for the electrical quantities of attenuation,
impedance, power, voltage, current, noise, and field strength, plus the dielectric and
magnetic properties of materials.
In 1948 a program was initiated by Harold Lyons, chief of the Microwave Standards
Section, to use microwave technology as a means of developing frequency and time
standards based on the vibrational states of molecules and atoms. Within a few months the
world's first atomic clock was in operation and there followed an atomic frequency
standards program of many facets. In retrospect, one notes a significant statement in the
Bureau's Annual Report of 1950 (p. 91) which reads:

The aim of the Bureau's program in this field (atomic clocks) is a new
atomic standard of time and frequency to replace the mean solar day. Such
a standard may make it possible to change all of the present arbitrary units
for physical quantities to atomic units. In fact, it should be possible to base
both length and time standards on one spectrum line by multiplying the
frequency of an atomic clock up into the millimeter bands and making use
of an "atomic ruler," that is, an interferometer driven by the multiplied
frequency from the clock. This would automatically give a precise value for
the velocity of light. . . .

°In these early stages of development most of the work was done with X-band equipment (waveguide of 1/2" by 1"
outside dimensions, rectangular cross section, frequency range of 8200 to 12,400 MHz) because of its convenient
dimensions and the availability of many types of components in this waveguide size. There was also the early need
to develop coaxial measurement equipment below 300 MHz. In time, standards were developed in both smaller and
larger sizes of rigid waveguide, and the coaxial equipment was extended to much higher frequencies.
6
It is the purpose in writing this portion of chapter X to give a more or less chronological yet topical account of
and special programs, and relations with other groups, in order to meet the Nation's needs for
activities, large-scale
standards and measurements at radio frequencies. The account of the development of the standards and
measurement techniques is largely contained in the last portion of this chapter.

347
This was a prophetic statement by the Bureau in 1950; with the passage of time much of it

has come to realization with NBS itself (see chs. VIII and XV).

3. A measurement conference sets a trend

Within two standards sections within CRPL (May
2 years after the organization of the
1, came
1946), there
the desire and feeling of need within the AIEE Subcommittee on High-
Frequency Measurements for a national conference in the field of high-frequency
measurements and instrumentation. Harold Lyons, chief of the Microwave Standards
Section, was a member of this committee and the result was the joint sponsorship of a
conference by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and the Institute of
Radio Engineers (IRE) with the National Bureau of Standards. This first conference of its
kind held on a national basis, convened in Washington, D.C. during the period of January
10-12, 1949, and was the forerunner of the many conferences of its type that have continued
to the present day. Not only has the long-time repetition of these conferences given them an
international flavor in recent years, but initiated another series of conferences with even
—
wider sponsorship, and also was the source of a new organization the National Conference
of Standards Laboratories.

4. A measurement need
a ) The Air Force takes the lead
The new and rapidly developed technologies that came out of World War II, such as
radar, brought on a variety of problems related to procurement requirements, maintenance,
adaptation to field use, and direction of research for further development. The Air Force,
within the Department of Defense (three military services in one department, August 10,
1949), was especially cognizant of these various problems and took steps to understand and
then set out to solve the problems. Such responsibilities were primarily those of the Air
Materiel Command (headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio)
and on November 26, 1951, several of its representatives visited NBS to discuss informally
the calibration needs of the Air Force. The purpose of their visit was to learn if NBS would
7

be interested in providing a greatly expanded calibration service to meet the needs of the
Air Force. The service would be in the area of electrical and electronic standards, covering a
very extensive frequency range in a number of electrical quantities. This was a new
challenge to NBS.
At this period of time the Air Force requirements were periodic calibration of
interlaboratory or transfer standards for 15 depots in the United States and foreign
countries. In addition, the Air Force desired consultative and advisory services on special
problems and the development of standards and instruments to meet new requirements.

b) NBS FACES NEW PROBLEMS

To NBS the request by the Air Force appeared to be within the scope of the Bureau's
mission, yet of such a magnitude that the project would require special facilities. It appeared
that such a project was a logical addition to the facilities at the Boulder Laboratories, then
in the planning stage. NBS estimated that the program would require funding for an
adequate facility at a cost ranging to at least $5,000,000 and an annual operating cost of
around $750,000. During the next several years (after 1951) several conferences were held
with the Air Force, and were mostly related to funding. During this period the Navy
(primarily the Bureau of Aeronautics) and the Army (primarily Army Ordnance) became
interested in the program. Many problems were encountered on how the venture should be
financed, with each of the various parties involved, including the Bureau of the Budget,
having its own point-of-view, which was not without change. The intricacies of these
problems were to plague the planning, and then the operation, of the facility for more than
a decade. A major problem was ownership of the equipment and, later, method of

7
Over a period of several months at this time, the Microwave Standards Section gave a series of 3-day tours
through its laboratories for the training of Air Force Electronic Inspectors. These training courses, that included
lectures on microwaves, were conducted by NBS at the request of the Air Materiel Command.
capitalization of the equipment. Availability of funds would have to wait until after 1

move of CRPL to Boulder, Colo.

5. The move to Boulder

During the summer of 1954 the laboratory equipment of the High Frequency Standards
Section and the Microwave Standards Section was moved to the new Boulder Laboratories.
Personnel of the two sections who chose to move to the new location followed their
equipment during the summer and into the fall of the year. The two sections became a new
division, to be known as the Radio Standards Division, with Dr. Harold A. Thomas as the
8
chief. Thomas resigned in September 1956 and William D. George served as acting division
chief untilMay 1960, when Dr. John M. Richardson became chief of the division (Radio
9
Standards Laboratory). (Additional information will be found in ch. XIX and app. C.)

6. NBS and the Radio Standards Division face a new challenge

The 1950's brought in the Space Age and the pace of development was accelerated after
the launching of Sputnik on October 4, 1957. The new technology of fabricating, launching,
and controlling spacecraft placed new and severe demands on the accuracy of
measurements. These demands came to a focus on the national standards developed and
maintained by NBS, and particularly on the standards at radio frequencies by the Radio
Standards Division. The matter of accurate measurements came sharply to the attention of
the general public by an article published in the September 10, 1960, issue of The Saturday
Evening Post [5]. The article, "The measurement pinch," written by a layman, had a subtitle
of: "Space-age technology has put fantastic new demands on the National Bureau of

Standards." The phrase, "The measurement pinch," became an oft-used expression to

incisively describe the prevailing situation at the time. The term "measurement gap"
became an even more popular expression. And the Radio Standards Division found itself in
the midst of the problem. Manifestation of the need to close the "gap" brought supplemental
funding to the Radio Standards Division.
More than being just cognizant of the situation, the Aerospace Industries Association
(AIA) through its Quality Control Committee, took an active stance by conducting an
"Industry Calibration Survey" in 1958 and 1959 to obtain factual information on the state-
of-the-art of various measurement categories. In an analysis the required accuracies were
compared with the "best routine accuracy" provided by NBS, with an indication of problem
areas. The categories of Electrical (AC, DC, Audio and Video), Radio Frequency (to 1000
MHz), and Microwave (above 1000 MHz), were treated in considerable detail and showed
much lacking in calibration services, particularly in the microwave range.
Many actions took place as a result of the AIA Survey through which NBS took a
prominent role. Among these was a series of 20 Measurement Research Conferences, held in
Washington and in Boulder, attended by representatives of industry and by members of the
NBS staff. These conferences were held over a period of 2 years, beginning in May 1960. All
those relating to electrical quantities at radio frequencies were held in Boulder, nine in all.
Much was gained from these conferences in defining ranges and accuracies that were most
needed, and why they were needed, also what immediate and long-range actions might best
be taken by NBS, industry, and by the military. 10

8
Harold A. Thomas came to the Boulder Laboratories from the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Corona, Calif.
Previously (from 1947) he had been with NBS Washington, working on the precision measurement of nuclear and
atomic constants.
9
Several years later, in 1964, Richardson received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional
Service "in recognition of highly distinguished accomplishments in the development of radio standards and the
organization and administration of essential research and standards programs for high radio frequencies."
In 1965 Richardson was elected a fellow of the IEEE "for contributions to atomic frequency and time interval
standards."
10
An interesting viewpoint crept into the total NBS picture during this period of "soul searching" as a result of a
request by the director. Dr. Astin asked for suggestions on revision of the Bureau's mission. In a memo to the

349
A survey made 1958-1959 by the Aerospace Industries Association provided factual information on the state-of-
in
the-art of variousmeasurement categories. The result of this survey initiated a series of 20 Measurement Research
Conferences during the next 2 years in cooperation with NBS. The first of these conferences was held in Boulder on
—
May 24, I960 on a subject of much importance that of microwave power. A number of Boulder Laboratories
personnel came into view of the photographer's camera on that occasion.

(Continued)
director, dated January 14, 1957, Dr. Silsbee, chief of the Electricity and Electronics Division, stated, among many
of his comments:

... I am sure that plenty of your advisors will be startled by my next sentence, but I will in
what follows express our opinions as to desirable emphasis.
(1) Calibration service, and jointly with it the issuance of standard samples, is in our opinion the
primary purpose for which NBS exists. . . .

(7)Uncommitted basic research can be justified on either of two counts: (a) The existence of a
number of programs at NBS will be of definite assistance in recruiting personnel for the much
more justified research relating to standards, and (b) to the extent that funds are not needed for
higher priority work, uncommitted basic research is adequately justified on the basis that by the
"Principle of Serendipity" unforeseen methods and materials valuable in the art of
measurement may be brought to light.

Please do not misinterpret these remarks as indicating that I personally, like nearly all my
colleagues,would not prefer to work on uncommitted research, I have often referred to it as the
"frosting on the cake" of our services here at NBS. . . .

With publication of the "Statement of the NBS Mission" in the Annual Report of 1960, we find:

The National Bureau of Standards must provide national leadership in the development and use
of accurate and uniform techniques of physical measurement. . . .

The Bureau, in its measurement leadership responsibility, must strive to stay ahead of the
measurement requirements of science and technology. It must anticipate tomorrow's
measurement problems and lead in their solution particularly in assuring that adequate
standards and measurement techniques are available. It is the Bureau's responsibility to insure
that measurement inadequacies do not retard scientific and technological progress.

350
7. The Electronic Calibration Center
a) A NEW FACILITY AND A NEW ORGANIZATION IN THE MAKING
The 84th Congress authorized the construction of an additional wing (Wing 6) to the
Radio Building of the Boulder Laboratories for housing the special facility designed for a
large-scale calibration operation. It was a new venture on the part of NBS. At the request of
the Air Force, during the design stage, the decision was made to incorporate facilities for the
calibration of direct current and low frequency standards and instruments into the
operation. The wing was completed in the late spring of 1957 and was occupied early in July
by a small group that was being organized as the Electronic Calibration Center (ECC).
Recruiting for personnel went on at a rapid rate. The group was to become a very large
section (approximately 90 persons) within the Radio Standards Laboratory (a single division
at the time). The center was headed by Harvey W. Lance as the section chief, and Wilbert F.
Snyder as the assistant section chief. 11 The center was organized functionally into three
units across a broad range of the communication frequencies of the electromagnetic
spectrum and extending down to zero (direct current). The Low Frequency Unit (0-30 kHz)
was headed by Frank D. Weaver, formerly of the Electricity Division at NBS Washington.
Lance was acting head of the High Frequency Unit (30 kHz-300 MHz). The Microwave Unit
(300 MHz-40 GHz) was headed by Roy E. Larson.

11
Lance had come from the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Corona, Calif., where he had been head of the Microwave
Systems Section. He had joined NBS in 1948, later transferring to the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Corona, Calif.,
at first an NBS facility.

A squad of young recruits to help man the Electronic Calibration Center, March 29, 1957, with the calibration wing
(Wing 6) still under construction. All but one chose to remain at Boulder Laboratories. Through the years they
have achieved technical success in their varied areas of specialty. Left to right, Francis "Frank" Ries, Wilbur
Larson, David "Dave" Russell, Ira Berry, Raymond "Ray" Jones, Harold "Bud" Taggart, Lawrence "Larry"
Miller, August "Mick" Spano.

351
 In order to meet the pressing need by the military and the space industry for an
extensive calibration and measurement service, steps were taken to expedite the
procurement, development, and construction of laboratory equipment. Many in the Radio
Standards Division were engaged over a period of months in the design and construction of
specialized equipment to be used in the measurement systems. The Electricity Division in
Washington gave its support in planning for and selecting equipment to be used in the low
frequency measurement systems. Meanwhile the new recruits of the center, both
professional and subprofessional, were being trained to develop, construct, and operate the
calibration systems. After 1 1/2 years as an operating organization, the ECC performed its
first calibration, and on February 14, 1958, reported to the Navy on the measurement of a
high frequency Q standard.

b ) The Electronic Calibration Center is dedicated

On August 13, 1958, the Electronic Calibration Center was formally dedicated as part of
the program of a 3-day Conference on Electronic Standards and Measurements held at the
12
Boulder Laboratories. The outdoor ceremony was staged on a beautiful summer day at the
shipping entrance to the calibration wing. NBS Director, Dr. Astin, welcomed the many
conferees and invited guests. Undersecretary of Commerce, Walter Williams, delivered the
dedicatory address. He was followed by Dr. Edward G. Witting, Deputy Director of Research
and Development for the Department of the Army, who spoke in the interest of the
Department of Defense. Speaking for the electronics industry, was Robert C. Sprague,
Chairman of the Board of the Sprague Electric Co., and a member of one of the NBS
advisory committees.

'"These conferences began in 1949 in Washington, D.C and were held biennially through 1955. The 1955
Conference was a disappointment in attendance but a renewed interest 3 years later and a change of location
brought 870 registrants to the 1958 Conference in Boulder.

Dedication of the Electronic Calibration Center, August 13, 1958. Addressing the outdoor audience, under a cloud-
flecked Colorado blue sky, were: Dr. Allen V. Astin, director of NBS; Undersecretary Walter Williams, Department
of Commerce, who gave the dedicatory address; Dr. E. G. Witting, deputy director of Research and Development,
Department of Army; and R. C. Sprague, chairman of board, Sprague Electric Co.

352
 In its wing contained 27 rooms, with 17 room,
original layout the calibration
calibration areas (most of these were 24x48 feet in floor dimensions). Of the laboratu
rooms, 11 were shielded to minimize electrical and radio interference. A high-capacity £
conditioning system provided an abundance of filtered fresh air and maintained
temperature and humidity within close operating tolerances. Many of the laboratory
features were used by others developing new standards laboratories.
As a segment of its very extensive calibration program, the Air Force maintained a
facility at the Boulder Laboratories in conjunction with the ECC over a number of years,
beginning in 1958. The facility was known as the USAF Electrical Standards, Dayton AF
Detachment, and was headed by Howard L. Coile. Many of the calibration problems
encountered by the Air Force were aided in solution by the very close association and
cooperation of the ECC with the Air Force through its Boulder facility.

C) GROWTH AND MEETING A NEED

During the next several years after the dedication (1958), progress was directed toward
development of many new measurement techniques. To meet the demands of military
requirements and the rapidly expanding space programs, it was necessary to increase the
accuracy, frequency range, and magnitude range of the existing measurement techniques, as
well as to engage in the development of precision measurement methods heretofore not
explored by the Bureau. Much of the progress was dependent upon the basic research work
of other sections in the Radio Standards Division.

GEOGRAPHICAL UTILIZATION OF SERVICES OFFERED

BY NBS ELECTRONIC CALIBRATION CENTER

NAVY

x INDUSTRIAL LABORATORIES

After a year of operation, beginning in February 1958, the Electronic Calibration Center was servicing nearly 100
reference standard laboratories. In the echelon of electronic laboratories that was developing, the reference
laboratories serviced other laboratories at lower levels (usually classified in terms of required accuracy of
measurement). The chart indicates 15 laboratories for the Air Force, 8 for the Army, and 6 for the Navy, in 1959.
Industrial or public laboratories totalled 66, but grew rapidly and by 1974 had totaled nearly 550 that had been
serviced since 1958. Department of Defense reference standard laboratories increased for some years, then shrank to
relatively few in recent years as changes were incorporated in the overall measurement systems.

353
CURRENT SERVICES FURNISHED BY NBS ELECTRONIC CALIBRATION CENTER
NBS

Radio Standards Laboratory

Electronic Calibration Center

ARMY NAVY AIR FORCE OTHER GOV T. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATIONAL

18 134
Laboratories Laboratories Laboratories Laboratories Laboratories Laboratories

Station,
Depot Base
Shipyard, ond Ordnance
Laboratories Laboratories
Laboratories
Company
I Govt, and Contractor
Laboratories Laboratories
Shop, Tender, Field,
Depot and Contractor Station or Site
Contractor, and Base
Laboratories Laboratories
Laboratories

Fleet, Test,
Field and Contractor Field Test Field Test Production Line
Inspection, and Acceptance
Test Equipment Equipment Equipment Test Equipment
Equipment

SUPPORTED END PRODUCTS

Satellites, Space Probes Computers, Data Processing Equipment

Missile Systems Aircraft Control Systems

Atomic Weopon Systems Consumer Goods - Rodio, TV, etc.

Combat Weopon Systems - Lond, Seo, Air Research ond Development

Communication, Navigation Systems Production

Fire Control Systems Test and Evaluation

Detection Systems - Rodar, Sonar, etc. Maintenance and Operation

Laboratories and programs serviced by the Electronic Calibration Center during the early years (1958-1962),

In January 1962 the Division was reorganized

form two divisions (Radio Physics and to
Circuit Standards Divisions), and ECC were given the
in April 1962 the three units of the
13
status of technical sections within the Circuit Standards Division.
The magnitude of the ECC operation can be appreciated from statistical information.
Beginning in early 1958, by the end of FY 1964 the center had performed calibrations for
381 public customers (primarily industry) and 42 different laboratories in the Department of
Defense. During this same period 20,000 standards and instruments had been calibrated,
14
with 60 percent of the items being calibrated on a yearly schedule. Beginning in 1960, and
extending to 1966, the time required for the laboratory calibrations averaged more than
20,000 man-hours per year.

13
In the reorganization Dr. George E. Schafer became chief of the Circuit Standards Division, with Lance as the
assistant chief. With further reorganization and the formation of three calibration sections in April 1962, Frank D.
Weaver was appointed chief of the Low Frequency Calibration Services Section, Robert C. Powell acting chief of the
High Frequency Calibration Services Section (to be followed later by Karl R. Wendt as chief of the section), and Roy
E. Larson as chief of the Microwave Calibration Services Section. Snyder was selected as Coordinator of Calibration
Services, with Warren C. Stickler as technical assistant (followed after Stickler's death, in 1966, by Ira S. Berry).
The three calibration services sections (reduced to two in 1966) and the Office of the Coordinator, retained the
administrative operations of the Electronic Calibration Center for calibration services until 1969.
It was Lance received the Department of Commerce Silver
at this time of reorganization of the Division that
Medal with the citation "for outstanding performance in improvement of electronic
for Meritorious Service,
standards, measurements, and calibrations, particularly the organization and management of the nation's
Electronic Calibration Center."
Later, in 1968, Snyder received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for Superior Service, the citation
reading, "for exceptional devotion to duty in establishing electronic calibration services needed for our National
Measurement Systems."
14
Each time a standard or instrument was submitted the count was made as a new entry, whether the device had
been submitted before or not.

354
 a

In the spring of 1966 Bureau management found

it advisable to have but one loc

for an electrical (up to 30 kHz) calibration

with the choice at Washington in th
facility,
Electricity Division. Over a period of several months the Low Frequency Calibration
Services Section was phased out and the measurement equipment incorporated into the new
15
laboratory facilities at Gaithersburg, Md. This action brought a sharp reduction in the
number of standards calibrated within the ECC.
By the end of FY 1964 the total accrued cost of equipment in the center had reached
$5,000,000. Thereafter the rate of increase tapered off quite rapidly.

d) Metamorphose
By the mid 1960's the Department of Defense, through its calibration and electronic
instrument and systems maintenance programs, found it increasingly difficult to sustain the
rate of financing in aiding in the support of the Electronic Calibration Center. By 1968, after
a decade of provisional financial support by the DoD, an agreement was reached through a
Memorandum of Understanding for a method of financing that has continued to the present
16
time. Much of the former problem had hinged on the wide difference between the fee or
hourly rate charged the DoD for calibrations and that charged to the public. Hereafter the
rate would be the same for each.
In the following year (March 22, 1969) a directive by the Department of Defense set up a
coordinating body, called the DoD Calibration Coordination Group (CCG), that provided a
single DoD point of contact with NBS on all matters relating to DoD requirements for
calibration services and for development projects relating to instruments and measurement
17
systems. This modus operandi has been highly successful during the ensuing years.
Although funding by DoD is not of the former magnitude when the ECC was in the stage of
rapid growth to meet a "measurement gap," both the DoD and NBS have benefited by the
engineering developments ("hardware" and measurement techniques) provided by NBS in
recent years.
Although the name of Electronic Calibration Center as a functional operation slowly
phased out in 1969, the calibration services at radio frequency have been continued by
various sections of the Electromagnetics Division. From the time of the first calibration
performed by the ECC early in 1958, to the end of FY 1974, a total of 547 public customers
have been provided calibration services. During the same period nearly 39,000 standards
and instruments have been calibrated (see footnote 14 for method of enumeration). Although
the ECC as an organized Bureau facility has metamorphosed, and even the name gone into
memory, it met a very pressing need to fulfill the Bureau's responsibility to the Nation in
providing for a measurement service at radio frequencies during a critical period.

8. A viewpoint, and then change

With the burgeoning of projects within the Radio Standards Laboratory in the early
1960's,and facing the necessity of providing for more space, planning for the future was set
into motion during FY 1963. The result was the planning of a 5-year program to prepare for
the contemplated expansion in order to meet the country's need of electromagnetic

10
Frank Weaver, chief of the Low Frequency Calibration Services Section, chose to retire at this time, after 25
years of service with NBS. Weaver was awarded the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in the spring of 1966.
The citation read: "For very valuable contributions in the field of electrical metrology, and highly successful
leadership in the development of measurement systems and calibration services."
16
The purpose of the agreement of 1968 read:

Purpose

The purpose of this agreement is to establish a uniform procedure for: (a) determining DoD
requirements for calibration and calibration engineering services; (h) a joint DoD/ NBS review of
these requirements to identify those services NBS can provide and to estimate their cost; and (c)
planning to budget and fund the estimated cost of the services that by mutual agreement are to
be provided by NBS.
17
The Calibration Coordination Group has three members, representing each of the three military services: Army,
Navy, Air Force. There are a number of sub groups or Working Groups representing different areas of
measurements and on each of these NBS has an observer.

355
measurement Information was prepared in the form of tables and charts to
services.
visualize the planned program. This information would then be updated from year to year.
Probably with even more boldness and vision was the planning of an entirely new building
to house the standards and measurement programs, along with related research. An ample
congressional appropriation permitted the planning of this multi-million-dollar building
(approximately $15 million at the time).
Lack of an appropriation delayed the construction of the building during the next
several years. Then began a period of leveling off of operating funds, and then curtailment.
Other agency funds slipped away and Bureau funding became tight. Reduction in personnel
was a partial solution, along with various economies of operation. Then it became a matter
of "survival" operations to save all of the remaining staff. New management in the Radio
Standards Engineering Division, beginning in May 1969, took a new look at the situation,
both from within and recognizing the technological trends of the time. Funding from other
agencies for types of projects, heretofore untapped, began to bolster the sagging financial
18
situation. The name of the division was changed to that of the Electromagnetics Division to
indicate the broader scope of the overall program.

9. Computerization and the trend toward automated measurement systems

The almost unlimited capabilities of electronic computers can be applied in many ways
to the processing ofmeasurement data, whether from intricate mathematical equations or
from a multitude of simple numerical observations. Probably one of the first uses of the
electronic computer in the Radio Standards Laboratory (RSL) was in the Electronic
Calibration Center. In 1962 Patrick H. Lowrie (Low Frequency Calibration Services Section)
improved upon the method of calibrating volt boxes by introducing a small computer into
the console measurement system, thus relieving the operator of the onerous task of many
computations, plus the dividend of reduced personal errors. The use of this relatively new
laboratory tool caught the fancy of others and soon many of the RSL personnel were
adapting computers or computer access equipment to their measurement systems.
The development and use automated measurement systems received a new impetus
of
at the Boulder Laboratories with accents on new technologies in measurements as expressed
by Dr. Raymond C. Sangster who became chief of the Radio Standards Engineering Division
1:1
(later, the Electromagnetics Division) in 1969. Later regrouping of personnel strengthened
the program of automation development within the division.
A number of programs in automated measurements have been implemented since 1970.
The largest of these projects has been the procurement, expansion, and improvement of a

18
Beginning in 1970, a number of Government agencies have funded projects in the Electromagnetics Division for a
variety of programs relating to research, development of measurement systems, evaluation studies, and
consultation. The larger projects have been funded by:

Army — Army Security Agency, Army Communications Command.

Navy — Bureau of Ships, Naval Electronics Laboratory Center
Air Force —
Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Brooks Air Force Base, Rome Air Force Development Center, Space
and Missiles Systems Organization.*
—
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Bureau of Radiological Health
—
Department of the Interior Bureau of Mines
Department of Justice
Federal Aviation Administration
National Aeronautical and Space Administration

The change in funding received from Other Agencies, beginning in 1970 resulted in the establishment of a
;

Technical Liaison function in the division managed by R. E. Larson. This change resulted in substantial increase in
Other Agencies funding, as much as 10 times greater.
"This was an extensive project in the development of standards and calibration services for WR-15 (50-75 GHz) rigid
waveguide. The electromagnetic quantities involved were: power, noise temperature, attenuation, reflection
coefficient magnitude, and antenna gain and pattern. The project was under the general supervision of Charles K.
S. Miller.

Sangster became chief of the Radio Standards Engineering Division on May 1, 1969. Formerly, he was director of
19

research of the Bayside (Long Island, N.Y.) Laboratory of General Telephone and Electronics Laboratories, Inc.
Previous to Sangster, Dr. Helmut M. Altschuler had been chief of the Division for approximately 5 years,
having come on duty September 15, 1964. Formerly, he had been engaged in microwave research at the Polytechnic
Institute of Brooklyn. He remained in the Division as a Senior Research Scientist.

356
commercially produced automatic network analyzer with a frequency range of 0.1 to
GHz. In its more highly developed form the analyzer is capable of the programmed
measurement of reflection in waveguide systems of several configurations. Measurement
can be made of several parameters including reflection coefficient magnitude, phase, and
attenuation. Microwave power measurement is also available. Other automated systems
have been developed in the Division for more specific types of measurement, and in some
instances, their development has been supported financially by the DoD for the
Department's laboratory requirements. The various automated systems include:
(1) The Y-factor system for noise measurement (see p. 383)
(2) System for calibration of power measurement devices
(3) Automated time domain reflectometer
(4) System for calibration of micropotentiometers
(5) Antenna measurement systems

Application of automation to measurement techniques brings about data in abundance from complex processing
steps, reduces greatly the time of measurement, and minimizes chances of error (albeit that computers and other
equipment can malfunction). A project in the automation of RF measurements, begun in 1970, has resulted in the
array of equipment shown in this photograph. Known as the NBS automatic network analyzer, it covers the
frequency range of 0.1 to 18 GHz with a system that includes signal generators, measurement circuitry, and signal
processing equipment, all under computer control. The analyzer is designed for accurate measurement of
impedance, attenuation, phase, voltage, and power.

Principal contributors in the development of the automated systems have been: McKay
Allred, James Andrews, Don Glenn Engen, Ernest Komarek, William Little, Allen
Boyle,
Newell, Francis Ries, David Wait, and John Wakefield.
Automated measurement systems serve their purpose not only to minimize the often
encountered drudgery of making measurements, plus the minimization of personal errors,
but more important, the observation and continuous plotting of circuit parameters over
extended frequency ranges. Such data far exceed the value of fragmentary information
taken by a laborious and time-consuming point-by-point method. However, the high capital
investment in equipment has to be compensated with savings accrued in reduction of labor
cost. Yet automation can be a boon to the measurement art.

357
10. The media of learning
a) U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. EXCHANGE PROGRAM
The Radio Standards Laboratory took an active role in an exchange program of
American and Russian scientists conducted within the control of the U.S. State Department.
Harvey Lance, head of the Electronic Calibration Center, was selected as one of a seven-man
team of measurement experts from the NBS to visit various measurement laboratories in
20
Russia during June 1963. His area of expertise on the team was that of observing and
evaluating the quality of the Russian measurements at radio frequencies, which he found to
be quite advanced.
In the following January (1964) a team of three Russian scientists visited the Boulder
Laboratories and had the opportunity of viewing many of the measurement systems and
other facilities, as well as interviewing a number of the personnel. One of the visiting team
presented an invited lecture to Boulder staff members.

b ) From workshops to measurement seminars

At the suggestion of several defense agencies, the first of three workshops for technical
supervisors of DoD standards laboratories was provided by the Electronic Calibration Center
in March 1961. The 5-day meeting was limited to subjects at microwave frequencies, half the
time given to classroom lectures on basic theory of the measurement of power, impedance,
frequency, attenuation, and noise, the other half given to laboratory demonstrations of
precision measurement. The success of this workshop with 40 in attendance, resulted in the
staging of two more, one for high-frequency measurements, the other for low-frequency
21
measurements.
The workshop program gave impetus to a more educationally oriented program that
would benefit not only measurement personnel in defense agencies but in industry. Thus
was started, in 1963, the series of NBS Precision Measurement Seminars, both in
Washington and at Boulder, that have been so successful and well received over these many
years. No charge was made for attendance at these 5-day seminars (sometimes of shorter
duration) in the early years, but later they became self-supporting by a charge
commensurate with the service offered.
On a larger scale than the 5-day seminars were the 3-week courses in electromagnetic
measurements and standards for credit at the graduate level (in association with the
University of Colorado) given at the Boulder Laboratories in the summers of 1963 and 1965.
At the suggestion of David M. Kerns (consultant with the Radio Standards Laboratory and
an adjunct professor of the University), Robert W. Beatty (consultant with the Radio
Standards Engineering Division) organized the content of this extensive and in-depth course
that was made available in a printed format. The 1963 course had 153 enrolled, with
participants from 5 foreign countries.
For the edification of its own personnel, the Radio Standards Laboratory conducted a
series of seminars of 1- and 2-day duration in the area of the larger RF electronic systems
associated with space and missile equipment. These seminars, held in 1963 and 1964, were
addressed by scientific personnel of industrial firms concerned with the development of such
equipment. The seminars were largely the product of the effort of Myron Selby. For
additional information on educational programs see chapter XVIII.

c) Multiplying the effectiveness of NBS through the printed word

Although hundreds of published papers have come out of the radio frequency standards
and measurement programs these many decades, probably none had the wide impact as the
group of invited papers from the two divisions of the Radio Standards Laboratory published

20
In the fall of 1959 Lance had made a 14-week visit for the U.S. Air Force to a number of European national
laboratories for the purpose of determining their suitability as sources of calibration services in support of Air
Force contracts in Europe.

Later, an extensive series of half-day workshops was conducted by the ECC for personnel being trained by the Air
21

Force at the Lowry Air Force Base (Denver) for measurement work in laboratories and bases at locations spread
over the globe. Officers and measurement personnel of the air services of several foreign countries also participated
in this training program.

358
in the June 1967 issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE. This special issue was the first of t
Proceedings to be given exclusively to radio frequency measurements. It is to the credit
Beatty and Bruno O. Weinschel (Weinschel Engineering Co.), who jointly conceived c
edited the special issue, that this voluminous source of informatin was so favorably received.
Twenty-seven papers, plus a poem, came from Laboratory personnel." Most of these invited
papers related to specific technical subjects and were largely of a tutorial nature. The others
were of an editorial and general nature. The papers of this issue brought the reader up to
date from developments out of the recent past in the whole gamut of measurements of
electromagnetic quantities at radio frequencies (sometimes referred to as radio metrology).
NBS made a most significant contribution to this "Special issue on radio measurement
methods and standards."
The many NBS papers on radio frequency standards and measurements presented at
the Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements, held biennially since 1958,
have received wide distribution through the special issues given to this subject area in the
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. 2 ^ This periodical has proved to be
a good publication vehicle for disseminating papers relating to electrical and electronic
instrumentation and measurement.
Due Journal of Scientific
to publication in the periodical Metrologia (International
Metrology), two companion
papers from the Radio Standards Laboratory had an
international flavor. In these two invited papers on the subject of the system of
electromagnetic quantities, M. C. Selby wrote for the frequency range of 30 kHz to 1 GHz,
and R. W. Beatty wrote for the frequency range above 1 GHz [6,7]. A blend of portions of the
two abstracts characterizes the scope and nature of the two papers. 24
Most of the significant papers on radio frequency standards and measurements
published by NBS since 1950 have appeared in reprinted form in the Bureau's two
compilations of its publications on Precision Measurement and Calibration. 23 In such form
these collected papers, bound in several volumes, become a valuable and easily obtained
asset for the libraries of standards and calibration laboratories, and even for the desks or
book snelves of laboratory personnel.

11. Information as a valuable resource

To provide the Bureau technicalstaff and others outside of NBS with information on
the use of frequency standards and on the use and evaluation of precision
radio
measurement systems, an information center was organized early in 1968 as a part of the
Radio Standards Laboratory, with Wilbur J. Anson as manager. In 1970 the information
center became a section of the Electromagnetics Division, under the name of
Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center, with Anson as chief. Taking on a relatively
new concept in information centers, the group was staffed with several scientists, each with
metrology experience of long standing, plus several persons who became trained as
information specialists. As backup, in the form of specialized technical experience, the

22
The poem, "Ode to a special issue," written by Raymond N. Jones, is possibly one of the few poems that e
published in the technical journals of the IEEE or the former IRE and AIEE. As a sample of the verses, Jones in
speaking of his own (as co-author) technical article in the special issue, stated:

They wanted it tutorial and entirely complete

Giving history, and theory, and the latest technique,

The level of the reader covered all degrees,
From high school sophomores to PhD's.
23
Other issues of the Transactions covered papers presented at the several Electrical and Electronic Measurement
and Test Instrument Conference(s) (Canada). Boulder Laboratory personnel have participated in these conferences.
24
"Basic and derived physical quantities, and conceptual bases of standards and methods of measurement are
described. . some of the problems involved in obtaining a higher order of accuracy are discussed. Comparison of
. .

standards of different nations are mentioned and the benefits to be derived from such comparisons are described.
Areas needing further research as well as those which would benefit from international cooperation, are
designated."

Vol. 1 of Precision Measurement and Calibration (NBS Handbook 77) related to Electricity and Electronics.
25

February 1961. Vol. 4 of Precision Measurement and Calibrations (NBS Special Publication 300) related to Radio
Frequency. June 1970.

359
talents ofmany of a cross-section of the professional staff of the division have been used on
various projects conducted by the center.
Several significant products have come out of the section since the early formative
period.

a) Technical documents by the thousands

A depository file has grown to more than 15,000 documents, consisting of reprints and
reproduced copies of publications relating to the art of measurement of electromagnetic
quantities in the frequency range from 30 kHz into the millimeter range. Many times
related matter will be included, such as fabrication techniques, in order to round out the
information in a specialized field. Index systems are set up for easy retrieval of the
documents.

b) The Electromagnetic Metrology Current Awareness Service

An
Electromagnetic Metrology Current Awareness Service was provided to Navy
laboratories in July 1969, and was expanded on a monthly report basis to other
organizations in September 1970. The service is sponsored by eight technical organizations
that aid in financial support. Each month several hundred annotated references to the
current literature in the field of electromagnetic metrology (from dc to millimeter waves)
appear in a report that is sold on a subscription basis. The material is summarized, or
abstracts are rewritten, by measurement specialists within the division. The service saves
very much time on the part of research workers in their scanning of contemporary
literature in preparation for or continuation of research projects.

C) THE ROLE OF LITERATURE SEARCHES

Properly organized research projects use as background material the earlier work of
others that is related to and even remotely related to the project being pursued for study.

Thus, it is most important that a literature search be made as a preparatory step. The
Information Center performs a most useful function in this area and has conducted searches
ranging up to several thousand in total number of literature references that have been
scanned. The "working" list or the published bibliography might be but a fraction (a fourth,
for example) of the total number that were scanned. These literature searches have been
particularly useful in aiding personnel of the Electromagnetics Division toward attaining
their research objectives.

d ) A Bureau innovation— Metrology Guides

More recently the Information Center has sponsored the preparation of three Metrology
Guides as a pilot program to determine the usefulness of such publications. These Guides
were prepared by measurement specialists within the division to disseminate measurement
know-how by critical comparison of measurement methods. Two of the Guides are
particularly slanted toward the accurate measurement of electromagnetic quantities, those
of noise (as a measurement of noise performance factor) and of impedance (as a
measurement of lumped parameter impedance). These Guides were published as NBS
Monographs. A third Guide appeared as an NBS Internal Report on test procedures for a
special type of radio receiver.

NATIONAL RF STANDARDS IN DEVELOPMENT

To quote from the 1960 Statement of the Central Continuing Mission of the National
Bureau of Standards, 26 the mission:
. . . includes the development and maintenance of the national standards
for physical measurement, fundamental studies to improve or create new
standards to meet existing or anticipated needs, research on the interaction
of basic measuring processes on the properties of matter and physical and
chemical processes, determination of the important physical constants,

26
Annual Report, Fiscal Year I960, NBS Misc. Pub. 237, p. 151.

360
 —

which may serve as reference standards, analysis of the self-consistencies of

measured values of the important physical constants, and international
correlation of the national standards and definitions of the units of
measurement.
Through three decades, since 1944, the Bureau has been intensely engaged in
implementing this mission at radio frequencies.

1. The development program begins

By 1945 the initial planning for further development of RF standards and measurement
techniques was well underway. Heading up the "Radio Measurements and Standards"
project were W. D. George and H. Lyons in a cooperative effort, with George responsible for
the frequency range up to 300 MHz and Lyons in the region above 300 MHz (essentially that
of microwaves). Thus the lower frequency range related to lumped-constants (or parameters)
circuitry involving coaxial equipment. In the early stages of development the higher
frequency range (above 300 MHz) related to rigid waveguide components, and later included
coaxial equipment. The early planning and development stages were limited to standards
for the active quantities of power and voltage, and the passive quantities of impedance and
27
attenuation. Limitation to these four quantities was almost solely based upon that of first
developing the most needed and most important standards and measurements methods
28
developments for other quantities would come later.

2. Attenuation — A starting point for standards

With the microwave frequency standard developed to the stage of being useful in
meeting the country's need for the calibration of frequency meters, effort could now be
directed toward the development of other standards. The first electrical quantity so chosen
for development of standards was that of attenuation.
Measurement of attenuation is required in the precision use of signal generators,
receivers, field-strength meters, and in various types of laboratory measurements. In earlier
years control of signal amplitude at the lower radio frequencies came from voltage-divider
networks, with later developments of complex resistive networks that operated with
constant input and output impedance. Capacitative networks have also been used in signal
generators. Some of the early measurements of attenuation in coaxial equipment, beginning
in 1945, were performed with purchased attenuators that incorporated resistive networks in
coaxial configuration. These were specially constructed for precision up to 300 MHz. They
were calibrated by direct-current measurement. With the advent of waveguide equipment,
an entirely new approach to attenuation control had to be developed. A commonly used
method was the insertion of an energy absorption resistor strip into the waveguide. But
these attenuators had limitations in absorbing microwave power and were lacking in
precision control of attenuation. Moreover, they lacked the fundamental requirements of a
laboratory reference standard.

27
"Active" has the sense of a source(s) of energy in circuit elements, thus the electrical quantity of power (or
energy) is considered active.

"Passive" has the sense of no source of energy in circuit elements such as in a resistor, thus the electrical
quantity of resistance is considered passive.
28
The development of standards and measurement techniques for the electrical quantities
historical accounts of the
of power, voltage, impedance,and attenuation are treated more extensively and in greater detail than for the other
quantities because of their greater importance and the many facets of the development stages at NBS. The
sequential order of the quantities is mainly a chronological order and based upon the initiating of their
development, rather than upon their importance to the measurement art or consideration of placing the more
fundamental quantities before derived quantities.

361
Measurement of X-band attenuator in 1.946', using a heterodyne system operating at 20-MHz intermediate frequency.
A carbon resistor coaxial-type attenuator covering a range of 40 dB was used as the standard attenuator.
Microwave power came from the klystron oscillators.

of a development by the Hazeltine Corp., New Jersey, dating back to 1935, and a
Out
later development in England in 1947, came the concept and design of an extremely useful
instrument for the precision measurement of attenuation at microwave frequencies. 29 This
device became known as the waveguide below-cutoff attenuator and has become a most
30
useful laboratory-type of reference standard of attenuation.

a) Getting started with waveguide below-cutoff attenuators

During July 1945 J. J. Freeman 31 spent the month
at the Radiation Laboratory, MIT,
primarily to learn the theory and design of waveguide below-cutoff attenuators. Freeman's
study led to the Bureau's first paper on piston attenuators, a CRPL Report, dated December
27, 1946. The paper was later published in the NBS Journal of Research with the title
"Theory and design of a cavity attenuator "[8]. The conclusion reached was that attenuators
of rectangular cross-section have two advantages over those of circular cross-section. Some of
each type were designed and constructed, but in later years the circular cross-section
showed superior features and became the sole type of the many that have been constructed
within NBS.
32
Early studies by J. J. Freeman and R. E. Grantham indicated that the heterodyne or
i.f. substitution method, with the standard attenuator in the i.f. circuit, was much superior

in accuracy of measurement and flexibility of operation over wide ranges of microwave

frequencies than any other method (and has remained so to the present time). By the
summer of 1946 an attenuation standard of the waveguide below-cutoff type of circular
cross-section had been constructed in the shop, to be followed a short time later with one of
rectangular cross-section. The heterodyne method was evaluated extensively with X-band

29
The fact must not be overlooked that in 1897 Lord Rayleigh, published a paper in the Philosophical Magazine
that postulated the propagation properties of electromagnetic waves in a metallic tube at frequencies much below
the cutoff frequency.
30
Sometimes called the piston (or cavity) attenuator. Essentially the waveguide below-cutoff attenuator consists of a
length of waveguide with a uniform internal cross-section, through which a signal below the cut-off frequency
decays exponentially with distance. Measurement of attenuation is dependent primarily upon the relative change
in distance of a receiving probe that can be moved within the guide with a high degree of precision.

"Jacob J. Freeman entered the Radio Section on November 1, 1940. He initiated the first work in noise at
microwave frequencies at NBS. Freeman chose not to move with the CRPL to Boulder and transferred to the Naval
Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. in 1954.
32
Rodney E. Grantham entered the Radio Section on December 27, 1945, as a radio engineer. He transferred to the
Naval Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak, Md. in 1951.

362
First waveguide below-cutoff or piston-type attenuator designed by Microwave Standards Section and constructed in
Bureau shops was used at an intermediate frequency of 20 MHz in the heterodyne method of calibrating
in 1946. It
attenuators at microwave frequencies. Shown here with experimental components used to determine best operation.
In lower row are various types of filters used to suppress unwanted modes of the wave that progressively decays
through the piston. In upper row are several means of "launching" the wave and the pickup or receiving coil. This
instrument was the progenitor of a lineage of waveguide below-cutoff attenuators that now reach a high state of
development at NBS, and is preserved as an historic item.

waveguide components at a frequency of 9000 MHz and an intermediate frequency of 20

MHz. Considerable information was learned on suppression of higher modes in the operation
of the piston attenuator. This early study resulted in a joint presentation at the AIEE
winter meeting of January 1946 and in a June 1948 publication [9].

b) The waveguide below-cutoff attenuator becomes a reference standard

With an understandingof the potential of the waveguide below-cutoff (or piston)
attenuator as a reference (or primary) standard of attenuation that could be used in a
measurement system over a very wide frequency range, both of the standards sections (High
Frequency and Microwave) proceeded with improving electrical and mechanical features
that would occupy much effort for many years to come. Improvements in mechanical
33
features were largely the work of A. A. Feldmann, a mechanical engineer. Beginning in
the summer of 1948, several piston attenuators were constructed with waveguide of
rectangular cross-section that were precision-made by the electroforming process. These
were designed for operation at 20 MHz. However, experience proved that the piston or

33
Albert A. Feldmann entered the Radio Section on November 14, 1945. He resigned from the Radio Standards
Division in 1958 to join the Hughes Aircraft Co. During his years with NBS Feldmann engaged in various activities
related to the mechanical design and fabrication of precision laboratory apparatus. In cooperation with the
Bureau's Electrodeposition Section, pioneering studies were made in the successful production of intricate and
precision-type waveguide components by the electroforming process.* Some of the components could be fabricated
by no other process. Also developed by Feldmann were special methods of machining of powdered iron materials
and ferrites which, because of their fragility and hardness (often with the characteristics of a ceramic), create
difficult machining problems. Several publications resulted from these various engineering advances.

'Electroforming is the electrodeposition of metals in considerable thickness over a mandrel that can be removed
intact or dissolved by chemical solutions.

363
 —
Microwave components in millimeter wavelength sizes electroformed by NBS connector flanges not electroformed.
In foreground cutaway models of hybrid T-junctions in 6-mm wavelength size. Upper left is horn antenna, upper
right an E-bend, both in 3-mm wavelength size. Silver was used for electroforming, with added copper layer for
increased strength.

circular cross-section was superior. Precision of the cross-section and straightness of the
cylindrical bore has been achieved over the years by a honing process. Positioning of the
moving probe or pickup coil has been with a precision lead screw, at first, hand-driven, and
later, motor-driven. Readout of the position of the probe (which provides a calibration of the
attenuator as a reading in decibels of attenuation) went through a series of different
mechanical designs over a period of more than two decades. These included revolution
counters, segmented linear scales of "step blocks" (10 decibel steps) plus continuous control
from the lead screw, and optical-type readouts.
Over the many years of development a number of persons contributed to the
refinements of design and construction of these waveguide below-cutoff attenuators. Among
these persons after the initial developments, were C. McKay Allred, Clarence C. Cook, and
David H. Russell. Although those at NBS did not conceive the principle of this type of

One of the more recent progenies of the lineage of waveguide below-cutoff attenuators developed at NBS. Many
refinements are featured in this model, including the added 30-dB amplifier unit (right). The precision attenuator
operates at 30 MHz over a range of 60 dB. Position of the receiving coil by a motor-driven precision-screw
movement is observed with a revolution counter and dial readout.

364
attenuator, they brought the instrument that has served so well as a laboratory standar
attenuation to a very high state of mechanical and electrical precision. These attenuators
became the model for others to copy, and the various stages of design have served
prototypes for the construction of limited numbers to serve as laboratory standards by NB£
and by others.
Use of the piston attenuators as laboratory standards was largely based upon the design
of measurement systems by many, but mainly by Allred and Cook, and by Russell for
coaxial equipment, and by Wilbur Larson for waveguide equipment above 1 GHz [10, ll]. 34
During the last several years of the 1950's Allred and Cook were engaged in the pioneer
development of an attenuation measurement system of very high precision for the
Electronic Calibration Center. Designed for the calibration of coaxial attenuators, the
frequency selected was 30 MHz, with an attenuation range upwards of 150 dB. Increased
stability and sensitivity were obtained by the use of a very accurate piston attenuator and a
precision phase shifter, combined for a null observation. The combination of a constant
signal source of very high magnitude with a new type of mode-launching system provided
the great attenuation range. This system proved its worth and success by the fact that it has
been in continuous use to the present time.
34
Allred received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service in 1964 "for outstanding
personal contributions to the science of high frequency measurements, particularly in the field of attenuation; for
effective project management and program development; and for exemplary leadership in the field."

A console-equipped facility for calibration of attenuators fitted with coaxial connectors, in the frequency range from
1 MHz and extending into the microwave range of 10 GHz and higher. Much of the specialized measurement
equipment was developed and constructed within the Boulder Laboratories. As examples are the two large piston
attenuators used as standards at 60 and 100 MHz shown in accompanying photograph taken in 1960.

365
C ) A STUDY OF ATTENUATORS PAYS OFF
In 1963, during the calibration of six rotary-vane attenuators of similar construction,
Wilbur Larson observed a variability in calibration that was traced to eccentricity in the
rotating mechanism. This type of attenuator was described in 1950 by Southworth (formerly
of the Radio Section) as a development of the Bell Telephone Laboratories. It was further
developed by B. P. Hand as a manufactured product of the Hewlett-Packard Co.
Since 1963 Larson has made an extensive study of this type of attenuator, improving
upon its design and indicating how it can be calibrated with a low degree of uncertainty by
taking careful account of several kinds of errors. His study has resulted in a number of
publications and, "for major contributions to development of precision attenuation
measurements in the course of a fruitful career," he was awarded the Department of
Commerce Bronze Medal for Superior Service. 35
W. E. Little, W. Larson, and B. J. Kinder have developed a rotary-vane attenuator with
an optical readout that overcomes the shortcomings of a gear mechanism [12]. Such an
attenuator follows the theoretical cosine-squared law of attenuation to within 0.002 dB up to
20 dB of attenuation. Recent development by Larson and Eugene Campbell of a series
substitution system (contrasted to the i.f. substitution method with the piston attenuator)
gives a very high order of resolution and stability to an attenuation measurement system
[13].
A series of international comparisons with nine other laboratories of a group of
waveguide attenuators serving as transfer standards at 10 GHz, beginning in the middle
1960's, has resulted in some highly satisfactory agreement among the various laboratories.
A comparison in 1973, carried out by Larson using the rotary-vane attenuator and the new
measurement system, showed a difference in measured values of a transfer standard of but
0.0017 dB with that of a United Kingdom laboratory. It can be stated frankly that NBS has
come a long way in the art of precision measurement at microwave frequencies since the
late 1940's.

d) In pursuit of other methods of measuring attenuation

The number of different methods developed for measuring attenuation at high radio
frequencies has not been found wanting, both within and outside of NBS.
As a means of increasing the accuracy of measurement at low attenuation values, in
1959 Glenn F. Engen and Robert W. Beatty of the Microwave Circuit Standards Section used
a modified dc substitution method (with one signal source) incorporating Engen's self-
balancing bolometer bridge (see p. 375). Essentially, the technique was that of bolometric
measurements. Calibration of a rotary-vane attenuator indicated uncertainty of
—
measurement as low as 0.0001 dB at low attenuation a value that was better than the
precision of the attenuator settings.
Early in 1960 George E. Schafer and Ronald R. Bowman began the development of an
attenuation measurement system using but one signal source (the i.f. system requires two
36
signal sources) yet retaining the wide dynamic range of the i.f. substitution method. The
result was a system called the "modulated subcarrier technique," with modulation at an
audio frequency, using a ratio transformer as the attenuation standard [14]. Although the
method was well adapted for measurements involving a change of attenuation (as obtained
with a variable attenuator), it was not well adapted for the precision measurement of
insertion loss where the attenuator must be inserted and then removed from the system.
However, with modifications, an English laboratory has had good success with the system.
Another attenuation measurement system was conceived by David H. Russell, which he
called "an unmodulated twin-channel microwave attenuation measurement system."
Designed primarily for coaxial equipment, the system had the added advantage of
simultaneously measuring phase shift. However it did not prove to have the value of
supplanting other systems at the Boulder Laboratories.

35
The Bronze Medal was presented to Larson by NBS Director Roberts at the Boulder Laboratories on February 19,

1974 (the Medal had been awarded in November 1973).

36
Later, in 1964, Schafer was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for work
underlying national standards of microwave attenuation and phase shift, for excellence in administration of Radio
Standards Engineering (division), and for meritorious authorship in the field of microwave measurements."

366
 By modifying some of the features of the multihole directional coupler, Wilbur Lars(
was able to design a waveguide component that had very stable characteristics as i

attenuation standard. The input and output ports were so aligned that the device could be
inserted and removed from a measurement system without altering the position of an'
sections of the system's waveguide components. As such, it became known as an "inline
waveguide attenuator."
Still another development that came in the earlier years after World War II was that of
a unique type of attenuator developed by Frank Reggia which, for a period of time, was
referred to as the "NBS Magnetic Attenuator," and named as such in the Technical News
37
Bulletin of August 1951. Later, it became known as a "U.H.F. magnetic attenuator."
Certain ferromagnetic materials show lossy characteristics above 30 MHz which can be
controlled by a magnetic field. Reggia made use of this property in a coaxial attenuator by
controlling the magnetic field with an electromagnet. Although the device had a variety of
potential uses, it did not reach the status of a marketed item.
Beatty, formerly chief of the Microwave Circuit Standards Section and later a Senior
Research Scientist in the Electromagnetics Division, made many contributions by his
38
published papers on attenuation measurements at radio frequencies. One of these papers
was an extensive discussion on the subject as an NBS Monograph [15]. Other papers related
to definitions of attenuation (subject of many interpretations), the effect of connectors and
adapters on measurements, mismatch errors, and various papers on measurement
techniques.
An method of measuring attenuation that can serve as an independent standard
exotic
is NBS Boulder. The development was first reported in May 1972 by R.
being developed at
A. Kamper, M. B. Simmonds (of Cryogenics Division); and R. T. Adair, C. A. Hoer (of
Electromagnetics Division). The method is based upon the now familiar Josephson effect. 39 It
provides a self-calibrating system based upon a fundamental constant of nature, thus
offering an attenuation standard that is independent of the piston attenuators used by NBS
over many years. At the core of the system is the Superconducting Quantum Interference
Device (SQUID) that has been adapted by NBS for various applications.

3. Impedance — Its measurement the essential ingredient to radio metrology

In the simplest terms, impedance is usually defined as the total opposition offered by a
circuit element to the flow of alternating current. A common usage of the term is that of
"matching" the impedance of a load with that of an energy source to obtain the greatest
transfer of power to the load. In reality, its expression and its measurement may not be
simple. Impedance information, including that of matched conditions of a transmission
system, is very essential in the accurate measurement of power, voltage, attenuation, field
strength, and other quantities. Thus, the small group, beginning in 1945, and later, the High
Frequency Standards Section and the Microwave Standards Section, made an early start
toward the accurate measurement of impedance over a very wide frequency range.
The development of slotted lines or standing-wave machines before and during World
War II, and their easy procurement after the war, provided the means for NBS to get an
early start on the measurement of impedance at high radio frequencies and up into the
microwave region (X-band, at 10,000 MHz). However, a growing experience with the slotted-
line method of impedance measurement, with its variations in design and technique,
brought on a degree of pessimism that high accuracy of measurement would never be
attained because of the inherent limitations, both mechanical and electrical. Thus new
approaches to the problem of gaining greater accuracy became the objective, rather than
37
Frank Reggia entered the Radio Section on September 19, 1945. Choosing not to move with the CRPL to Boulder,
Colo, in 1954, Reggia transferred to the Diamond Ordnance Fuse Laboratories, later known as the Harry Diamond
Laboratories.
38
In 1963 Beatty was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for outstanding
contributions to the field of microwave circuit standards."
39
The ac Josephson effect was first predicted theoretically in 1962 by Brian Josephson of Cambridge University. It
occurs when two super conductors are weakly coupled and cooled below their transition temperature (becoming
superconducting). On July 1, 1972, NBS adopted a method of using the ac Josephson effect for maintaining the U.S.
legal volt. Thus the volt is based upon a fundamental constant of nature rather than upon the mean EMF of a
reference group of standard cells.

367
further refinements to the slotted-line technique. Those closely associated with these early
40
efforts included Eldred C. Wolzien, Howard E. Sorrows, Robert C. Ellenwood, 41 and Everett
H. Hurlburt.

a) The reflectometer in development

42
Late in 1952 Alan C. MacPherson and David M. Kerns of the Microwave Standards
Section took a new approach in the measurement of impedance in waveguide. The method
was a measurement of voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR) by use of a three-arm waveguide
43
junction, sometimes referred to as the phaseable-load technique. By now Kerns could apply
rigorous theoretical analysis to the properties of waveguide junctions, benefiting from his
earlier studies of symmetrical waveguide junctions published in 1951. Their technique was
that of connecting a generator and a detector (with measurement of output from a
bolometer) to two arms of a three-arm junction. In the third arm was placed a sliding load
from which phase relations could be observed that yielded a value of the presented. VSWR
Such loads could be used as standards. Although MacPherson and Kerns first reported their
work in April 1953, their paper was not published until the summer of 1956 [16].
Earlier to the development of the phaseable-load technique, Kerns had been analyzing
half-round inductive obstacles in rectangular waveguide as a calculable impedance
(reflection coefficient) standard. Later, quarter- wavelength short circuits proved to be
superior as a standard for most measurement systems. Use of the half-round obstacle led
directly to the next development of impedance measurements. After a number of years of
work with coaxial equipment Microwave Standards Section, Beatty began to
in the
At the Conference on Electronic Standards and
participate in the rigid waveguide projects.
Measurements, August 1958 (at Boulder), Beatty and Kerns reported on new developments
44
with impedance standards and measurements. Beatty had developed an adjustable sliding
waveguide termination for use in rectangular waveguide, and this proved valuable in a
modification by Beatty and Kerns of the three-arm junction method by using a directional

40
Eldred C. Wolzien entered the Radio Section on April 6, 1942, to work in the standard frequency broadcast group.
He retired in December 1970.
41
Robert C. Ellenwood entered the Radio Section on February 6, 1945. He resigned from the Microwave Standards
Section in 1950.
42
David M. Kerns entered the Radio Section on April 1, 1946. He has continued theoretical research at radio
frequencies at NBS to the present.
43
Unlike the measurement of impedance at low radio frequencies, whereby the impedance of a circuit element is

usually expressed in ohms, with waveguide at microwave frequencies the impedance relations are expressed as a
VSWR (voltage standing-wave ratio) value or as a reflection coefficient.
44
A. C. MacPherson had transferred to the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. upon the move of the
CRPL to Boulder.

A double exposure reveals the two moving (and essential) parts of an adjustable sliding termination, a very
important component in microwave measurements. Improvements in these terminations have been a long-time
Bureau development. Controls in this model independently rotate the arrow-shaped resistance vane, slide the vane
relative to the short-circuiting rectangular plunger, and move the assembly along interior of the waveguide.

368
 45 47
coupler for impedance measurements. The unprecedented accuracy led to a tune
reflectometer analysis.
In July of 1959 Glenn F. Engen and Beatty reported on a reflectometer using a pair
directional couplers, equipped with auxiliary tuners to minimize reflections and thereby
minimizing errors of measurement [17]. A modified form of the reflectometer incorporated
but one directional coupler, plus a calibrated attenuator. This form became a useful system
at NBS. The reflectometer technique (using directional couplers) was not original with NBS,
but was highly developed by the Radio Standards Laboratory for accurate impedance
measurements based upon an original analysis of the errors caused by imperfect tuning. Nor
was the multi-stub (or screw) tuner used in the reflectometers an original NBS development,
but it has become a very valuable operating component in nearly all of the waveguide
measurement systems used by NBS in more recent years. Various staff members have
48
contributed to its high state of development.
Wilbur J. Anson contributed to the techniques of using the modified reflectometer with
the single directional coupler. Along with Beatty, they adapted the rectangular waveguide
reflectometer to measurements in coaxial systems [18].
During the progressive steps of improving upon the design and reducing the error of
measurement of the waveguide reflectometer, a number of contributions were made toward
the development of terminations to serve as reflection-coefficient standards. Of these, the
quarter-wavelength short circuit has proved to be the most useful.
In the adaptation of impedance standards to the development of equipment for
calibration services in various sizes of rectangular waveguide, many contributions were
made by Bill C. Yates.
By 1967 Ramon L. Jesch had succeeded in developing a reflectometer that incorporated
coaxial components only. It was primarily designed to cover the frequency range of 1 to 4
GHz for use in the study of the properties of precision coaxial connectors.
b) Impedance standards of lumped parameters below 300 MHz> <

Below about 300 MHz impedance measurements come into the domain of lumped-
constant (or parameter) techniques, where one encounters the discrete quantities of
resistance, inductance, and capacitance (as standards), that constitute the complex quantity
of impedance. In the early years, beginning in 1913, the former Radio Section became
involved in measurements where these quantities were of considerable magnitude (low radio
frequencies require inductance and capacitance values of fairly large magnitude) (chs. II and
V). By the 1950's the High Frequency Standards Section, and the later groups at Boulder,
were making measurements at frequencies that required inductance and capacitance of
small magnitude (and thus of small physical dimensions). Problems of connectors, stray
capacitance, resistance at high frequencies, became troublesome. The team of Robert C.
Powell, Robert M. Jickling, and Alfred E. Hess concluded in a 1958 paper that standards at
the high radio frequencies ranging up to 300 MHz should be based upon those of capacitance
standards derived from a calculable capacitor. Taking part in the development of these
standards and the measurement methods were: Powell, Jickling, Hess, Raymond N. Jones,
Leslie E. Huntley, Robert E. Nelson, and others [19,20]. Jones was selected to prepare NBS
Monograph 141, "The Measurement of Lumped Parameter Impedance, a Metrology Guide,"
published in 1974.

45
Previously (November 1951), Rodney E. Grantham, of the Microwave Standards Section, had published a paper on
a reflectionless waveguide termination that had properties and uses quite similar to the one developed by Beatty.
The design by Beatty provided for a much greater range of the voltage standing-wave ratio.
46
Beatty filed for a patent on August 6, 1957. Patent 2,922,963 was issued January 26, 1960, entitled "Adjustable
waveguide termination."
47
An adjustable sliding termination for coaxial waveguide was described in 1964 by W. E. Little and J. P. Wakefield
of the Microwave Circuit Standards Section. In principle, the device was similar to that described in 1953 by R. C.
Ellenwood and W. E. Ryan of the former Microwave Standards Section, but incorporated modifications that
resulted in obtaining very low values of the reflection coefficient.
48
In 1964, William E. Little and Edward Niesen reported on their development of a multistub coaxial line tuner
that was specially designed for use with reflectometers for operation in the range of 1 to 4 GHz. As many as 13
tuning stubs were incorporated in the device.

369
This photograph of 1958 shows 2 of 18 consoles that were being developed in an ambitious project in the Electronic
Calibration Center for the calibration of impedance bridges in the frequency range of 30 kHz to 300 MHz. In
foreground is assortment of impedance standards of resistance, inductance, and capacitance, shielded in "top hat"
enclosures. A specially designed connector made contact with the standard bridge. Passage of time and experience
led to a simpler method of calibrating bridges.

370
Leslie Huntley, in 1965, operating the twin-T immittance (impedance) bridge of NBS design. Used to measure
standards of conductance (resistance) and capacitance, fitted with precision-type coaxial connectors. Bridge has
frequency range of 10 kHz to 10 MHz, with capacitance range to 1000 picofarads.

c) The in-between frequency region of impedance standards

Above the frequency range (above 300 MHz) of lumped parameter standards and up to
the region where rectangular waveguide components have less cumbersome dimensions, laid
a somewhat "in-between" or "gray area" where it was not clear what direction to take in
developing impedance standards. Many of the developments in components for standards
and in measurement techniques in this frequency range have taken place outside of NBS.
Within NBS, precision, coaxial, air-dielectric transmission lines were designed and
constructed, in terms of length of measurements, to serve as reference standards. By using
slotted-line and reflectometer measurement techniques, these standards have served to
measure impedance terms of reflection-coefficient magnitude, VSWR, phase angle, and
in
other impedance characteristics. Many of the studies have been those of determining the
electrical characteristics of precision coaxial connectors. Much of the effort went into
development of impedance measurement facilities of the Electronic Calibration Center.
Taking part in these developments were: Powell, Jesch, Jickling, Jones, Huntley, Little,
49
John Wakefield, and others.

4. Power — Its precision measurement became a long and difficult study

Measurement power is fundamental in the art of RF measurements, and the

of
availability of accuratepower standards is a prime necessity. Power measurements are
required to determine the performance of oscillators, transmitters, receivers,
communication systems, radar, navigation systems, microwave relays, and the like. Power
measurement is especially important in the determination of operational (distance) range.
49
In 1964 Powell received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for outstanding
contributions and exemplary leadership in the science of radio and electronic measurements and
instrumentations."

371
a) Early planning and getting started
Plans were underway during the first half of 1945 by those associated with the Radio
Measurements and Standards Project in the development of standards of power and voltage,
50
"using a multiplicity of methods for cross-checking the accuracy of results obtained." This
tenet of "using a multiplicity of methods" became a guiding factor in the development of
power standards as the means of gaining confidence in the accuracy of measurement.
At the lower radio frequencies the early measurement of power served primarily as a
means for the development of voltage standards, the measurement of voltage having greater
appeal (use of the vacuum-tube voltmeter) and need at the time. The nature of
electromagnetic fields in hollow waveguide at microwave frequencies dictated the
—
measurement of power only voltage measurement being meaningless.
For the early development of power standards at microwave frequencies, the group
benefited from the developments by the Radiation Laboratory at MIT during World War II.
Following in the steps of the Radiation Laboratory, the path appeared clear toward the
further development of bolometric techniques for measurement of microwave power at low
51
levels (less than 10 milliwatts). Initially, there was enthusiasm to construct the bolometers
in the laboratory and equipment was procured for this operation. But the highly specialized
skill for this fabrication was not at hand, nor was anyone inclined to develop the skill, and
the enthusiasm waned as sources of procurement became available.
By early 1948 a study was underway on improvement of bridge circuits used with
bolometers in order to increase the accuracy of power measurements. A better
understanding of the behavior of the dc bolometer bridge was gained from an analysis
published in 1949 by D. M. Kerns.

" Quoted from the Monthly Report on Radio Measurement Standards Project for July 1945.

51
Bolometers are of two types, the barreter and thermistor. The barreter element is a very short length of
Wollaston wire suitably mounted to terminate a coaxial line or hollow waveguide. Resistance of the wire increases
when heated by absorbing radio energy. Power measurement is made by observing the change in resistance in
terms of substituted dc power to keep the resistance constant. Thermistors consist of a semiconductor enclosed in a
small glass bead and mounted much like that of a barreter element. In contrast, the resistance decreases upon
heating of the semiconductor.

Microwave power measurements in 1946, using a thermistor mounted in coaxial power mount. Control of ambient
temperatures of mount was by a makeshift 10-gallon constant temperature water bath with a stirring device.
Sophisticated types of oil and water baths were to come later. Microwave power was in terms of equivalent DC
power, using standard resistors, a standard cell, and potentiometer for measurement.

372
b) TWO ROADS TO SUCCESS WITH POWER STANDARDS AT MICROWAVE FREQUENCIES
we
learn that in the period of time spanning the few years before
In retrospect,
after 1950, two developments were underway
in the Microwave Standards Section th
would lead to success in the precision measurement of power at microwave frequencies.
Moreover, the two independent approaches yielded excellent results in cross-checking.
However, success, in terms of the many refinements that evolved, came slowly and spanned
more than a decade, but resulted in accomplishments of a high order. There was a note of
pessimism in the CRPL Annual Report of FY 1950, to quote:

. .There has been a lack of agreement among different groups (in and
.

out of —
NBS author) making power measurements in the microwave region
and no really good power standards are available. The problem of
developing suitable power standards is a difficult one but is fundamental to
the entire microwave field.

1) The impedance measurement approach

Not long after entering the Bureau (1946), Kerns became interested in the application
of network equations to waveguide problems, resulting in a paper published in 1949. During
this period Kerns and others in the Microwave Standards Section were wrestling with the
problems associated with power standards. A new approach was taken by Kerns, that of
treating a bolometer unit (or mount) as a transducer with the properties of a four-terminal
network. A bolometer unit (consisting of the bolometer element and its waveguide
mounting) could serve as an accurate power standard if its efficiency were known. 52 The
52
Bolometer unit efficiency is the ratio of the microwave power dissipated within the bolometer unit to the
microwave power incident upon the bolometer unit. Knowing the efficiency (which takes into account power losses
in the waveguide structure) to be applied as a correction factor, the unit can be used as an accurate power
standard.

This assembly of waveguide and supports, with a maze-like appearance, forms much of the apparatus used to
measure low-level power (1 milliwatt) at microwave frequencies in two large waveguide sizes. Bolometer units
calibrated by impedance method are contained within sealed housings submerged in temperature-controlled oil
baths (foreground).

373
method developed by Kerns yielded the value of efficiency from impedance information
taken at the entry surface of the waveguide flange or coaxial connector. This basic paper
that opened up a wholly new and independent method of using bolometer units as power
53
standards was published in June 1949 [21].
By 1955 Beatty and Reggia had improved upon the method developed by Kerns,
whereby greater accuracy of power measurement in coaxial systems was obtained. Engen's
association with Beatty on the development of microwave reflectometer techniques led to his
application of these techniques to the measurement of efficiency of bolometer units with
greatly increased accuracy (accuracy of better than 0.5%). Engen's paper was published in
1961 [22]. Use of the reflectometer techniques would prove to be useful in later years in the
calibration of bolometers as a regular service.

2) Development of the microwave microcalorimeter

The second basic approach to power measurement at microwave frequencies by an
absolute method (by known dc voltages and resistances, traceable to base quantities) taken
at NBS was by the calorimetric method. Initial planning began in the spring of 1948. From
the initial concept, this would be a calorimeter that would operate with a few milliwatts, to
be comparable in power level with that of bolometer units and allowing for direct
comparison. At the suggestion of the Bureau's Thermodynamics Section the instrument was
of the Joule twin-type to obtain good sensitivity with small heating loads. The first design
used polyiron as the absorbing load for microwave power, but was soon supplanted by the
more logical choice of using a bolometer element (barreter or thermistor) as the absorbing
load, the bolometer unit terminating the waveguide system furnishing the microwave
54
power. MacPherson and Kerns reported on their success with this newly developed
instrument, operating at 9315 MHz (X-band), at a Washington meeting in April 1952, with
publication of a paper in 1955 [23]. Initial accuracy of measurement was better than 1
percent.
The microcalorimeter designed by MacPherson and Kerns served its purpose well as an
accurate and independent means of calibrating bolometer units. A scheme was devised
whereby the bolometer unit could be removed from the calorimeter and thus serve as a
reference standard for the calibration of other bolometer units by a comparison procedure.
Development of the microcalorimeter provided an independent means of cross-checking
measurements obtained by the impedance method.
After a lapse of several years and the move to Boulder, Engen took on the project of
improving upon the design of MacPherson and Kerns, with the objective of obtaining
greater accuracy of measurement with the microcalorimeter. The result was a fivefold
55
improvement in accuracy in the determination of effective efficiency. No less than five
steps were taken by Engen to improve upon the design of the original microcalorimeter. The
design of the microwave microcalorimeter has been reproduced by laboratories of several
foreign countries.
In total, NBS has developed microwave microcalorimeters in five waveguide sizes,
beginning with WR90 or X-band (8.2-12.4 GHz) and proceeding to the smaller sizes to WR15
(50-75 GHz). Another was developed for coaxial bolometer circuits. Morris E. Harvey has
designed and evaluated the more recent microcalorimeters. The microcalorimeter does not
lend itself readily for practical design in the larger waveguide sizes.

53
In contrast with the success of the impedance method with bolometer units incorporating barreters, for some
reason(s) that has not been satisfactorily explained, the method has not been successful with thermistors.
54
The general design of the microcalorimeter has remained the same through the years, but with refinements for
achieving greater accuracy of power measurement. Two identical bolometer units are used, one serving as the
absorber of microwave power, the other as a dummy load, serving as the reference point for measurement of
temperature rise. Temperature difference between the two loads is by observation of the EMF from a multi-
junction thermopile connected between the two loads which, in the first model, was 0.2 °C for an input of 10
milliwatts. DC power supplied to the bolometer is used for calibration. The first microcalorimeter operated in a 45-
gallon oil bath.
55
The effective efficiency is the ratio of the substituted dc power in the bolometer unit to the microwave power
dissipated within the bolometer unit.

374
Waveguide section of the first of a series of microwave microcalorimeters (Joule twin type) developed by NBS, this
one by Macpherson and Kerns, beginning in 1948. Earliest model used polyiron as the absorbing load at about 1
milliwatt of RF power; replaced in later models with a bolometer unit. A dummy load served as the temperature
reference for the multi-junction thermopile (lowest portion of photograph). Tuning stubs (upper portion) provided
impedance matching of X-band assembly at 9315 MHz. Entire unit was temperature controlled in a 45-gallon oil
bath.

c) Many facets enter into the measurement of microwave power at NBS

The mainstay of the microwave power measurement program through the years at NBS
has been the bolometer, and continues to be the subject of much study. Each of two
developments in bridge circuits for use with bolometers came from different sections within
the Radio Standards Division shortly after the move to Boulder. These circuits served as a
means of balancing the bolometer bridge without manual control. Each bridge was covered
by a patent. 56,57 With much simplification in design of Engen's instrumentation, plus some
novel circuitry, N. T. Larsen and F. R. Clague, many years later, developed what came to be

56
The team of Myron C. Selby,Charles M. Allred, Paul A. Hudson, and Ira S. Berry filed for a patent on September
6, 1957. Patent 2,883,620 was issued April 21, 1959, entitled "High frequency power measuring bridge circuit."
57
G. F. Engen filed for a patent on July 7, 1958. Patent 2,997,652 was issued August 22, 1961, entitled "Self-
balancing D. C. bolometer bridge." Engen's design also led to the development of a constant-current generator. Both
of these instruments were manufactured commercially. The self-balancing bridge also led to Engen's development
of a means of amplitude stabilization of a microwave signal source.

375
 known as the NBS Type
power measurement system for use with bolometers. 58 Thus came
II

a series of three bolometer bridges developed by NBS.

In addition to the developments by Engen related above, his name is associated with
59
other developments in the measurement of microwave power. At one time he studied the
dc-RF substitution error of coaxial-type bolometer units. In the mid-1960's he tackled and
solved the problem of calibrating coaxial power meters with a waveguide power standard
[24]. At the time this was a knotty problem that was solved by a novel procedure. The
problem was related to others, that were also solved by Engen, in the transfer process of
calibrating power meters.
More recently, Engen's interests have led him to take a new approach to the problems
in the measurement of power transfer (also attenuation and impedance measurements) by
what he has termed "power equations" [25]. 60 Engen's approach should solve most of the
problems associated with evaluating mismatch corrections of measurements involving
waveguide systems, plus minimization of the problems associated with the requirements for
precision connectors and uniform waveguide in performing precision measurements at
microwave frequencies.
It was with enthusiasm that the CRPL Annual Report of FY 1948 stated, "Development

and construction of the most precise microwave power measuring console in existence was
largely completed." But success, as judged by a satisfactory and accurate power
measurement, proved to be elusive. Not until November 1952 was the first power meter
(fitted with coaxial connectors) calibrated (frequency range of 1000 to 3000 MHz), and it was

58
Neil T. Larsen and Frederick R. Clague filed for a patent on March 17, 1970. Patent 3,611,130 was issued October
5, 1971, entitled "Power measuring and leveling system using a self-balancing bridge."
>9
Early in 1961 Engen was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for very
valuable contributions to the field of microwave power standards and measurements; the development of an
extremely stable and accurate d-c instrumentation for bolometric measurement of power, resulting in the U.S.
taking the lead in accuracy of microwave power measurements, and the ability of NBS to offer a new calibration
service for microwave power measuring instruments where no previous service existed."
60
The initial study resulted in the material for his doctor's dissertation.

(right) of
Glenn Engen explains the features of advanced model of microwave microcalorimeter to Dr. Schaffeld
(left)

the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (counterpart of NBS, Western Germany). At rear, George Schafer, chief
Macpherson and Kerns to
of the Radio Standards Engineering Division. Engen improved upon the design of
obtain much greater accuracy of microwave power measurement. Klystron power supply at rear was
one of three
specially designed by manufacturer for NBS use. Photographed February 1963.

376
February 1953 before the first X-band bolometer unit was calibrated for efficiency. Not until
around 1960 was a calibration service firmly established for power calibrations
microwave frequencies. The statement of 1950 that, "The problem of developing suitable
power standards is a difficult one ," was prophetic, indeed (see p. 373).
. . .

The Bureau had the opportunity to make its first international comparison
microwave power standards in December 1957. On this occasion the comparison was made
61
at the Boulder Laboratories with a Japanese bolometer unit. This was the first of a series
of international comparisons on power standards that have been made to the present time.
Laboratories of a number of nations have joined in the program. These comparisons had
been arranged by URSI (International Scientific Radio Union) by action taken when Beatty
was chairman of Commission I, Radio Measurements Methods and Standards, of the U.S.
National Committee.

d) Measurement of power at the lower radio frequencies

Beginning in 1945 and to as recently as several years ago, a group, separated from
microwave groups, was responsible for the development of power standards at the lower
radio frequencies. This group was not faced with the problems associated with microwaves
and the use of hollow waveguide created during World War II. However, with the passage of
time, this group pushed the upper limit of the lower frequency standards and measurement
techniques into the microwave region with the use of coaxial components.

1) The early developments in power standards

Early in 1946 Myron C. Selby 62 and Lewis F. Behrent made use of a power measurement
bolometer bridge as a means of determining RF voltage with considerable accuracy. After
the move to Boulder in 1954, when it appeared there was a growing need for a power
calibration facility at the lower radio frequencies, steps were taken to develop power
standards and measurement methods. First, came the development by Paul A. Hudson and
Ira S. Berry of a thermistor bridge with new features and having a power range of 100
microwatts to 100 milliwatts. The bridge was in operation by early 1956.
By 1956 a large-scale program was set into motion to provide adequate power
measurement facilities for the Electronic Calibration Center. Initially, the planning was
rather ambitious— a power range from 10~ 6 to 10 6 watts. Later it was concluded that a high-
power facility was impractical at the Boulder Laboratories.

2) Calorimeters in development

A step in a different direction in the Bureau's development of RF power standards was

that of a dry, static calorimeter, although the principle of operation was not original with
the Bureau. A calorimeter, with a range up to 10 watts, was a development by Hudson and
63

Allred, forwhich they received a patent [26]. 64 The instrument would serve for a time as a
reference standard until one of another type and with superior features became available.
With several types of calorimeters at hand that could be used as reference standards,
Hudson devised an instrument that served as a useful means of transferring standard
values of power to power meters by a routine calibration. He chose to call the instrument a
precision RF power transfer standard. Three calibrated directional couplers feeding into a
series of thermoelements allowed high-level power to be measured with instrumentation
operating at low-level power. Later, in 1966, Hudson published a paper on a design of coaxial
couplers with very high directivity. The couplers were particularly suited for precision
power measurements.
61
The recommendation of an international comparison of power standards was the result of a long-standing
resolution within the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI) made more than 10 years before the first
comparison was performed.
62
Myron C. Selby entered the Radio Section on October 21, 1941. He retired in 1968 but continued on as a rehired
annuitant and a guest worker until November 1973.
63
"Dry" no liquid; "static" in the sense that the absorbing load (a thin-
in the sense that the calorimeter involves
film, metallic disk)remains fixed in position, unlike that of the power-absorbing liquid in liquid-flow calorimeters.
Later, this instrument was called a dry-load calorimeter.
64
Paul A. Hudson and Charles M. Allred filed for a patent on November 9, 1959. Patent 2,995,708 was issued
August 8, 1961, entitled "Dry static calorimeter for RF power measurement."

377
 Refining the design of a dual-load flow calorimeter (original design outside of NBS),
Myron L. Crawford and Hudson, in 1966, came up with a reference standard for RF power at
fairly high levels (5 to 100 watts) [27]. A threefold increase in accuracy was obtained, with
operation up to 4 GHz. It was now possible to gain greater confidence in the NBS reference
standards by intercomparing the older dry, static calorimeter with another type of
calorimeter incorporating many differences in operating features.
To decrease the time required for calibration, and for other reasons, Crawford
developed a dual-dry-load calorimeter in which the reference dc input power is
automatically controlled, with a distinct advance in operating features over older types. It
was now possible to have digital read-out of the measured power level. Crawford's paper was
published in 1968 [28].

5. Voltage — The useful measurement at the lower radio frequencies

As with power, voltage an active quantity and its measurement between conductors
is

of open-wire lines and is of primary importance. Certain performance

in coaxial circuits
features of signal generators, receivers, field-strength meters, radar equipment, and
communication equipment in general, can be evaluated in terms of voltage measurement. It
was the development of the vacuum-tube voltmeter for use at radio frequencies by Moullin
(England) in 1922 that first provided the means of measuring voltage without unduly
altering the impedance (and voltage condition) of RF circuits.

a) A BEGINNING ON VOLTAGE STANDARDS

Although the vacuum-tube voltmeter was a useful instrument in the Radio Section over
a period of many years, it was not until early 1945 that serious consideration was given to
developing voltage standards at radio frequencies. A program was initiated in combination
with that on power standards "using a multiplicity of methods for cross-checking the
accuracy of results obtained." (See p. 372 and footnote 50.) NBS Circular 481, "High-
frequency Voltage Measurement" (September 1, 1949), prepared by Selby, discussed the
operating principles of "a multiplicity of methods" of voltage measurements at radio
frequencies. Of the many methods discussed, only a few were actively studied and developed
for precision measurement.
In April 1949 Selby had reported in the Technical News Bulletin on a "primary high-
frequency voltage standard" that made use of a thermistor bridge calibrated by direct
current. He obtained a voltage range from 20 millivolts to 1.5 volts up to a frequency of 800
MHz, with an accuracy of 1 percent. Over much of the frequency range Selby was able to
cross-check the voltage standard by independent methods including a cathode-ray
oscilloscope, thermoelements, and an electrostatic voltmeter. A detailed account of the use
of a bolometer bridge as a voltage standard was published by Selby and Behrent in 1950 [29].

b) MlCROPOTENTIOMETERS— A NEW APPROACH TO KNOWN RF VOLTAGES AT

MICROVOLT LEVELS
In the CRPL Quarterly Report of April-June 1949 the High Frequency Standards
Section reported on the development of a device to obtain known voltages at microvolt levels
at frequencies up to 300 MHz by use of a straight-through type of thermojunction and a thin
platinum disk resistor. The next quarterly report stated that "The basic idea is simply to tap
the output impedance of voltage generators at a point a fraction of an ohm above ground."
The benefits were: (1) measurement of voltage to the device at sufficiently high level to
obtain high accuracy, and (2) a voltage source of extremely low internal impedance. The
device overcame the problems associated with attenuators and the variable output
impedance of signal generators. Thus came into existence the very useful device developed

378
by Selby which he called the micropotentiometer in the technical press or in laboratc
jargon it became known as a "micropot." 65

b0
The micropotentiometer is a quite simple device. A small metallic enclosure serves to shield a thermojunction or
thermoelement (combination of a heater and thermocouple) and an annular ring across the center and outer
conductor of a coaxial fitting (connector). The conducting ring is formed by metal deposition and has a resistance
rated in milliohms, thus providing a voltage source of very low impedance. A series of these rings of various
resistance provides for a range of known voltages. The device was first described in the Technical News Bulletin,
and later by Selby in the technical press [30,31]. Selby was issued two patents on the device which became a
manufactured article.*

*M. C. Selby filed for a patent on June 29, 1951. Patent 2,782,377 was issued February 19, 1957, entitled
"Micropotentiometers." A second patent (a division of the initial patent) was issued April 14, 1959, under the same
title, with the patent number 2,882,501.

Myron Selby in 1956 observes his recent development of the micropotentiometer for accurate measurement of RF
voltage at frequencies ranging up to 1000 MHz. At right is rack of interchangeable disc resistor assemblies that
give the "micropot" a range from 1 microvolt to 0.1 volt.

c) The AT voltmeter
To meet the need of accurate measurement of RF voltages up to several hundred volts
and frequencies up to 1000 MHz, Selby and Behrent came up with the novel idea of
combining a relatively simple piston or waveguide below-cutoff attenuator with a
thermoelement, plus a dc millivoltmeter for reading the direct current developed by the
thermocouple of the thermoelement. Reading of RF voltage is in terms of the attenuator
reading (by a micrometer) and the millivoltmeter setting. The device derived the name of
AT voltmeter from the full name of Attenuator-Thermoelectric High-Frequency Voltmeter,
under which name a patent was issued to Selby and Behrent. 66 The instrument was
described in the February 1956 issue of the Technical News Bulletin.
Selby's design of a novel type of "tee" connector permitted accurate calibration of RF
voltmeters, by comparison with the AT voltmeter at frequencies up to 1 GHz. This auxiliary
67
device for calibration of voltmeters at high radio frequencies was patented by Selby.

66
Myron C. Selby and Lewis F. Behrent filed for a patent on December 5, 1956. Patent 2,933,684 was issued April
19, 1960, entitled "Attenuator-thermoelectric high-frequency voltmeter."
67
M. C. Selby filed for a patent on October 22, 1965. Patent 3,354,411 was issued November 21, 1967, entitled
"Coaxial transmission line T-junction having rectangular passageway dimensioned beyond cutoff for higher order
modes."

379
d ) Adapting a measurement technique to line production calibration
To meet the need of rapid, yet accurate, calibration of RF voltmeters by the newly
organized Electronic Calibration Center, Selby, Behrent, and Francis X. Ries, designed a
calibration console to meet this need. The AT voltmeter became the principal feature of the
calibration system as the working standard. A grouping of the consoles provided calibration
at 12 discrete frequencies up to 700 MHz at voltages ranging from 0.2 volt to several
hundred volts. RF generators of high stability and purity of output were contained within
the consoles. The calibration system of considerable complexity was patented on the basis of
68
the many novel features. It has proven to be a very useful piece of instrumentation over
69
the many years since 1957.

e) TheBolovac
Following in the chain of devices patented by Selby came his patent of the "Bolovac,"
the name being coined by Selby from the more complete term "Bolometric voltage and
70
current mount." In essence, the Bolovac consists of a disk-type conducting film, split in two
sections, placed across a coaxial line, and serves as a standard for both voltage and current
at radio frequencies up to 20 GHz. However, because of technical problems in producing
satisfactory thin films, the device has nothad the popularity of coming into widespread
laboratory use as has the micropotentiometer and the AT voltmeter.

6. Other RF standards and measurements advance on a broad front

Following in the train of the early development (beginning in 1945) of standards at
radio frequencies for the fundamental electrical quantities of attenuation, impedance,
power, and voltage, there came an advancing stream of development of standards in many
other electrical quantities of the radio art.

a) The measurement of current

Strangely, the earliest measurements at radio frequencies, other than those of
wavelength, were of current (usually in the antenna circuit), yet measurement of current
gradually fell into disuse and never has regained its former popularity. In 1913 Dellinger
studied RF ammeters as subject matter for his doctor's thesis, published in 1914 as a Bureau
paper (see ch. II, p. 43). The subject was revived early in 1949 to provide a calibration
service for RF current meters, and specifically those of the thermoelement type.
For a reference standard of RF current, Max Solow, of the High Frequency Standards
Section, developed a theoretical treatment and a design for a current meter of the
electrodynamic type, using a short-circuited ring suspended within a coaxial resonator. The
principle dates back to 1887, but Solow adapted it to a wide frequency range up to 300 MHz.
However, the project was fraught with many technical problems and was phased out in 1953
without the completion of an entirely successful model. Peter H. Haas also took part in this
project.
Again, the subject of the development of an RF current standard was revived, after a
lapse of almost 20 years after initiating the earlier project. Nolan V. Frederick succeeded in
the design, construction, and evaluation of a short-circuited-ring electrodynamic ammeter
(current standard) that was an improvement over the design by Solow. Frederick reported
on the standard at the June 1968 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements,
indicating a range of 1 to 100 amperes over the frequency range of 1 MHz to 1 GHz, with an
uncertainty of 0.5 percent [32].
Following the successful development of an RF current standard suitable as a reference
standard, Winston W. Scott, Jr. of the HF Impedance Standards Section came up with a
very ingenious idea for a transfer or interlaboratory standard of RF current, which he called

68
Myron C Selby, Lewis F. Behrent, and Francis X. Ries filed for a patent on May 19, 1959. Patent 3,041,533 was
issued June 26, 1962, entitled "RF voltmeter calibration console."
69
In 1960 Selby was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service for "outstanding
scientific achievement in radio standards and radio measurement techniques."
70
Myron C
Selby filed for a patent on August 4, 1967. Patent 3,487,305 was issued December 30, 1969, entitled
"Electrothermic instruments for measuring voltage and current."

380
a coaxial RF-dc ammeter. In essence, the device consists of an elliptic-cylinder silvi 1
)

reflector of infrared energy with a thick-film heater along one focus and a thermopile alonj
the other focus. Measurement of current in a 50-ohm coaxial line can be made over a
frequency range from direct current to 1 GHz and a current range from 0.25 to 2.5 ampere;
with a measurement uncertainty of about ±2 percent. For his paper, published in
November 1970, Scott received the 1971 Boulder Scientist Award from the Boulder Branch
of the Scientific Research Society of America (RESA) [33]. This unique device has not been
manufactured and along with the electrodynamic current standard, remains laboratory
equipment that has been "shelved." The ammeter was patented in 1971. 72
71

b) Noise— An attribution of nature— And its measurement

1) Developments at NBS Washington
Noise, associated with radio, can be and is defined under various categories. Noise, in
terms of a standard of an electrical quantity and measured in the laboratory, is the thermal
noise caused by the random process of thermal agitation of charges in a conducting medium
and is a function of the absolute temperature. However, for noise-source standards, this is
extended to the noise in plasmas in gas-discharge tubes, and the shot noise of emission-
limited thermionic diodes. These standards are calibrated in terms of noise temperature
(kelvins) and are used as references for the measurement of noise figure (or factor) of
amplifiers, radio receivers, and radar systems. As such, one obtains a knowledge of the
sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, and the dynamic range and overall performance of a
detection, telemetering, or communication system.
The measurement of noise and the development of noise standards was not indicated
specifically among the objectives of the Radio Measurements and Standards Project in 1945.
Concurrent with the organization of the CRPL (May 1, 1946), the Quarterly Report by the
Microwave Standards Section stated: "theoretical studies on noise measurements were
initiated." The project resulted in two papers by J. J. Freeman relating to the properties of
thermionic diodes as noise generators. However, there were limitations to the use of
thermionic diodes as a noise standard at microwave frequencies.
In the spring of 1948 Freeman made plans for the calibration of noise sources at
microwave frequencies by utilizing thermal noise as a standard. This resulted in the design
and construction of a noise comparator, based on a variation of the Dicke radiometer used
for the measurement of thermal radiation at microwave frequencies. For the noise standard
Freeman (assisted by Whilden G. Heinard) used a piece of carborundum mounted in X-band
waveguide and heated to around 1000 °C, serving as a "black body" radiator of known noise
power. The comparator remained in the development stage in 1954 when Freeman elected
not to accompany the CRPL to Boulder. 73
In the fall of 1948 the High Frequency Standards Section initiated a program of
measuring the noise figure of radio receivers at the lower frequencies up to 300 MHz. By
1951 Max Solow and his assistants had developed a noise-figure standard which used a
temperature-limited noise diode as the source of known noise power. The result was a
calibration service for noise figure in the range of 500 kHz to 30 MHz. By 1954 a noise
comparator had been completed for operation up to 300 MHz.
2) Developments at NBS Boulder
After the move to Boulder (1954) the noise program at frequencies below 300 MHz (later
below 1000 MHz) entered a spell of inactivity for several years. Not until 1959 was it
reactivated when C. McKay Allred took a new approach to the method of comparing an
unknown noise source to a standard source by using a correlation technique, thus
overcoming some of the problems encountered by Freeman and others. A patent was issued
71
The Bolovac also serves as an RF current standard, covering a range from 5 milliamperes to 10 amperes (see p.
380). It, too, has had a fate-dogged existence and is not being used as an RF current standard.
72
Winston W. Scott, Jr. filed for a patent on January 20, 1970. Patent 3,609,541 was issued September 28, 1971,
entitled "Radio frequency coaxial ammeter with thermal compensation."
73
In February 1954 J. J. Freeman transferred to the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C., where he
continued his interest in electrical noise. His treatise on the subject, Principles of Noise, was published in 1958 by
John Wiley and Sons, New York.

381
to Allred on this new approach measurement. 4 Allred based the technique on a
to noise
well-developed theoretical approach. The result was an instrument that was a sum-and-
difference correlation radiometer, with a mode of operation quite different from Dicke's
radiometer technique used by Freeman [34]. M. Gerald Arthur incorporated the instrument
with his development of a high-frequency noise measurement system to provide a service for
the calibration of coaxial noise generators, beginning in 1968 [35]. Arthur's experience with
noise measurements led to his being selected to write NBS Monograph 742, "The
Measurement of Noise Performance Factors, a Metrology Guide," published in 1974.
Before the move to the Boulder Laboratories the noise program at microwave
frequencies was taken over by Charles R. Greenhow. During the next several years
improvements were made on the noise comparator developed by Freeman at X-band, with
some development at S-band (2.60-3.95 GHz). Like the high-frequency noise project, there
came a lull in the activity of noise measurement at microwave frequencies for a short period
after Greenhow resigned in June 1957. But the need for precision noise measurement and
the calibration of noise standards for other laboratories had increased considerably during
the 1950's.
Emerging from the renewed program was the development by a team headed by Arthur
J. Estin of an improved Dicke-type radiometer (previously modified by Freeman at NBS)
that incorporated both a reference standard and a working standard, plus the noise source
being calibrated [36]. During the next several years a team under the guidance of Joseph S.
Wells, along with William C. Daywitt and Charles K. S. Miller, made further improvements
on the radiometer and its ancillary equipment. Operating at several frequencies in X-band,
the equipment was subject to much experimentation and evaluation of errors in the
measurement of effective noise temperature of noise-source standards. 75 The team reported
74
C. M. Allred filed for a patent on April 19, 1962. Patent 3,192,372 was issued June 29, 1965, entitled "Signal-level
comparing system."
73
Two were used as reference standards operating at temperatures of more than
slightly different combinations
1000 a combination of a silicon-carbide load in a gold waveguide; the other, a combination of zinc-titanate
°C: one,
load in a platinum-rhodium alloy waveguide. The working standard is usually an argon gas-discharge tube; the
same type of tube is usually used for transfer standards submitted for calibration.

By 1962 a microwave noise source operating at more than 1000 °C, suitable as a reference standard, was achieved.
One combination of elements was a silicon carbide load resistor termination (lower left) with a gold waveguide
(lower center). Another combination was a zinc titanate load with a platinum-rhodium alloy waveguide (upper
center). Each was contained within a graphite heat distributor, coated with zirconium dioxide (upper).

382
on its study at the 1962 IRE International Convention, with later publication [37]. By early

1963 a microwave noise-source calibration service was announced at three frequencies in the
8.2 to 12.4 GHz range. The range has since been extended to a number of other frequency
bands (waveguide sizes). As a featured component of the noise measurements system, Miller
Daywitt, and Eugene Campbell reported on the development of an interlaboratory or
transfer noise standard at the 3rd International Measurement Conference held in
Stockholm, Sweden in 1964.

Microwave radiometer in X-band (8.2-104 GHz) developed by 1962 to measure the noise temperature of gas- discharge
noise sources for use as interlaboratory standards.

A number of various developments and studies in the area of noise measurements at

microwave frequencies have been made in the Electromagnetics Division in recent years.
Among these was a low-temperature microwave noise standard operating in a cryogenic
environment, developed by a team headed by Charles L. Trembath. Many novel features
entered into the design for operation at temperatures of 4.2 K (boiling point of helium) and
77 K (boiling point of nitrogen). Uncertainty of noise temperature was about ±0.1 K.
Another development was a planned excursion into automated measurements, in this
instance, the measurement of effective input noise temperature of 55-65 GHz receivers. The
five-man team, headed by Don R. Boyle, made use of: a bolometric Y-factor measurement
(ratio of two noise powers at output of transducer, in this case a microwave receiver), a
working noise standard (developed by Miller, Daywitt, and Campbell), and a minicomputer
system with control for sequence of operation. The print-out gives a noise figure for the
receiver being evaluated.
In June 1973 this automated noise measurement system bore fruit in the evaluation of
an Army satellite communications system located at Camp Roberts (between Monterey and
San Luis Obispo, Calif.). Here, a team of four from the Electromagnetics Division measured
the gain-temperature ratio, G/T, that can be considered a figure-of-merit to express the
performance rating of a communications receiver system. Into the observation was cranked
the noise of a radio star and the noise from "cold" space, each, in turn, serving as a standard
noise source.

383
 The result was an automated field-site measurement involving much complexity of
instrumentation and computation that reduced the measurement time to a period that was
reasonable by contrast to what otherwise would have been intolerably long.

c) Getting to know electromagnetic fields

There the need to know the magnitude or field strength of electromagnetic fields in
is

order evaluate the performance, signal coverage, efficiency, and interference

to
potentialities of transmitting stations. Measurements are made with field-strength meters
which must be calibrated under conditions of a known or standard field. The measurement
76
of antenna gain is also of interest with directional antennas at microwave frequencies.
Field-intensity measurements had their beginning in the Radio Section in 1926, first in
—
the frequency range of broadcasting stations 550 to 1500 kHz (see ch. V, p. 111). A
calibration service for field-strength meters was made available, first to the Government
and later to the public. By the end of World War II the initial development of equipment for
measurements up to 160 MHz was completed. By 1946 a service for the calibration of field-
strength meters, fitted with loop antennas, was made available from 200 kHz to 19 MHz.

1) From 1946 — Refinement and adaptation of the two methods of calibrating

field-strength meters

After reorganization of the Radio Section to form the CRPL (May 1, 1946), a new group
took over the further development and refinement of the two methods of measurement for
the calibration of field-intensity meters. One method, known as the standard-field method,
serves for calibration up to 30 MHz, the other, known as the standard-antenna method,
serves for calibration above 30 MHz. The two methods are independent of each other but
allow for intercomparison. Associated with this program were Frank M. Greene and Max
Solow, and later Clarence C. Cook. During the period from 1950-1952, five papers were
published between the members of this team [38,39]. From 1950 to 1954 field-strength meters
were calibrated at a field laboratory located at Hybla Valley (a multipurpose site, including
an experimental airfield), southwest of Alexandria, Va. 77 Upon moving to Boulder a field
site was selected toward the rear of the Bureau grounds and was referred to as the
"Canyon" site. It had the advantage of considerable shielding against unwanted signals by
the hilly terrain. Here, the calibration group occupies a site of relatively permanent quality.
By 1957 Greene, Harold E. Taggart, and others became occupied in the development,
design, and fabrication of equipment for the new Electronic Calibration Center, where, later,
Taggart supervised the calibration service. With further development, it became possible to
calibrate dipole antennas up to 1 GHz and the several types of calibrations on field-strength
receivers to 10 GHz.

7B
Simply defined, antenna gain is the ratio, expressed in decibels, of standard antenna input power to directional
antenna input power that will produce the same field strength in the desired direction.
77
At one time, back in the early 1930's, the Hybla Valley site was being considered as a western terminus for
transatlantic rigid airship flights for passenger service.

384
In 1964 Harold Taggart of the Electronic Calibration Center calibrates a loop antenna (used with field-strength
meters) by the standard-field method. The standard antenna (rear loop) consists of a single turn of wire of known
radius and carries a known current, giving a known magnitude field. The method is used in frequency range of 30
Hz to 30 MHz; at higher frequencies the standard-antenna method makes use of a dipole of known electric field.

2) Further developments in field-strength measurements below 1 GHz

Except for possible improvements in accuracy below 1 GHz, by the early 1960's the
conventional types of field-strength measurements had reached a plateau of development at
NBS. In 1963 a contract with the Field Command of the Defense Atomic Support Agency
(DASA) brought on a new development, that of an improved method of making near-zone
measurements at high levels of field strength. The result was a field-strength meter
developed by Greene operable up to 1000 volts per meter, with a remote indicator unit
8 9
connected to the antenna unit by a semi-conducting transmission line [40]. On the same '

DASA contract, Gerome R. Reeve further improved the meter by using selective tuning
providing for a direct readout range of 40 dB.

78
This project was undertaken to evaluate the hazards of electromagnetic radiation to electroexplosive devices that
may detonate prematurely under conditions of high-level fields.
79
The unique use of a semi-conducting transmission line minimized both the perturbation of the field in the vicinity
of the dipole antenna and RF current induced in the transmission line.

385
3) Antenna measurements above 1 GHz
Almost from the beginning of the use of high-power microwave radar and other
microwave equipment there has been concern over the hazard of exposure by operators and
others to radiated energy. There has been wide divergence of opinion of the level of energy
density that is considered hazardous. The situation was complicated further by the difficulty
of measuring, with a reasonable degree of accuracy, the level of energy density in the
complex electromagnetic field that exists in the vicinity of the source of radiation (near
field).A project set up within the EM Fields and Antennas Section in the fall of 1968 led to
an extensive study of the measurement of these complex fields. 80 Several models of
electromagnetic hazard meters were developed in this project that adequately meet the need
of a measurement instrument. Success was achieved by the use of a field sensor consisting of
three mutually orthogonal dipoles of small dimensions, incorporating diode detectors, and
connected to a nearby readout meter by means of a high-resistance transmission line (to
minimize perturbation of field). The instruments were initially designed for measurement
around 1 GHz; later extended in range from 10 MHz to 5 GHz, and with an extended range
of sensitivity. This instrument was recognized by the periodical, Industrial Research, as one
of the 100 most significant new products for the year 1973. Along with Ronald R. Bowman
and Paul F. Wacker, working on this project were Donald R. Belsher and Ezra B. Larsen.
The increased use of microwaves for space communication, extending into the
millimeter wavelengths, brought on a wide interest in the design and accurate measurement
of directive antennas for operation at very short wavelengths. Performance of these
directive antennas is usually specified in terms of power gain and polarization in the
direction of maximum radiation (usually in the form of a narrow beam). Accurate
measurement (0.1 dB or better for gain) of this performance continues to be the concern and
study of an antenna group since the middle 1960's. The use of anechoic chambers falls short
in obtaining the higher accuracies of gain measurement now desired. Thus, several other
courses of measurement have been pursued by the group in recent years.
Two measurement techniques have been developed and reported by the antenna group
since 1970, both of them being based upon pioneer work by Kerns and referred to as the
"plane-wave scattering-matrix theory of antennas and antenna-antenna interactions." A
method of determining far-field antenna patterns from near-field measurements by a planar
scan-deconvolution technique was developed for antennas by Kerns by correcting for the
effects of the antenna probe [41]. With this approach, the group succeeded in determining
the antenna pattern and power gain of several types of directive antennas from near-field
measurements [42]. Another method, known as the extrapolation technique, is used
primarily to determine on-axis gain and polarization. This method is based upon individual
theoretical work by Kerns and Wacker. It became possible to make these measurements
without reference to a known antenna by measurement of amplitude and phase as a
function of distance, using three unknown antennas [43]. The method provides means of
correcting for proximity effects, for multiple reflections between the antennas, and for
ground reflections. 81

80
The project was partially supported by the Bureau of Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration.
81
Two antenna —
ranges were developed for measurement at reduced distances a 5-meter indoor range and a 50-
meter outdoor range. On the outdoor range each of a pair of antennas is mounted on its own tower that is moved in
relation to the other along an accurately aligned set of rails. A computer is used to analyze the data taken from the
many observations that are possible and required for the antenna calibrations.

386
Outdoor 50-meter antenna extrapolation range located at edge of mesa at rear of the Boulder Laboratories site. On-
axis antenna gain is measured by using two antennas, each mounted on its own movable tower. Towers can be
separated at known distances by moving on accurately alined rails. Measurements are recorded in the van and a
computer analyzes the observations.

Automated computer controlled near-field scanner developed in 1973-19?"4 for measuring microwave antenna fields.
John Greene of the Fields and Antenna Section points to the movable probe. Antenna assembly in mounting at
righ t foreground.

387
 Taking part in this fruitful program were Kerns, Wacker, Allen C. Newell, Ronald R.
Bowman, and others, all under the guidance of Ramon C. Baird who gave direction to the
82
several projects.

d ) The pulse domain

Standards and measurement techniques for electric pulses was a Johnny-come-lately
—
development at NBS a number of years after the early developments for CW power and
voltage at radio frequencies. Pulse technology had much of its introduction in the
development of radar, and is now much employed in telemetry, computers, and
communication systems.
By 1962 the team of Paul A. Hudson, Warner L. Ecklund, and Arthur R. Ondrejka of
the High Frequency Electrical Standards Section had developed an accurate method of
measuring the peak-pulse power of an RF carrier. The technique was that of sampling the
RF pulse by means of a specifically designed coaxial solid-state switch with a sample of a
similar portion of a CW signal of known power level [44]. In 1965 service for the calibration
of peak-pulse power meters in a frequency band centering near 1 GHz was initiated.
Pulsing techniques often require the accurate measurement of pulse voltages (baseband
pulses)and it was a natural sequence that the peak-power pulse measurement development
should be followed by that for peak pulse voltage. By 1965 Ondrejka and Hudson had
developed two independent methods of measuring peak pulse voltage of a duration as short
as 10 nanoseconds that could be intercompared [45]. Shortly thereafter a calibration service
83
was initiated.
During 1966 a new program became a part of the Radio Standards Engineering
Division —
a study of pulses in depth and in variety of circuit conditions. Norris S. Nahman
of the University of Kansas joined the Division, bringing along with him three of his
84
graduate students from the Department of Electrical Engineering. An intensive program
in short-period pulses (less than a nanosecond) got underway in a group that became the
Pulse and Time Domain Section. Out of this program have come several projects that have
advanced the art of pulse-measurement techniques. Included were the time and frequency
characteristics of a superconducting coaxial transmission line, and the development of a
method of generating pulsed wave forms of a known predicted shape using Debye dielectric
dispersion. The latter was accomplished with a uniform long transmission line filled with
one of several types of suitable liquids and activated by a special type of pulse generator [46].
Although large in its dimensions, work has continued on a more compact model for use in
laser technology. Connected with these projects have been William D. McCaa, Jr., Donald R.
Holt, James R. Andrews, and Robert M. Jickling.

e ) The measurement of phase shift

The observation, accurate measurement, and application of phase relations of two or
more ac waveforms are of much practical importance, whether at a 60-Hz power frequency
or at microwave frequencies. At radio frequencies calibrated phase shifters serve to set and
measure phase relations in systems used for navigation, radar tracking, and in the
adjustment of phase-array antennas.

K2
David M. Kerns was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, with the
In 1973
citation to electromagnetic theory basic to important antenna measurement
"for outstanding contributions
methods and for creative participation in the application of the theory."
In October 1974 Paul F. Wacker was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious
Service, with the citation "outstanding contribution to electromagnetic theory basic to antenna measurements and
creative leadership in their application."
83
In 1966 Hudson received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for extremely
competent performance of his duties in development and construction of the Nation's standards for CW and pulse
power, and pulse voltage."
s4
Nahman had been associated with the University of Kansas for 11 years, where he was director of the Electronics
Research Laboratory and in charge of Project Jayhawk (a pulse study sponsored by the National Security Agency).
In coming to the Boulder Laboratories, he was employed as a scientific consultant and later placed in charge of the
Pulse and Time Domain Section. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado. Nahman resigned
from the Electromagnetics Division on July 31, 1973, to teach at the University of Toledo. He returned to the
Boulder Laboratories in June 1975.

388
 A 1958 paper revealed a new approach
to waveguide phase shifters for the precision
measurement was followed up by the Microwave Circuit Standards
of phase shift that
85
Section. George Schafer of the section developed a modulated subcarrier technique of
measuring phase shift at microwave frequencies in waveguide (X-band waveguide). Schafer
and Beatty made an error analysis of the phase shifter used as a standard. In preparation
for a calibration service, Doyle A. Ellerbruch evaluated several phase-measurement systems
which resulted in a system set up in the Microwave Calibration Service Section that used a
balanced modulator (double sideband modulation with suppressed carrier) [47]. It differed
somewhat from Schafer's system, with the attainment of superior operation. By 1969 8<i

calibration services for phase shifters were made available in three waveguide sizes.
An unmodulated twin-channel attenuation measurement system developed by David H.
Russell in the mid 1960's for coaxial attenuators over a wide frequency range was readily
adaptable for the calibration of coaxial phase shifters and was set up for this purpose.
f) Studying the interaction of electromagnetic waves on matter— EM
CHARACTERISTICS OF MATERIALS

The program on the electromagnetic characteristics of materials that had its apogee of
activity during the early 1960'shad its antecedents in the Bureau back to as early as 1918."
The first Bureau papers in this subject area were published by Dellinger and Preston in
1922 and 1923 (see ch. V, p. 106). The interest at the time was that of the properties of
insulating materials brought on by the radio broadcasting industry. The measurements were
88
those of phase difference (power loss) and dielectric constants.

1) Probing the dielectric properties at microwave frequencies of many substances — In

the gaseous, liquid, and solid states

Beginning in the spring of 1946, as an immediate fallout from the Bureau of Ship's
"Phantom" project (see ch. IX, p. 337) came the development within the Microwave
Standards Section of a method of observing the dielectric properties of a gas at microwave
frequencies. For almost a decade the initial "fallout" project spawned a number of closely
related projects under the leadership of George Birnbaum that led to no less than 14
published papers.
Among the first of these papers to be published by Birnbaum was that in 1949 on the
dielectric constant and loss tangent of several solids and liquids by a cavity perturbation
method. This was followed by a number of papers on the dielectric properties of water vapor
and other gaseous substances. Evolving from the earlier measurements was a recording
89
microwave refractometer, an instrument of multiple uses [48]. Associated with Birnbaum
in some of these studies were Samuel J. Kryder and others, including several foreign guest
workers.
83
A paper by Milton Magid of the Hughes Aircraft Co. presented at the 1958 Conference on Electronic Standards
and Measurements, at the Boulder Laboratories.
86
A method that had been devised by the Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1949.
s
'
Although initial studies of the electromagnetic characteristics of materials at radio frequencies began in the
Radio Section in 1918, it is interesting to note that work on the "high frequency electric properties of materials"
was conducted at NBS by the U.S. Signal Corps as early as 1912.* Space in the West Laboratory (West Building, one
of the four existing buildings) was occupied by the Signal Corps for several years for the experimental operation of
both spark and arc transmitters, and to conduct research.
*From an NBS brochure, dated September 10, 1912 (Boutell Collection).
88
Later, in February 1925, J. L. Preston and E. L. Hall published a paper in the amateur periodical, QST, entitled
"R. F. properties of insulating materials." In 1931, a paper published by A. B. Lewis, E. L. Hall, and F. R. Caldwell,
in the NBS Journal of Research, gave the results of a fairly extensive measurement program suggested by the U.S.
Bureau of Mines on the RF properties of domestic and foreign micas. Measurement of the dielectric constant and
power factor were made in the frequency range of 100 to 1000 kHz.
Again, E. L. Hall found himself measuring the power factor of mica, this time during World War II. The war
had cut off the supply of foreign mica, particularly the superior mica from India. It was desirable now to determine
the suitability of domestic mica for radio equipment. In a Proc. IRE paper, published in July 1944, Hall described
some of the more updated equipment that he used for the measurement of power factor of mica. (See ch. IX, p. 339.)
89
A sweep frequency generator provided resonance responses in two similar cavities, one the reference cavity, the
other the test cavity. A frequency difference between the two cavities when a gas was introduced into the test
cavity provided a measurement of the dielectric constant of the gas.
Thompson and M. J. Vetter, of the Radio Propagation Engineering
In 1958 M. C. Division, developed a compact
variation of Birnbaum's microwave refractometer that was suitable for small aircraft use.

389
Early form of the recording microwave refractometer developed by George Birnbaum of the Microwave Standards
Section during latter 1.940's. Initiated by a defense project, this instrument became useful for dielectric studies and
particularly for continuous measurement of refractive index of the atmosphere for propagation studies.

SAWTOOTH
GENERATOR

REFERENCE TEST
CRYSTAL CAVITY MICROWAVE CRYSTAL
CAVITY
DETECTOR F.M. OSCILLATOR DETECTOR
RESONATOR RESONATOR

. A ,A
AMPLIFIER PULSE 1 "flopover" 1 PULSE AMPLIFIER
SHARPENER CIRCUIT SHARPENER

JL

METER
CIRCUIT

Original circuitry for microwave refractometer utilized two cavity resonators, one as a reference, the other as the test
cavity for sampling gases. A difference frequency between the two cavities, obtained by a sweep-frequency
technique, gave an indication of the dielectric constant, or change of constant, of substances. Later developments
by CRPL personnel and others have simplified the design.

390
 An microwave refractometer was a study by
interesting application of the recording
Birnbaum and Howard Bussey of variations in the refractive index (square root of
E.
dielectric constant) of the atmosphere during the early 1950's. The first observations wer
made at building height on the Bureau grounds. The next observations were made from a
420-foot tower at the Brookhaven Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y.; and finally from an
airplane to an altitude of 10,000 feet over Chesapeake Bay.

2) Measurement of dielectric properties of materials— From 30 kHz up into the

microwave frequencies
In the fall of 1946 the first step was taken to develop a service for the measurement of
the dielectric constant and power factor (loss tangent) of solids used as insulation in RF
equipment. Almost from the beginning, in 1946, John L. Dalke, then of the High Frequency
Standards Section, would be associated with this and related programs for the next 25 years.
The first step was the construction of four coaxial-type re-entrant cavity resonators for the
range of 50 to 300 MHz, following designs of the MIT Laboratory for Insulation Research
and others. These cavities also served to hold the dielectric sample being measured. Other
equipment, including several types of bridges and other measurement circuitry,
temperature-controlled capacitor-type sample holders, and RF generators were purchased or
constructed, and the program was underway. Dalke was soon joined by James H. Beardsley
on the project. Later Robert C. Powell joined the project. The first dielectric samples were
measured in the fall of 1948 as a "round robin" study by an IRE committee, over a
frequency range extending from 1 to 500 MHz.
During the early stages of this program the section initiated a modest program, at the
request of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, on measuring the dielectric constant and loss tangent
of petroleum deposits such as: oil sands, and oil-impregnated deposits. The expectancy was
that such information would assist petroleum engineers in oil prospecting and in production
of petroleum derivatives.
Early in the 1950's two improvements in instrumentation came from the dielectric
program, each an improvement over innovations developed by others. One was the
introduction of regeneration into the susceptance variation method of measuring power
-

factor in order to measure the very low values in materials such as polystyrene and teflon.
The other was a redesigned re-entrant cavity for dielectric measurements at lower
frequencies, and fitted with features of improved electrical and mechanical design.
Much later, around 1960, when the Radio Standards Laboratory was encountering
problems of measurement with many of the newer kinds of materials that were coming on
the market (semiconductors, high permittivity materials, etc.), new methods of
measurement were being sought. Powell and Alvin L. Rasmussen developed a radio
frequency permittimeter that solved some of these measurement problems. In contrast to
the method of placing the dielectric sample between two electrodes, with its attendant
problems, the sample is formed into a ring which becomes a circular electric field as the
secondary of an RF transformer connected to an impedance bridge [49]. Various
contributions have been added by Howard E. Bussey, particularly in the microwave region. 90
For many years Edwin C. Bamberger took part in the development of the instrumentation
and in the performance of difficult measurements.
In 1964 Bussey headed up an international seven-man team from three laboratories to
compare measurements on three dielectric samples. The results showed reasonably good
agreement among the three laboratories but with some discrepancies of disturbing
magnitude.

3) Sallying forth into the magnetic domain at radio frequencies

At the beginning of a new fiscal year, in the summer of 1950, a new project titled
"Magnetic Measurements and Standards," was initiated in the High Frequency Standards
Section and activated by Peter H. Haas, a new member of the section. His first task was to
investigate the literature in magnetic measurements at radio frequencies and to evaluate

90
In 1960 Bussey received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for very valuable
contributions to the science and technology of electromagnetic parameter measurements associated with the
interactions of electromagnetic waves and matter at microwave frequencies."

391
the methods of measurement. Evolving from this initial study came the first of a number of
instruments and measurement techniques developed by NBS for use in magnetic
measurements and as magnetic standards at radio frequencies. This first instrument,
developed by Haas, was to serve as the NBS primary standard of RF permeabilty and loss
factor, with the inherent capability of measurement in terms of length. However, the
measurement method suffered from a number of drawbacks as a practical instrument and
did not reach a stage of publication beyond a description in the Technical News Bulletin.
A more useful laboratory instrument was devised by Haas in 1952, called a radio-
91
frequency permeameter [50]. The instrument was a high-frequency design of one described
in 1927 for use at power and audio frequencies. Permeability measurement was made by
inserting a toroidal core of the test material into the short-circuited secondary of a
transformer whose primary was attached to an RF bridge or Q meter. This design was to
perform yeoman service in the frequency range of 100 kHz to 50 MHz, both within and
outside of NBS in the years to come. Improvements were made from time to time for
increased accuracy, frequency range, and ease of application, also adaptation for the
measurement of permeability temperature coefficient. An adaptation of the variable length
coaxial transmission line (the primary standard) to a re-entrant cavity by Robert D.
Harrington, Powell, and Haas provided for measurement of complex permeability to 180
MHz [51].
Beginning in November 1952, the Navy's Bureau of Ships sponsored a program of
investigating the magnetic characteristics of powdered iron cores, a program that would
continue for about 3 years under the direction of Alvin L. Rasmussen. Measurements were
made on 141 samples submitted by 12 manufacturers of the cores. This program was
followed in 1955 by another, to extend until 1959, on an investigation of ferrites, again
under the direction of Rasmussen. 92 As before, the results of the investigation were intended
for preparation of military specifications, purchase testing, and the evaluation of other
investigations.
During the 1950's there was a rapidly growing interest in the electrical properties of
93
materials and especially so in the area of the ferromagnetic materials. This interest drew
the Navy's Bureau of Ships into giving partial support to increased research programs in
this field by the Radio Standards Laboratory. By the early 1960's the small group of the
middle 1950's had grown to as many as 30 in the section organized in 1959 as the Radio and
Microwave Materials Section within the Radio Standards Laboratory. The section was
headed by John Dalke, as chief, for the 9 years as a large group organized for the study of
properties of materials at radio frequencies.
During a period of about 10 years there was a multiplicity of projects that were formed
and reformed to carry on the initiation, development, and phasing out of the many research
94
programs in the magnetic studies of materials. Much in the way of specialized
instrumentation was procured or developed within the section. For example, as an improved
means of determining the saturation magnetization of ferromagnetic materials, Nolan V.
Frederick reported in 1960 on his combining the good features of two types of
magnetometers (previously developed outside of NBS). Both this version, as well as one of

91
In 1954 Haas was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service for his work on the
radio frequency permeameter.
12
Ferrites are ferromagnetic materials of ferric oxide and other oxides of a ceramic-like nature, and characterized
by very high electrical resistivity.
93
The magnitude of this subject can be judged by a statement made by John Dalke in 1961 (Mountain States Navy
Research and Development Clinic held at Raton, N. Mex.) on the subject of "Problems and Prospects in Electrical
Properties of Materials."
In part, Dalke stated:

The literature in any one of these three areas (permittivity, permeability, and conductivity) has
become so vast that it is necessary to rely on summarizing talks and articles; and, in many cases,
even a full length book to bring us up to date in the fields outside of the narrow areas in which
we are doing research. Such reviews often require books to present the various aspects of a given
subject. In contrast, a generation ago one could read nearly all the current papers in any one of
these three areas without much difficulty. . . .

94
Because of the many facets to the nature of this magnetic study of materials, it is possible to give only a very
sketchy treatment in this account.

392
the original designs, was used in the magnetic materials research. For both methods
Frederick developed a simple calibration technique. Another instrument development was
that by Rasmussen and Powell of a Maxwell bridge for low-loss magnetic measurements on
toroidal-shaped materials in coaxial circuitry down to as low as 1 kHz.
Out of the manifold yet related projects came a variety of research programs on the
magnetic characteristics of powdered irons, ferrites, garnets, and similar material used
throughout the radio frequency spectrum. Measurement frequencies ranged from direct
current(for static properties) to well up into the microwave region. The effort of the total
program was directed toward the development of measurement techniques, plus a definitive
study of the magnetic characteristics of the materials of interest. Where useful in
interpreting the investigations, dielectric and conductivity measurements were also made.
Calibration services in the many areas of measurement were developed to the benefit of
both the military and the public.

In 1.962 Alvin Rasmussen, Radio and Microwave Materials Section, examines a re-entrant cavity (250-950 MHz) used
for measuring complex permittivity of dielectric samples. Two wheels at top change and measure separation of
capacitor plates between which sample is inserted. Mechanism at bottom tunes cavity to desired frequency.
Measurement reveals characteristics and suitability of dielectrics for RF equipment.

393
 Viewed in after years, one finds that the total program was categorized into a number
of areas of activity, largely determined by the electric quantity or characteristic being
measured. Some measurements fell into line with the more conventional types of magnetic
measurements; others were based on the most recent solid-state research. Of the former
were those associated with complex permeability, namely: initial permeability, reversible
permeability, and the temperature coefficient of permeability. Associated with the
phenomenon of ferromagnetic resonance were measurements of linewidth and gyromagnetic
ratio, also tensor permeability. Other projects included the study and measurement of
saturation magnetization, hysteresis loops, total loss, Curie temperature, and other
phenomena associated with studies in solid-state physics.

Equipment used in early 1960's for measurement of tensor permeability properties of ferrites at 3100 MHz by the
Radio and Microwave Materials Section. The ferrite material was placed in cavity between pole pieces of strong
electromagnet (center). Signal generators, detectors, and other electronic equipment are at left. Ferrites have found
many uses in RF equipment.

Out of this many faceted program came many reports and publications. NBS Reports
(primarily for the Bureau of Ships) were very numerous, both as progress reports and for
elucidation of techniques and measurement data. Much of the information was published in
the technical literature, with descriptions of new instrumentation, measurement techniques,
research results, and theoretical discussions.
Many people were associated with the overall program, some to stay for a short time,
others for a period of several years, and others to remain at the Boulder Laboratories to the
present time. Those taking principal roles in the program, with quite a number as project
leaders, were: Dalke, chief of the Radio and Microwave Materials Section, Virgil E. Bottom,
Howard E. Bussey, William E. Case, Nolan V. Frederick, Robert D. Harrington, Cletus A.
Hoer, Robert J. Mahler, Lawrence M. Matarrese, Robert L. Peterson, Alvin L. Rasmussen,
Allan S. Risley, Leonard B. Schmidt, and Leon A. Steinert.

394
g) A SASHAY INTO LOW-FREQUENCY INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENTS

After a request by the Air Force early in the planning stages for the Electronic
Calibration Center, the decision was made to include low-frequency (dc to 30 kHz) services
into the total calibration program. In keeping with the general policy throughout the center,
there was opportunity for the operating personnel to engage in development programs to
improve or devise new instrumentation and measurement techniques. Thus, over the period
of the low frequency calibration program, from 1958 to 1966, a number of original
contributions emerged from the Low Frequency Calibration Services Section under the
guidance of Frank D. Weaver, the section chief. Weaver, along with Thomas L. Zapf and
David Ramaley, had been on the staff of the Electricity Division at NBS Washington.

Photograph (1958) of Frank Weaver, head of Low Frequency Unit, Electronic Calibration Center, operating precision
bridge used to calibrate standard resistors with uncertainty of less than one part per million. The bridge was a
development in 1918 by Dr. Frank Wenner of the Electricity Division, and a small number have been
manufactured through the years. Originally called the NBS Precision Bridge, it became better known as the
Wenner Bridge. All parts of bridge, except control knobs, are submerged in oil at constant temperature of 25 °C.

The first contribution to the technical literature from these low frequency
developments was a step-up technique of calibrating variable air capacitors from a single
fixed capacitance, developed by Zapf. His paper, published in the NBS Journal of Research,
was followed by another a short time later that described improved methods of calibrating
inductance standards by the Maxwell-Wien bridge.

395
This photograph in "Rembrandt lighting" taken of Thomas Zapf during second year of operation of the Electronic
Calibration Center (1959). A calibration is being performed with a highly refined type of capacitance bridge
developed by the combined effort of two instrument manufacturers.

Ramaley specialized in the areas of resistance measurements, the calibration of

laboratory-type potentiometers, and in the use of universal ratio sets. This experience led
him to the improvement of measurement methods with the result of five published papers in
this area.
The establishing of a standards laboratory at Boulder gave NBS a rare opportunity to
develop maintenance programs at widely distant locations with virtually independent sets of
some of its most precise and accurate standards, namely those of electrical resistance and
voltage (standard cells). The result, over a period of several years, was most gratifying,
90
leading to a publication by Weaver on the subject of measurement agreement [52].
Zapf became quite interested and involved in further improvements in the calibration
96
of inductive voltage dividers. He, along with several colleagues, published several papers

95
Weaver concluded, in part, in his paper:

... it measurement agreement has been achieved between the two

appears that close
laboratories (NBS Washington and NBS Boulder). The achievement of the Electronic Calibration
Center in this area can be closely approached by another laboratory. Some laboratories already
have a long history of comparisons on their standards by NBS. It would seem that another
laboratory, in a period of a few years, could establish a volt and ohm that closely approaches the
value of the volt and ohm maintained at NBS.
Another standards laboratory with well-trained personnel having a determination to make the
bestmeasurements and working with high quality standards and facilities can achieve near
measurement equality with the National Bureau of Standards. The time can be foreseen
. . .

when a number of laboratories will reach this objective.

96
Inductive voltage dividers belong to a class of precise measuring equipment that have tapped windings on toroidal
cores of very high magnetic permeability. Decade inductive dividers are useful as ratio arms in precision bridges, as
accurate voltage dividers, and as standards for calibrating other dividers by a comparison method.

396
on advancing the art of calibrating inductive voltage dividers (calibration with uncertainty
Later, within the HF Impedance Standards Section, Cletus A. Hoer
7
of a few parts in 10 ).

and Walter L. Smith developed an inductive voltage divider (2:1 ratio) for operation at ]

MHz with an error of less than 1 part in 10

7 97
Still later, Donald N. Homan and Zapf, in the
.

same section, developed a two-stage inductive voltage divider for operation at 100 kHz [53].
A useful piece of instrumentation that came out of the Low Frequency Calibration
Services Section was the development by Patrick H. Lowrie, Jr. of two large oil baths for
temperature control of a large number of saturated standard cells. These were a marked
improvement over the oil baths used previously by NBS. Temperature variations were found
to be less than 0.002 °C per day.

91
In the summer of 1972, Walter L. Smith was awarded the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal, the citation
reading, "for outstanding support to division and NBS programs as a manager, technician, teacher, and
humanitarian."

Controlled-temperature oil bath, for saturated standard cells, developed in 1960 by Patrick Lowrie (in photo) of the
Electronic Calibration Center. This bath of advanced design combined many novel features for temperature
control, ease of handling and circulating the nearly 100 gallons of mineral oil, and easy means of inserting and
removing standard cells. Two baths were constructed, one for operation at 28 °C, the other at 35 °C. Control of oil
temperature was within ±0.002 °C per day. In 1966 the two baths were transferred to the Electricity Division at
NBS Gaithersburg.

Many of the papers published by this section were reprinted in NBS Special Publication
300, "Precision Measurement and Calibration; Vol. 3, Electricity — Low Frequency."
397
h ) Theoretical work as background to standards and measurements
Any fortunate to have high-caliber theoreticians on its
large research organization is

experimental work and to provide explanations for

staff to provide idealized concepts to the
discovered phenomena, based on sound physical principles. The RF standards and
measurements programs, and particularly at microwave frequencies since World War II,
have been fortunate to have had a fair share of quality personnel to carry on the theoretical
work.
David M. Kerns joined the Microwave Standards Section in 1946 and has had a
productive career in his theoretical studies since the time of his entry when NBS was first
beginning to delve into microwaves. Kerns' first general study in microwaves was the
application of network equations to waveguide problems, published in 1949 [54]. Previously,
this subject was not treated by others in its general aspects. Kerns stated in his introduction
that "The primary purpose of the present paper is to provide a systematic and basic
formulation of the technique in question." The technique was that of treatment of a
transducer concept to that of waveguide and defining suitable variables characterizing the
terminal fields. The treatment was essentially that on what has commonly come to be
known as "four-terminal networks."
Kerns' doctoral dissertation in 1951 was published in the NBS Journal of Research
under the title "Analysis of symmetrical waveguide junctions" [55]. This paper was
concerned with the fuller utilization of group-theory mathematics in the formulation of an
improved and general technique for the analysis of symmetrical waveguide junctions
(previous work by others had made but limited use of the theory of group representations,
and was limited to nondissipative junctions). Structural symmetry places restrictions on the
form of the impedance, admittance, and scattering matrices of a waveguide junction, and
forces some of the matrix elements to vanish.
During the ensuing years Kerns was much occupied with theoretical problems
98
associated with impedance and power standards (see these sections earlier in this chapter).
In 1965 Kerns and Beatty jointly produced a text entitled, Basic Theory of Waveguide
Junctions and Introductory Microwave Network Analysis, published by Pergamon Press as
one of an International Series of Monographs in Electromagnetic Waves [56]. The usefulness
of the text can be judged by a portion of the foreword by A. L. Cullen, an editor of the Series:

This monograph is a most useful addition to the literature on microwave

networks. It is of special value for two main reasons. In the first place, the
foundations of the theory are laid with greater thoroughness than usual.
Secondly, the theory is formulated with application in mind, and the
principle results are presented in a form which the experimentalist as well
as the theoretician will find convenient.

Among the many contributions by the Radio Standards Laboratory to the Proc. IEEE
Special Issue on Radio Measurement Methods and Standards of June 1967 (see p. 359),
Kerns authored a paper with a theoretical slant [57]. In setting the tone of his paper, Kerns
stated: "This paper is concerned with the meaning of the quantities being measured rather

than with methods of measurement." The quantities were those associated with the
scattering matrix treatment of waveguides and waveguide junctions.
In a revision of his doctoral dissertation, Beatty prepared an NBS Monograph entitled,
"Applications of Waveguide and Circuit Theory to the Development of Accurate Microwave
Measurement Methods and Standards" [58]." Beatty stated in the preface that the purpose
of the monograph was to show how microwave waveguide and circuit theory was formulated
and applied to the development of accurate measurement methods and standards at the
NBS during the period of 1948-1968.

98
In 1960 Kerns was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service for "outstanding
performance in the development of national microwave standards and measurement techniques."
99
Beatty earned a doctor's degree in the Department of Electronic Engineering of the University of Tokyo at Tokyo,
Japan, while a guest worker for 15 months (1970-1971) with the Electrotechnical Laboratory at Tanashi, Tokyo,
Japan.

398
 An NBS Monograph (dated October 1969) was prepared by Engen based upon a doctor's
dissertation submitted to the University of Colorado entitled, "A New Concept in Microwave
Measurement Techniques" [59]. The new concept was the elimination of precision waveguide
and connector requirements for many types of accurate measurement methods.

Two physicists delve into a mathematical treatment; together, they have 55 years experience at NBS with theoretical
studies of radio standards. David Kerns (left) points out to Paul Wacker some of the terms in equations expressing
near-field relations of two antennas.

i ) The coaxial connector— Problems and solutions

In the rapid development of radio technology during and after World War II that
extended the useful frequency range up into the microwave region, the development of
transmission lines took two courses, the coaxial line (both rigid and the flexible cable) and
the hollow or uniconductor waveguide. By its electrical nature, a coaxial transmission line is
limited to the lower radio frequencies, although in more recent years, with improved
understanding and construction of the lines and connectors, the usable frequency has been
extended well up into the microwave region (30 GHz and higher).
Because of the Bureau's involvement in the development of standards and precision
measurement techniques that included coaxial equipment, there existed the interest, as well
become involved in the improvement of coaxial connectors — the
as the responsibility, to
weak link in precision measurement systems involving coaxial lines
connectors being the
and components. Concern over this weak link had been growing in the measurement
community.
The type "N" connector had come into wide use in coaxial systems of low power
requirements but its design and specifications were of a dimensional nature rather than
that of an exacting performance. Consequently the connector left much to be desired as a
precision component of a measurement system. Being aware of these limitations and the
requirements of the new Electronic Calibration Center (as well as for the reference
standards programs), during 1956 a group within the Radio Standards Division studied the

399
problem. One of the conclusions reached was that a universal type of connector was
impractical for precision measurements. During the next several years, under the guidance
of Robert C. Powell, three or four types of laboratory-type connectors evolved within the
Radio Standards Laboratory. All were designed for the 50-ohm matching of coaxial lines and
standards, with a definable plane of cleavage, with the outer conductor of 3/4-inch internal
diameter, but with much variation in method of coupling, both mechanically and
electrically.
Interest in precision coaxial connectorsgrew in other measurement laboratories and
among several manufacturers, with the result that at the 1960 Conference on Standards and
Electronic Measurements, at Boulder, a group of about 25 persons met to form a committee
which resulted in definitely limiting itself to the study of laboratory-type precision coaxial
connectors. Active on the Committee for the Standardization of High Precision Coaxial
Connectors of 12 members were 4 from the Radio Standards Laboratory. 100 At the start the
group was a part of the AIEE committee structure, later the parent committee became the
IEEE G-IM Technical Committee on High-Frequency Instruments.
After 4 years and a number of meetings the committee came up with requirements and
parameters for precision connectors in 14- and 7-mm sizes. 101 In 1968 the committee reported
on an IEEE Standard for Precision Coaxial Connectors. More recently, studies have been
made by the committee on the small 3.5-mm connector to extend coaxial measurement
techniques far up into microwave frequencies (at least 26.5 GHz).
Over the intervening years since the late 1950's, the impedance groups within the Radio
Standards Laboratory (and later divisions) have been making extensive studies of precision
coaxial connectors, both of their own design and those designed by several manufacturers.
The Bureau's own designs of laboratory-type connectors have been used in the various
measurement systems used for calibrations. Thus, many measurements require the use of
special precision-type adapters in order to accommodate the variety of connectors found on
equipment submitted for calibration.
Among those who have taken part in committee work and the laboratory study of
coaxial connectors have been Powell, Beatty, Little, Wakefield, Anson, Lance, Leslie
Huntley, Raymond Jones, Robert Jickling, and Ramon Jesch.

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[3] George C. Southworth, Forty Years of Radio Research, Gordon and Breach, New York, 1962.
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[8] J. J. Freeman, "Theory and design of a cavity attenuator," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 40, No. 3, Mar.
1948, pp. 235-243.
[9] R. E. Grantham and J. J. Freeman, "A standard of attenuation for microwave measurements," AIEE Trans.
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[10] C. M. Allred and C. C. Cook, "A precision RF attenuation calibration system," IRE Trans. Instr., Vol. 1-9, No. 2,

Sept. 1960, pp. 268-274.

[11] David Russell and Wilbur Larson, "RF attenuation," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 55, No. 6, June 1967, pp. 942-959.
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Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 75C (Eng. and Inst.), No. 1, Jan.-Mar. 1971, pp. 1-5.
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Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 647, Feb. 1974, 28 pages.
[14] G. E. Schafer and R. R. Bowman, "A modulated sub-carrier technique of measuring microwave attenuation,"
Proc. IEE (London), Vol. 109, Part B, Supplement 23, 1962, pp. 783-786.

100
The four NBS members of the original committee included: Wilbur Anson, Robert Beatty, Harvey Lance, and
Robert Powell.
101
By 1964 two more from the Radio Standards Laboratory had been added to the committee: William Little and
John Wakefield.

400
[15] Robert W. Beatty, Microwave Attenuation Measurements and Standards, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.J, Mom
Apr. 3, 1967, 49 pages.
[16] A. C. MacPherson and D. M. Kerns, "A new technique for the measurement of microwave standin
ratios," Proc. IRE, Vol. 44, No. 8, Aug. 1956, pp. 1024-1030.
[17] G. F. Engen and R. reflector techniques," IRE Trans. Microwave Theory and
W. Beatty, "Microwave
Techniques, Vol. MTT-7, No. July 1959, pp. 351-355.
3,

[18] R. W. Beatty and W. J. Anson, "Application of reflectometer techniques to accurate measurements in coaxial
systems," Proc. IEE (London), Vol. 109B, July 1962, pp. 345-348.
[19] R. C. Powell, R. M. Jickling, and A. E. Hess, "High-frequency impedance standards at the National Bureau of
Standards," IRE Trans. Inst., Vol. 1-7, Nos. 3 and 4, Dec. 1958, pp. 270-274.
[20] L. E. Huntley and R. N. Jones, "Lumped parameter impedance measurements," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 55, No. 6,
June 1967, pp. 900-911.
[21] David M. Kerns, "Determination of efficiency of microwave bolometer mounts from impedance data," J. Res.
Nat. Bur. Stand. June 1949, pp. 579-585.
(U.S.), Vol. 42, No. 6,

[22] G. F. Engen, "A bolometer mount efficiency measurement technique," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65C
(Eng. and Inst.), No. 2, Apr.-June 1961, pp. 113-124.
[23] Alan C. MacPherson and David M. Kerns, "A microwave microcalorimeter," Rev. Sci. Inst., Vol. 26, No. 1, Jan.
1955, pp. 27-33.
[24] Glenn Engen, "Coaxial power meter calibration using a waveguide standard," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand.
F.
70C (Eng. and Inst.), No. 2, Apr.-June 1966, pp. 127-138.
(U.S.), Vol.

[25] Glenn F. Engen, "Power equations: a new concept in the development and evaluation of microwave systems,"
IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas.. Vol. IM-20, No. 1, Feb. 1971, pp. 49-57.
[26] P. A. Hudson and C. M. Allred, "A dry, static calorimeter for RF power measurement," IRE Trans. Inst., Vol. I-
7, Nos. 3 and 4, Dec. 1958, pp. 292-296.
[27] M. L. Crawford and P. A. Hudson, "A dual-load flow calorimeter for RF power measurement to 4 GHz," J. Res.
Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 71C (Eng. and No. 2, Apr.-June 1967, pp. 111-117.
Inst.),

[28] M. L. Crawford, "A new RF-dc substitution calorimeter with automatically controlled reference power," IEEE
Trans. Inst. Meas., Vol. IM-17, No. 4, Dec. 1968, pp. 378-384.
[29] Myron C. Selby and Lewis F. Behrent, "A bolometer bridge for standardizing radio-frequency voltmeters," J.
Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 44, No. 1, Jan. 1950, pp. 15-30.
[30] "Radio frequency micropotentiometer," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.J, Tech. News Bull., Vol. 35, No. 3, Mar. 1951, pp.
33-34.
[31] Myron C. Selby, "Accurate radio-frequency voltages," AIEE Trans. (Communications and Electronics), Vol. 72,
No. 6, May 1953, pp. 158-164.
[32] Nolan V. Frederick, "A new high-frequency current standard," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas., Vol. IM-17, No. 4, Dec.
1968, pp. 285-290.
[33] Winston W. Scott, Jr., "New coaxial RF-DC ammeter," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas., Vol. IM-19, No. 4, Nov. 1970,
pp. 318-323.
[34] M. G. Arthur, C. M. Allred, and M. K. Cannon, "A precision noise-power comparator," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas.,
Vol. IM-13, No. Dec. 1964, pp. 301-305.
4,

[35] M. G. Arthur, "A precision HF noise power measurement system," ISA Trans., Vol. 10, No. 3, 1971, pp. 264-268.
[36] A. J. Estin, C. L. Trembath, J. S. Wells, and W. C. Daywitt, "Absolute measurement of temperatures of
microwave sources," IRE Trans. Inst, Vol. 1-9, No. 2, Sept. 1960, pp. 209-213.
[37] J. S. Wells, W. C. Daywitt, and C. K. S. Miller, "Measurement of effective temperatures of microwave noise
sources," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas., Vol. IM-13, No. 1, Mar. 1964, pp. 17-28.
[38] Frank M. Greene, Calibration of Commercial Radio Field-Strength Meters at the National Bureau of
Standards, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Circ. 517, Dec. 1951, 5 pages.
[39] Frank M. Greene and Max Solow, "Development of VHF field-intensity standards," Proc. IRE, Vol. 40, No. 5,

May 1952, p. 573; also J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 44, No. 5, May 1950, pp. 527-547.
[40] Frank M. Greene, "A near-zone electric-field-strength meter," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). Vol. 71C (Eng.
and Inst.), No. 1, Jan.-Mar. 1967, pp. 51-57.
[41] D. M. Kerns, "Correction of near-field antenna measurements made with an arbitrary but known measuring
antenna," Electronic Letters, Vol. 6, No. 11, 28th May 1970, pp. 346-347.
[42] R. C. Baird, A. C. Newell, P. F. Wacker, and D. M. Kerns, "Recent experimental results in near-field antenna
measurements," Electronic Letters, Vol. 6, No. 11, 28th May 1970, pp. 349-351.
[43] Allen C. Newell, Ramon C. Baird, and Paul F. Wacker, "Accurate measurement of antenna gain and
polarization at reduced distances by an extrapolation technique," IEEE Trans. Ant. Prop., Vol. AP-21, No.
July 1973, pp. 418-431.
4,

[44] P. A. Hudson, W. L. Ecklund, and A. R. Ondrejka, "Measurement of RF peak-pulse power by a sampling-

comparison method," IRE Trans. Inst, Vol. I ll, Nos. 3 and 4, Dec. 1962, pp. 280-284.
[45] A. R. Ondrejka and P. A. Hudson, "Measurement standards for low and medium peak pulse voltages," J. Res.
Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 70C, (Eng. and Inst.), No. 1, Jan.-Mar. 1966, pp. 13-18.
[46] W. D. McCaa, Jr. and Norris S. Nahman, "Generation of reference waveforms by uniform lossy transmission
lines," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas., Vol. IM-19, No. 4, Nov. 1970, pp. 382-390.
[47] Doyle A. Ellerbruch, "Evaluation of a microwave phase measurement system," J. Res. Nat Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
Vol. 69C (Eng. and Inst.), No. 1, Mar. 1965, pp. 55-65.
[48] George Birnbaum, "A recording microwave refractometer," Rev. Sci. Instr.. Vol. 21, No. 2, Feb. 1950, pp. 169-
176.
[49] R. C. Powell and A. L. Rasmussen, "A radio-frequency permittimeter," IRE Trans. Instr., Vol. 1-9, No. 2, Sept.
1960, pp. 179-184.

401
[50] Peter H. Haas, "A radio-frequency permeameter," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.J, Vol. 51, No. 5, Nov. 1953, pp.
221-228.
[51] R. D.Harrington, R. C. Powell, and P. H. Haas, "A re-entrant cavity for measurement of complex permeability
in the very-high-frequency range," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). Vol. 56, No. 3, Mar. 1956, pp. 129-134.
[52] Frank D. Weaver, "Achievement of measurement agreement among electrical standards laboratories,"
Instruments and Control Systems, Vol. 36, No. 7, July 1963, pp. 128-131.
[53] Donald N. Homan and Thomas L. Zapf, "Two-stage, guarded inductive voltage divider for use at 100 kHz," ISA
Trans., Vol. 9, No. 3, 1970, pp. 201-209.
[54] David M. Kerns, "Basis of the application of network equations to waveguide problems," J. Res. Nat. Bur.
Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 42, No. 5, May 1949, pp. 515-540.
[55] David M. Kerns, "Analysis of symmetrical waveguide junctions," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 46, No. 4,

Apr. 1951, pp. 267-282.

[56] David M. Kerns and Robert W. Beatty, Basic Theory of Waveguide Junctions and Introductory Microwave
Network Analysis, Pergamon Press, New York, N.Y., 1967.
[57] David M. Kerns, "Definitions of v, i, Z, Y, a, b, T, and S," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 55, No. 6, June 1967, pp. 892-900.
[58] R. W. Beatty, Applications of Waveguide and Circuit Theory to the Development of Accurate Microwave
Measurement Methods and Standards, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Monogr. 137, Aug. 1973, 322 pages.
[59] Glenn F. Engen, An Introduction to the Description and Evaluation of Microwave Systems Using Terminal
Invariant Parameters, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Monogr. 112, Oct. 1969, 27 pages.

402
 Chapter XI

THE WORLD AS A LABORATORY

Introduction 1

Twenty years in time separated the rumblings of another world war from the time of
the Armistice of the World War of 1914-1918. During those 20 years the technology of radio
communication advanced rapidly, particularly in the development of broadcasting. During
the second decade of the 20-year period there came an increased understanding by British
and American scientists of the ionosphere as a transmission medium for radio waves. It was
during this decade that the Radio Section made significant advances in the knowledge of:
the relationship of vertical and oblique incidence reflections from the ionosphere, maximum
usable frequencies, critical frequency, diurnal and seasonal characteristics of the
ionosphere, relation to sunspot numbers, ionospheric disturbances, modes of propagation,
and absorption of energy in the sky waves; and in the development of: ionosphere
observation equipment and stations, continuous recording of field intensities, and radio
transmission charts.
Thus, by 1939, when hostilities opened in Europe, the Radio Section found itself with a
considerable grasp on an understanding of the ionosphere and with a method of predicting
several months in advance its usefulness as a propagation medium (see concluding section of
ch. VII). As the United States became more threatened by the war in Europe, first in an
isolationist role, then as a lend-lease participant, and after Pearl Harbor as an active
combatant, steps were taken by the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) to
contract for scientific work and development of devices relating directly to war (see ch. IX,
p. 316 In October 1940 Dellinger was appointed to the Communications Section of the
).

Communications and Transportation Division (later known as Electrical Communication,

Div. 13).

Twonegotiating events occurred in January 1941 between the NDRC and NBS that
would have a marked effect upon the Radio Section during World War II and upon the radio
work of NBS for the next 25 years. First, was a contract for preparation of a "handbook"
that was issued January 1, 1942 with the title, Radio Transmission Handbook, Frequencies
1000 to 30,000 KC. Later, on June 1, 1942, a supplement 2 was issued by the Radio Section,
1
Because of the rapid development of radio propagation studies and prediction services in the early period of World
War II, followed by the organization of the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) within the Radio

Section in 1942, the author has gone into considerable detail to write of this period. It was the formative period for
the organization of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) in 1946 that would grow to six technical
divisions by 1965 (later a seventh division), after which time much of the organization was separated from NBS to
join the Weather Bureau and the Coast and Geodetic Survey in forming the Environmental Science Services
Administration (ESSA), an agency of the Department of Commerce.
2
The Radio Transmission Handbook was prepared by members of the Radio Section under the guidance of
Dellinger and Newbern Smith for use by the armed services, and was classified Restricted and thus had limited
circulation. The Introduction stated, in part:

The purpose of this Handbook is to show the conditions under which the different radio
frequencies are usable in actual practice. The relations among frequency, distance, time, and
location of transmission path, are complicated, but it has been possible to reduce the principal

graphs presented in this Handbook. The data given herein are for winter time
facts to a set of
only (November through February, 1941-1942); it is expected to issue supplements giving the data
for other seasons. . . .

These two printed items were the predecessors of the monthly reports with world charts for predictions that
first appeared in the March 1942 report on "High Frequency Radio Transmission Conditions," and at a later period
appeared under the name of "Radio Propagation Conditions," and still later as the IRPL-D series, "Basic Radio
Propagation Predictions."

403
entitled Supplement to Radio Transmission Handbook, and was applicable to the period of
May through August of 1942. 3
By making use of additional ionospheric information, gathered from other laboratories,
the Radio Section was able to construct charts that provided, for the first time, the
prediction of maximum usable frequencies for sky-wave transmission and different latitudes
over the world's surface. The method would be refined at a later time when data from many
more stations became available and provided for greater reliability in the prediction service.
Also developed during this period was the prediction for distances greater than 2500 miles
4
by the "two-control-point" method.
It was during this period of the early part of the war that the Radio Section had access
to ionospheric observations from but six locations in the world: Washington, D.C. (from the
section's own observations); Slough, England; Huancayo, Peru; Watheroo and Sydney,
Australia; and Christchurch, New Zealand; and information on a regular schedule from but
three of these locations. However, exigencies of war on a worldwide scale would soon provide
observations from many parts of the world.
The second negotiating event of January 1941 was the initiation of a series of contracts
with the Radio Section by the NDRC relating to direction-finder projects. Because of the
German submarine menace early in World War II, the importance of the use of radio-
direction finders as a method of detecting and locating surfacing submarines soon became
evident. Yet there remained unsolved problems associated for many years with the use of
direction finders. Among
these problems was the effect upon the accuracy of direction
bearings by waves reflected from the ionosphere. The several projects were for study of the
5
correlation of direction-finder errors with ionospheric conditions. Initial plans called for
systematic observations in the range of 2 to 30 MHz. Studies were begun in July 1941, with
the cooperation of the Navy and the Federal Communications Commission in furnishing
data taken at infrequent intervals at their direction-finder stations. As the projects
6
progressed other stations on the North American Continent were added to the program.

The Interservice Radio Propagation laboratory (IRPL) 7

1. An "air disaster" in the European theatre of war
This caption or phrase can be found in a number of writings referring to the World War
II period of NBS, although its actuality as a single and large-scale "event" leaves room for
(Continued)
Note: The "High Frequency Radio Transmission Conditions" had been published in one form or another in the
Proc. IRE, beginning with the September 1937 issue. The series was discontinued after the December 1941 issue due
to the U.S. entrance into World War II (see ch. VII, pp. 236-237). However, the information continued to be
available as mimeograph copies to groups related to defense of the country.

In addition to explanatory material on radio transmission by the ionosphere, the Handbook contained 62 figures
(plus additional figures in the Supplement) giving the maximum usable frequency, lowest useful high frequency,
distance range, and skip distance, for various radiated powers, time of day, azimuths, and places on the Earth. Data
were included so that approximate calculations could be made for any transmission path anywhere on the Earth.
A bound copy of these two printed items is in the Department of Commerce Library, Boulder, Colo.
4
Although the method of propagation was not well understood, these predictions were based upon a reflection point
at a distance of 1250 miles from each station (based upon the maximum usable frequency for 2500 miles), plus the
path at various distances between the two points that extended the total distance beyond 2500 miles.
5
Other direction-finder projects on contract by the NDRC with the Radio Section are noted in chapter IX, pp. 317-
319.
6
Added to the project were direction-finder stations at Stanford University, University of Puerto Rico, Harvard
University, and the Carnegie Institution laboratory at College, Alaska.
7
Information on the IRPL was found among the following sources:
1. Documents deposited at National Archives (NN365-90, Box 36).
2. Reports and minutes of sessions and committee meetings of International Radio Propagation Conference at
NBS, April 17-May 5, 1944. Copy in Department of Commerce Library, Boulder, Colo., catalog number QC661,
U51.
3. Document, dated April 30, 1953, placed in cornerstone of Radio Building, Boulder Laboratories, entitled "Radio
Research and the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory." Copy in Department of Commerce Library, Boulder,
Colo., catalog number QC661, U5.
4. IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook (Part 1), Nov. 1943.

404
 8,9
doubt. Nevertheless, the seriousness of such possible incidents had a considerable bearing
upon the establishing of the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) at
National Bureau of Standards.

2. The predecessor to the IRPL

Early in 1941 the British government (the Admiralty) set up the Inter-Services
Ionosphere Bureau (ISIB) at the Great Baddow Research Laboratories, near Chelmsford,
Essex, England to improve direction-finder operational techniques and to improve military
communications by predicted optimum frequencies. From the beginning, the Bureau was a
1011
successful operation toward improvement of radio operations by the military.

3. Instituting the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory

The success of the ISIB in England was expounded by a mission to the United States
from the United Kingdom in the spring of 1942. Growing from this mission, steps were
taken by order of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff by direction of the Wave Propagation
Committee of the U.S. Joint Communications Board to establish a radio propagation
laboratory in the National Bureau of Standards that would serve as a centralizing agency
1213
for the analysis of radio transmission data and the issuance of predictions. This agency,
(Continued)
5. Annual Report of Section 3 (Regular Propagation Measurements Section, organized as a section May 1, 1946),
Division 14, 1946.
6. Lyman J. Briggs, NBS War Research— The National Bureau of Standards in World War II, issued Sept. 1949
(no NBS publication classification).
7. Newbern Smith and Richard Silberstein, "Radio propagation work at the National Bureau of Standards." QST,
Vol. 30, No. 5, May 1946, pp. 45-50.
8. J. H. Dellinger and Newbern Smith, "Development in radio sky-wave propagation research and applications
during the war," Proc. IRE, Vol. 36, No. 2, Feb. 1948, pp. 258-266.
8
In essence, the accounts have stated that early in the war a British bombing squadron on the return from a
mission over Germany encountered poor visibility. A magnetic storm disturbed their radio communications and
they lost their bearings. Some planes landed safely at various locations in England. Others became lost and were
never heard from again (one account stated "the loss of a flight of bombers over the North Sea because of radio
failure"; another account stated "that on account of uncertainties of radio conditions and weather the British lost
46 bombers in one night over Berlin").
9
It was the author's (WFS) curiosity about this "event" that led to some unexpected findings. Scanning several books

on the operations of the British R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) during World War II yielded nothing by way of further
information.
The Royal Air Force Museum, London, and of the Ministry of Defense, London,
Inquiring of the Library of
yielded no further information on this air disaster. At the suggestion of Newbern Smith (formerly chief of CRPL,
now of Environmental Data Service, Department of Commerce, Boulder), the author corresponded with A. M.
Humby of Amersham (Buckinghamshire), England. Humby was Officer-in-Charge of the British Inter-Services
Ionosphere Bureau (ISIB) during World War II. Humby had visited the IRPL during the War. In his letter of
January 8, 1974, Mr. Humby stated that it was his opinion, and of several others he conferred with, that there was
no particular, large-scale "air disaster" in the Royal Air Force during the early part of the war due to magnetic
storms that was associated with the inability of bombing squadrons to have radio communications at the required
low frequencies.
10
A somewhat similar organization, known as the Australian Radio Propagation Committee ARPC), was set up in (

Australia to furnish radio propagation data and a prediction service for the Southwest Pacific area.
11
Germany had a somewhat similar organization known as Zentralstelle fur Funkberatung. At the end of the war
it was located at the town of Ried in northwest Austria, east of Munich, Germany.
12
Shortly after the Japenese attack on Pearl Harbor the American and British military leaders formed the
Combined Chiefs of Staff, consisting of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff as the body to
assist and advise on the direction and conduct of the war. Organized within the Combined Chiefs of Staff was the
Washington Communications Board, later named the Combined Communications Board, and served by a Wave
Propagation Committee (F. G. Kear, formerly of the Radio Section, became chairman). Organized within the Joint
Chiefs of Staff was the U.S. Joint Communications Board, also served by a Wave Propagation Committee. The IRPL
operated as a U.S. Government organization, yet had close relationship with the Combined Communications Board
and its Wave Propagation Committee.
13
On May 2, 1942, Dellinger sent a memo (classified Confidential) to Briggs, director of NBS, via Crittenden, chief of
the Electricity Division, which opened,

I have been asked to discuss some plans with Navy representatives which will probably lead to
definite proposals in a couple of weeks involving considerable expansion of the work on radio
wave transmission.

405
organized within the Bureau's Radio Section by the summer of 1942, was named the
Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL). This group (or agency) within the Radio
Section came under the general supervision of Dellinger as chief, and Newbern Smith as
assistant chief, holding the same positions in the Radio Section.
The IRPL, although operating under the planning and direction of the Wave
Propagation Committee, guided its own course of action during the 4 years of its existence.
The operation was patterned much after that of the British ISIB (see "functions" in footnote
13). During the formative stage, the NDRC expressed the opinion that, although it had

(Continued)
After explaining the operations of the British ISIB, Dellinger stated, in part:

The American Navy now desires to establish a service similar to that provided by the British
Ionosphere Bureau. They recognize that it is mainly a matter of the very kind of work we have
been doing on the ionosphere at the N.B.S., and have indicated that they desire us to do a large
share of the planning and, if we are willing, the operation, of the service.

The plans are being developed with the cooperation of British Navy representatives. I was asked
to attend a conference on the matter at the Navy Dept. on April 13. The principal business was
to determine locations throughout the world for 13 additional ionosphere stations for which the
British have prepared equipment. Complete interchange of data between all British, Canadian,
and American stations is to be arranged. The Russians are also to be invited into the
arrangement; they have four ionosphere stations.

In a memo (classified Confidential) to Briggs, dated May 22, 1942, Dellinger wrote on the progress that had
been made since his memo of May 2, and stated that he had presided at a planning meeting on May 21, attended by
Navy and Army representatives and by Newbern Smith of the Radio Section. Of particular interest to NBS, he
stated in the memo:

The task is a large one. For its initial stages we shall have to double our present radio
propagation group of 25 persons; I expect the Navy will transfer $100,000 for this initial stage.
Within a year the project will probably grow to twice that; it certainly will if we succeed in
attaining the ultimate goal of providing data hourly instead of daily. . . .

The initial problem will be to find and train personnel. . . .

The work will be given general direction by an Interservice Propagation Committee, of which I
have been asked to serve as Chairman. The Committee will have its first meeting June 5. It has
been proposed that our laboratory be called the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory.

Author's (WFS) note: Not until 1946 was the group known by this name when the laboratory became a division
within NBS.

Minutes of the planning meeting of May 21 to organize an Interservice Radio Propagation Committee (IRPC)
show that a plan of action on how the new laboratory would function was well in hand. The plan was based largely
on "Notes of Cosmic Data Project" that explained the British operation and suggested features of a U.S. operation.
Growing out of the committee's actions was a statement of the functions of what came to be called the Interservice
Radio Propagation Laboratory. Some of the functions were direct carryovers of the British operation. These
functions were:

1. Centralize data on radio propagation and related effects, from all available sources. Keep
continuous current record of ionosphere layer heights, critical frequencies, maximum useable
frequencies, skip distances, absorption, ionospheric storminess, fadeouts, solar conditions, etc.

2. Prepare weekly or daily summaries and predictions of ranges of useful frequencies and
distances of transmission, for all parts of the world and
all hours of the day.

3. Perform such experimental and research work as necessary to effectively supplement

existing sources of data.

4. Furnish information as above to the armed forces, and provide instant information of the
same type on call.

5. Prepare and circulate each month general predictions in such form and for such times in the
future as IRPL determines.
6. Cooperate with British Inter-Services Ionosphere Bureau.

7. Train personnel of the armed forces in related work, especially operation of ionosphere
stations.

Author's (WFS) notes: Information contained in this footnote taken from NN365-90, Box 36, history of the IRPL.
Copies of some of this material are also contained in the NBS Historical File (NBS Gaithersburg) and show that
Dellinger once marked the material "Official Genesis of the Laboratory" (the IRPL).

During the several years of operation, the functions of the IRPL changed to some extent to meet new
and operation of the field station at Sterling, Va.
situations, such as the establishment

406
supported the Radio Section in the earlier research on direction-finder errors, its funds were
not available to the section (wave propagation group) for the planned program of the IRI
which was considered to be purely operational. Initially, the IRPL was supported by Navy
and NBS funding, and then assisted by the Army. After 1943 support for the operation wa;
continued wholly by the Army and Navy. In the early planning much importance was given
to that of sources of ionospheric data, both from existing stations and projected new stations.
In the summer of 1942 ionospheric data were available from 12 sources; with 16 new stations
14
projected. The Radio Section and its IRPL had embarked on a bold program.

4. The IRPL in operation

Beginning in the summer of 1942 and continuing for the next 4 years, the IRPL
developed a fivefold program in the prediction of useful radio frequencies for sky-wave
transmission over any path across any part of the world, the prediction services being
available to the Allied Armed Forces.

a) Ionospheric data on a worldwide basis

From a modest beginning of obtaining basic ionospheric data on a regular schedule
from three stations, by the end of the war data were received regularly from 44 stations
14
Of the existing stations, five were in the United States, one in Canada, three in Great Britain, one in Peru,
and
two For the projected new stations, four would be operated by the United States in locations outside of
in Australia.
the continental United States, one by Russia, one by Canada, one by Australia, and nine by the British Admiralty
in scattered locations over the globe.
In addition, planning was for that of obtaining distance range and absorption data from 8 field-intensity
recording stations, from about 100 radio amateurs in the United States, and from commercial radio traffic stations.
Solar, geomagnetic, and auroral data would be obtained from a number of observatories scattered around the
world.
The five stations in the United States that furnished ionospheric data and field-intensity observations were:
Washington, D.C. (Meadows, Md.), NBS
Fairbanks, Alaska, Carnegie Institution of Washington
San Francisco, Calif., Stanford University
Baton Rouge, La., Louisiana State University
Puerto Rico, University of Puerto Rico
The four stations other than at Washington, D.C. had been operated on contract with NBS for observations of the
ionosphere in connection with the direction-finder error program conducted by the Radio Section for the NDRC
during the earlier period of World War II.

Road construction for development of a new NBS field station at Sterling, Va., northwest of Washington, D.C. (34
miles by automobile from Bureau grounds). Construction started during February 1943 and completed by June.
NBS was forced to surrender the site of the Meadows, (Md.) field station during World War II for development of
the Andrews Air Force Base. The U.S. Army Engineers procured 450 acres of flat farming land in Loudoun
County, Va., as a new site for the Radio Section's propagation research that had been conducted at the Meadows
station for a number of years.
In its move to Boulder, Colo., the CRPL slowly abandoned activities at the Sterling field station and, again,
aviation took over an NBS field facility, this time the site to become the Dulles International Airport.

407
An official visit to the new field station at Sterling, Va. on May H, 1943 (May can be chilly in the Washington area).
Standing at the entrance to the Administration Building, left to right, are:
Col. C. Renshaw, district engineer, Office of U.S. Army Engineers
E. C. Crittenden, chief, Electricity Division, NBS
Dr. L. J. Briggs, director, NBS
Major R. Furman, contracting officer in charge, Office of
R. U.S. Army Engineers
R. D. Porter, project manager for W. B. Avery, contractor
Dr. J. H. Dellinger, chief Radio Section, NBS
S. E. Reymer, radio engineer, Radio Section, NBS

Roads, buildings, electric power facilities at the Sterling field station were constructed under the direction of the
U.S. Army Engineers.

13
scattered over the world. Data on the ionosphere, available for the first time for worldwide
coverage, yielded added information on variations of ionosphere characteristics with time of
16
day and year, sunspot numbers, latitude, and with the "longitude effect."
With new understanding of the ionosphere it became possible to predict, with
considerable accuracy, its characteristics as a radio transmission medium several months in
advance and to prepare world charts on transmission performance. The world charts first
appeared in the April 1942 issue of the monthly reports (restricted circulation) prepared by
the Radio Section, entitled "High-Frequency Radio Transmission Conditions." However, the
data were based upon observations taken in North America only. Beginning September 1,
1944, the radio predictions were issued in reports of the IRPL-D series, titled "Basic Radio

15
The three stations were among the 12 noted in footnote 14, namely: the NBS field station at Meadows, Md. (in

1943 the station was moved to Sterling, Va.); and stations of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (Department of
Terrestrial Magnetism) at Huancayo, Peru and at Watheroo (near Perth), Western Australia. By June 30, 1946,
under CRPL operation, the number had grown to 55 locations.
16
The so-called "longitude effect" actually a dependency of the ionosphere, to a great extent, upon the
is

geomagnetic latitude. With the newly gained understanding of this effect, the prediction charts were constructed
with three longitude zones for world maps, called East (E), West (W), and Intermediate (I), zones.

Author's (WFS) note: Of historical interest on prior knowledge of the "longitude effect" by the Japanese, see
account in "Radio wave propagation during World War II," Kenneth A. Norton, Proc. IRE, May 1962, pp. 701-702.

408
 17
Propagation Predictions." Observations of the ionosphere were now available from many
parts of the world.

b) Improving the prediction method of maximum usable frequency

Although the method of predicting sky-wave transmission was being developed
effectively by the Radio Section over a period of years beginning in 1936, there was need for
greater reliability and more rapid preparation of the predictions of the maximum usable
frequency brought on by exigencies of the war. This was accomplished by development of
the "two-control point" method for predictions at distances greater than 2500 miles. 18 In
addition, overall improvement of the prediction method was attained by taking into account
the propagation effects of the "sporadic-E" layer. 19

c) Success in the calculation of field intensity

In developing an improvedand more reliable prediction service there was much need
for the prediction of distance ranges and the lowest useful high frequency (see footnote 18).
This need led to that of calculating sky-wave field intensities. The observation of sky-wave
field intensity had been an investigative program of the Radio Section for a number of years
(see ch. VII). With the many new ionospheric stations, advantage was taken of this
situation by outfitting them with field-intensity recorders which permitted observations to
be taken at a number of locations for various transmission paths. Concurrently, new
theoretical studies of ionospheric absorption were undertaken that would hopefully yield the
calculation of sky-wave field intensity. The project was marked by success, the absorption
values of transmission paths being calculated from observed quantities.

d) Solving the problem of minimum field intensity

For successful radio-wave communication, the signal-to-noise ratio must be greater than
or above a certain value (or threshold) for the received signal, and depends upon the type of
communication service involved. Thus, for a successful prediction service, it was necessary
for the IRPL to be able to determine the minimum field intensity required for satisfactory
communication in overcoming noise (at sky-wave frequencies the principal noise is

"Tables, charts, and nomograms of the IRPL-D series were an outgrowth of the earlier charts, "Radio Propagation
Conditions," produced and first issued by the Radio Section on April 6, 1942 (the early issues were titled, "High-
Frequency Radio Transmission Conditions"). Beginning with the Febuary 1942 issue, the monthly reports became a
supplement to the "U.S. National Bureau of Standards Radio Transmission Handbook, 1000-30,000 KC" Primarily,
these reports contained information on maximum usable frequencies and skip distances for sky-wave transmission,
observed for the previous month and predicted for several months in advance. Earlier, the Radio Section had been
publishing graphs in the Proc. IRE and QST for predictions and observed conditions of the ionosphere, the reports
dating back to September 1937 (see ch. VII, pp. 236-237).
The IRPL D series (restricted circulation) continued through June 1946 (when the IRPL operation was
terminated) and then became the CRPL-D series, beginning with the July 1, 1946, issue. This series continued until
December 1962, with the CRPL-D 220 issue terminating the long series.
Beginning with the January 1963 issue, the series was renamed "Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
Ionospheric Predictions." In 1965, upon the formation of ESSA (Environmental Science Services Administration)
with its several Institutes, the prediction series was named ''Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and
Aeronomy Ionospheric Predictions, " beginning with the December 1965 issue. Again, upon further Department of
Commerce reorganization, the name was changed to "Office of Telecommunications Ionospheric Predictions,"
beginning with the November 1970 issue. Publication ceased with the October 1971 issue.
18
The prediction method had its basis in the development of the "transmission curve" method by Newbern Smith
(see ch. VII, p. 237). From observed critical frequencies, the maximum
usable frequencies could be obtained, as well
as predicted in advance. However, for distances greater than 2500 miles the "two-control point" method (see p. 409,
this chapter) was devised to overcome the inadequacies of the more simple method used for shorter distances.
In the prediction of sky-wave (or ionospheric) radio propagation (usually considered to be in the frequency
range of MHz) the transmission over a fixed distance is confined between the two frequency limits of: the
0.5 to 30
"maximum usable frequency" and the "lowest useful high frequency." At a fixed frequency, sky-wave transmission
is confined between two distance limits of: the "skip distance" and the "distance range." The frequency and

distance limits depend upon a number of factors including time of day, the season, sunspot cycle (numbers), and
location of transmission path over the Earth's surface.
19
Previously, predictions were based upon the fairly well understood propagation by the normal F,-layer. The
greater abundance of observations that became available from the war emergency led to further study of the
vagaries of sky-wave transmission, and it was found that variations of any specific "normal" sky-wave transmission
were caused largely by the sporadic E layer.

409
 "

atmospheric noise; often called "static"). Again, a satisfactory solution to the problem was
forthcoming, and a nomogram procedure was developed whereby the lowest useful high
frequency could be determined for satisfactory communication at different levels (grades) of
20
atmospheric noise.

e) Forecasting ionosphere storms

Because radio communications in the North Atlantic are subject to disruption by
ionosphere storms, and more so than in many other parts of the world, it became very
desirable to establish a warning service for such interruptions. The North Atlantic had
become an important theater of war operations that called for extensive radio
communication and navigation. In collaboration with the Carnegie Institution of
Washington (Department of Terrestrial Magnetism) a weekly forecast service for
ionospheric disturbances was set up, based upon observations of the Sun.
A more effective warning service was established by observing the behavior of radio
direction-finder bearings (as affected by ionospheric reflections). An advantage was gained
due to the fact that very specific ionospheric disturbances (and disruptions to
communications) could be forecast a few hours in advance. This short-time warning service
became available to the public after World War II by transmissions from and later WWV
from WWVH
(see ch. VIII, p. 473 and p. 475).

f) "Publications" in limited circulation

War conditions stifled publication by the Radio Section to but several items during the
period of 1942-1945, and these had but incidental value to the war effort. The last published
item on prediction of propagation, after the Pearl Harbor attack, was in the January 1942
issue of QST NBS item entitled, "Predicted distance ranges for amateur radio
as an
21 22
communication January, February, March 1942.
in The Radio Section had prepared
'

these prediction reports on a regular schedule for publication in QST since September 1940
(see ch. VII, p. 234). Because these prediction reports could have been useful to the enemy, it
was necessary to cease their publication until the cessation of hostilities.
However, during the war period printed material in considerable quantity was produced
by the IRPL for limited distribution (with Restricted classification), primarily to the armed
services. Of much importance was the handbook, IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook, issued
23
November 15, 1943.

20
With reliable methods of calculating the maximum usable frequency and the lowest useful high frequency, the
IRPL could provide a prediction service that prescribed a frequency band within which satisfactory communication
could be obtained over a given transmission path under a given set of conditions of time of day, season, and other
factors.
21
The Harbor on propagation was a Letter to the Editor in the March 1942 issue of
last publication after Pearl
Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, entitled "Critical frequencies and virtual heights of the
ionosphere observed by the National Bureau of Standards at Washington, D.C., October to December 1941." This
quarterly feature had been contributed to the periodical for several years.
22
The first publication by the Radio Section (IRPL) after World War II was in the April 1946 issue of QST, written
by T. N. Gautier, Jr., and entitled "The NBS-ARRL radio observing projects, and the WWV
observing project."
Gautier reported on three Confidential projects in cooperation with the American Radio Relay League, the projects
being a wartime operation by the IRPL to obtain basic radio propagation data that were unavailable by any other
method. The operation was a successful venture in the war effort of the IRPL.
23
The Introduction stated, in part:

The purpose of this Handbook is to provide a radio operator or a radio communications officer
with a working knowledge of the principles underlying the propagation of radio waves from a
transmitting antenna to a receiving antenna. The purpose is also to give an outline of
. . .

methods for calculating the field intensity to be expected, at any place in the world, produced by
a transmitter in any other part of the world, and for evaluating the results in terms of whether
the received intensity is great enough to be useful.

Part 1 of the Handbook was completed; other parts had been planned but were not written. However, some of
the planned material appeared in a 1948 publication by the CRPL, entitled "Ionospheric Radio Propagation," (see p.
440).
In January 1944 the Handbook became the principal textbook for a 2-week training course given at NBS to a
group of Army, Army Air Corps and Navy officers and enlisted personnel, along with a few civilians. Members of
the IRPL staff and others working on radio propagation conducted the 25 lectures and the problem sessions.

410
 Three supplements, issued on a monthly schedule, followed the Handbook. Of these, the
IRPL-D series on "Basic Radio Propagation Predictions" (predictions for 3 months in
advance) was of much importance for radio communication operations of the armed
24
services.

g) AN "INTERNATIONAL" RADIO PROPAGATION CONFERENCE

An international radio propagation conference for "Allied Nations" only was held on
the Bureau grounds during the period of April 17 through May 5, 1944. Invited to the
conference were 88 representatives of armed services and propagation laboratories of
Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and the United States (see ch. XVII, p. 663). 25
Of the many recommendations that came from this conference was the first set of inter-
national definitions of symbols and terminology for ionospheric use.

h) Research during a war period

The IRPL was primarily an operational organization for analysis of radio transmission
data and issuance of predictions to the armed services. Its operation occupied the time and
talents of a very large segment of the Radio Section personnel. 26 Yet the Radio Section
effectively continued its radio propagation research.
Two main areas of propagation research were carried into, and continued during, the
war period, namely: (1) radio wave intensity observations, and (2) study of ionospheric
phenomena. Continuous or intermittent recordings of signal intensity were made
throughout the war period on 15 or more transmitting stations at distances ranging from 25
(WWV) to 8400 km, and at frequencies from 600 to nearly 20,000 kHz. Recordings were made
at the Beltsville and Meadows field stations, and later at the Sterling station. Scaling of the
field-intensity records yielded absorption values of the ionosphere under various conditions.
Also observed, by vertical- and oblique-incidence methods, were layer heights, critical
frequencies, maximum usable frequencies, diurnal and seasonal variations, and trend of the
sunspot cycle (the minimum of the sunspot cycle was observed early in 1944).
Spectacular ionosphere storms were observed by Radio Section personnel on two
occasions during the war period, on September 18, 1941, and again, beginning on December
27
16, 1944.

24
The other two monthly supplements were:
1. IRPL-E series of 1 -month predictions.
2. —
IRPL-F series, Part A Ionospheric Data, Part B —Solar Geophysical Data, "to keep research workers
abreast of the major particulars of solar activity and the associated ionospheric radio propagation and
other geophysical effects." This series that began September 1944 was published by the CRPL until
October 1965.

Other publications by the IRPL included:

1. IRPL- A series, Recommended Frequency Bands for Ships and Aircraft in the Atlantic and Pacific.
2. IRPL-B series, Recommended Frequency Bands for Submarines in the Pacific.
3. IRPL-H series, Frequency Guide for Operation Personnel.
4. IRPL-J series, semi-weekly, later weekly radio propagation forecasts.
5. IRPL-K series, Best Radio Frequencies for Aircraft and Ground Stations in the Atlantic.
6. IRPL-M series, Frequency Guide.
7. IRPL-R series, A series of unscheduled reports with useful information to scientists working in field of
radio propagation.
25
"The purpose of the Conference was to determine ways and means of increasing the usefulness of radio
propagation information for the Services. ."
. .

(Taken from report of the International Radio Propagation Conference, held under auspices of the Wave
Propagation Committee, Combined Communications Board.)
26
Prior to the IRPL, before 1942, only five or six of the Radio Section staff were working full time on propagation
research projects. Then, within a short time, nearly 50 persons were engaged in the IRPL operation and, by 1945,
the number had increased to 80 (the total number in the Radio Section reached 135 in 1945).
27
In the case of the September 1941 storm, no vivid auroral display of comparable magnitude had previously been
observed in Washington by the Radio Section since the beginning of the ionosphere studies in 1930 (see ch. VII, pp.
227-229). (Alvin G. McNish, who became chief of the Basic Ionospheric Research Section of the CRPL in August
1946, wrote at considerable length on this storm in the December 1941 issue of Terrestrial Magnetism and
Atmospheric Electricity, while a staff member of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of
Washington.) The second ionosphere storm, beginning on December 16, 1944, although not as severe as the one in
1941, was characterized by disturbances on several of the preceding days, as noted by observations at the Sterling
station.

411
i ) Laboratories associated with the IRPL operation
Associated directly with the operations of the IRPL in order to obtain propagation data
on a broad geographical scale were the laboratories of Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.;
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La.; University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, P.R.;
Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both at Cambridge, Mass.
Also, valuable aid was received from the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington which maintained observatories at various locations.

j ) Those who directed, and who were important to operation of the IRPL
Of the more than 80 people who IRPL, recognition should be given to those
staffed the
who contributed largely wartime agency for basic aid to radio
to its success as a
communication. The very large contingent of workers of the Radio Section that formed the
CRPL was under the direction of Dellinger as chief, and Newbern Smith as assistant chief.
Each of these men made individual contributions in basic ideas to the development of
methods of forecasting conditions of the ionosphere as a medium for radio communication
over long distances. Another member of the staff that gave significant support in this area
was Theodore R. Gilliland who had pioneered much of the early investigations of the
ionosphere by the Radio Section (see ch. VII).
Assisting in the development work were: Thomas N. Gautier, Frederick R. Gracely, J.
Virginia Lincoln, Sidney M. Ostrow, William E. Owen, Marcella L. Phillips, Minadora
PoKempner, and Richard Silberstein. Others who were important to the operation included:
Reginald W. Bours, Mary B. Harrington, Lawrence Heilprin, Harren A. Miklofsky, Ernest
A. Pizzurro, Stephen E. Reymer, and Edna L. Shultz. And one cannot overlook the
"indispensable" services to the IRPL of "ANKie" (Adeline N. Kincheloe), the section's
28
secretary.

k ) "Conversion of IRPL Projects from War to Peace"

Such was the heading of a portion of the November 1945 Monthly Report of the Radio
Section. The October Report had stated: "With the recent declassification of radio wave
propagation data it is now possible to include in this report the activities of another large
group in the Radio Section" —
namely, the IRPL. The November Report listed in
considerable detail the conversion of IRPL projects from wartime procedure to that for
29
peacetime.

28
This list of personnel who made valuable contributions to the success of the IRPL was evaluated largely by
Newbern Smith in answer to the author's (WFS) memo of February 7, 1977.

29
In a self-evaluation the Radio Section stated:

Development of the procedure for these predictions (of useful radio propagation frequencies) was
such that these were and continued to be probably the most precise predictions ever made of any
geophysical quantity.

Also, in commenting upon and forecasting on the future of research in radio propagation, the Radio Section
stated:

Time allocated to their type of work during wartime was only that where the result could be
rapidly obtained and put into almost immediate operational use. A tremendous amount of rough
analysis went which were
into the production of the predictions of useful radio frequencies
by basic ionospheric data, of which the laboratory
issued. Finer analysis of the trends exhibited
possessed the greatest quantity ever assembled in one place, correlation of these with other
physical phenomena, and improvements of the techniques of prediction and of solution of radio
propagation problems were expected to constitute one of the greatest peace-time projects for the
laboratory.

In retrospect, one might judge the above statement as a fairly modest one in evaluating the IRPL and in
predicting its future as the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory which was to follow.

412
 The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
1. Extending the need for a centralizing laboratory
a ) The need is foreseen
Shortly after V-E Day (May 8, 1945) in a memorandum, dated 24 May 1945, to the
director of NBS, the Joint Communications Board of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (in a
statement prepared by the Wave Propagation Committee) referred to the past, present, and
FY 1946 financing of the IRPL. Taking a look into the future of the IRPL after the cessation
of hostilities, the Joint Communications Board requested that the work of the IRPL be
supported in FY 1947 by direct Congressional appropriation to the NBS, the financing to be
at the FY 1945 rate of $380,000 per annum. The viewpoint of the Board was:
30

The success of the work of the IRPL in this war has demonstrated that its
continuation will be indispensable to the military services as well as to the
other government agencies and to civilian communication interests.

Also, Board suggested that additional funding be provided for six ionospheric
the
observatories that had been supported on contract by military funds. The additional
observatories would be operated and maintained by NBS. (NARG 167, NBS Blue Folder Box
24, 674.)

b) Implementing to fulfill a need

September 2, 1945, was acclaimed as V-J Day and World War II came to an end. The
operations of the IRPL continued until the close of FY 1946, after which its functions were
absorbed by the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (Div. 14 of NBS) that had been
established 2 months previously.
In November 1945, 2 months after cessation of hostilities, the Army Signal Corps called
several meetings for discussion of the future of radio propagation research and a prediction
service, particularly in relation to its importance to the Armed Forces. 51 These discussions
led to recommending to Secretary of Commerce Wallace, December 26,
in a letter dated
1945, that a centralizing laboratory be established in the National Bureau of Standards and
be responsible for basic research in radio propagation. 32 Thus the first formal step had been
taken to establish the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL).
!0
Cost of operating the IRPL had been:

Fiscal Year
1943 $165,000
1944 210,000
1945 445,000
1946 420,000*

This fiscal information became available after the CRPL was established.
11
By December 1, 1945, planning to the extent that a detailed listing of the many functions of
had been carried out
the planned organization became available for study, plus a detailed listing of the many projects that would be
initiated or continued from the war period. However, no definite conclusion had been reached on incorporation of
the measurement standards programs of the Radio Section into an organization that would be essentially a radio
propagation laboratory. Several months passed before the matter was resolved, with the result that the standards
programs became a part of the new centralizing laboratory.
32
The letter of December 26, 1945, signed by G. B. Myers, Secretary, Joint Communications Board of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, to Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Commerce, stated:

Experience in the war amply demonstrated the importance of radio propagation information to
the efficient conduct of military communications and for the efficient use of military electronics
devices. It is also recognized that non-military agencies, both Government and private, require
radio propagation information for the efficient conduct of their business. Thus, the national
security dictates that the military requirements in this field be met, and the public interest
dictates the desirability of meeting the non-military requirements for propagation information.

The Joint Communications Board is of the opinion that if basic work common to the several

agencies in the radio propagation field is centralized in a laboratory to be established in the

National Bureau of Standards the needs of the Army and Navy can be met.

It is recognized that such a central laboratory will not be able to carry out all of the work in the
radio propagation field, and that certain work particularly applicable to the Army and Navy and

413
 On January 9, 1946, the Secretary of Commerce sent letters to the Secretary of the

Navy and the Secretary of War informing the Departments that he had authorized the
director of NBS to proceed toward establishing a centralizing laboratory within the
33
Bureau. The letter stated:

In accordance with informal recommendations made to this Department by

representatives of a number of interested agencies, I am asking the
Director of the National Bureau of Standards to establish within that
Bureau a central radio propagation laboratory. This laboratory will
centralize for the nation the basic aspects of research and prediction service
in the field of radio propagation.

It is desired that the Department be assisted in the conduct of this

laboratory by a Radio Propagation Executive Council which shall guide the

activities of the laboratory, including the preparation of the general
program of work, establishment of the priority of jobs, and (after this year)
preparation of the budget prior to presentation to the Bureau of the
Budget. I therefore request you to designate a representative on this
Council. (NN 365-90, Box 32.)

Thus, the initial steps had been taken to establish the CRPL as a Government
organization. With a dedicated mission, it would have a useful and relatively long life,
extending for nearly 20 years to 1965.
During January Dr. Condon, director of NBS, convened a meeting of a group of
representatives from other agencies to plan for the centralizing laboratory. At the
suggestion of the Joint Communications Board, the Secretary of Commerce invited the
34
agencies to designate representatives to the advisory Radio Propagation Executive Council.
At the Winter IRE Technical Meeting held late in January (1946), Dellinger and N.
Smith took the occasion to present a paper on the functions and accomplishments of the
IRPL during World War II. It was the first public disclosure before a large group of its
operations. However, publication of the paper in the Proc. IRE was delayed for 2 years
(February 1948) because of the backlog of papers from the war period.
In continuing the gathering of basic ionosphere data from field stations, the IRPL was
gradually taking over operation of various stations maintained during the war by the Army
and the Navy and by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington. An assist in this direction came from the American Radio Relay League via
their periodical QST. In the March 1946 issue appeared the headline, "Hams Needed," with

(Continued)
to other interested agencies must be done by those agencies. However, it is considered desirable
that the central laboratory be made responsible for the basic research in this field common to
the several agencies and for radio propagation studies of general applicability.

An executive council, through which various user interests can express their requirements, is
regarded as a prime factor in the organization and operation of a central laboratory of this
character.

The Joint Communications Board from a military point of view therefore endorses the idea of
such a "Radio Propagation Executive Council" to guide the activities of the proposed laboratory,
including the preparation of the general program of work, establishment of the priority of jobs,
and preparation of the budget prior to presentation to the Bureau of the Budget. It is
recommended that the executive council be formed as soon as practicable including
representation from the Army and Navy. (NN365-90, Box 32).
33
Letters were also sent to the Secretary of the Treasury, the chairman of the FCC, and to the chairman of the
Radio Technical Planning Board (Haraden Pratt, formerly of the Radio Section, was the chairman of this Board
that represented industry).
34
The need for a "Council" was to insure coordination of the work of the laboratory with the needs of users and
with propagation work carried on by other laboratories. The council would guide the new laboratory's establishing
priorities of tasks, preparing the annual budget, and reviewing the technical programs.

414
 35
a short account of the need by the IRPL. Engineers and operators were recruited from
among various groups to man the CRPL field stations.

2. The CRPL established

In a memorandum to NBS division and section chiefs, dated April 19, 1946, Condon,
director of NBS, informed the Bureau that:

Effective May 1, 1946, there is established the Central Radio Propagation

Laboratory as Division XIV of the National Bureau of Standards. All
activities now conducted by the Radio Section of the Electricity Division are
transferred to the new division.

The National Bureau of Standards has been requested by the Joint

Communications Board and other interested Government agencies to
enlarge this activity. It will be carried on with advice and guidance of the
Radio Propagation Executive Council, made up of representatives of
36
interested Government agencies.

On May 1, 1946, the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory came into existence, to
37,38
remain under this name until abolished as an organization, on October 13, 1965. As an

30
The two paragraphs concluding the short account stated:

Men with appropriate engineering and administrative experience are needed immediately to fill
men will be required as station
the positions of engineer-in-charge and assistant engineer. Other
operators. It is expected that personnel will serve a minimum of 18 months on the job at the
overseas locations and that living quarters and transportation for families will be available at
some locations.

Here is a chance for hams (and others) to get in on some interesting work. For further details
write Radio Section, National Bureau of Standards, Washington 25, D.C.
36
The memorandum stated that the Laboratory would be responsible for all radio work in the Bureau, except the
electronic work of the Ordnance Development Division, but that the emphasis would be upon ionospheric research.
Note: At the time, radio research of the troposphere by the Laboratory was in the embryonic state of planning.
37
An internal document stated:

The mission of the new CRPL was, in summary, to:

(1)Investigate phenomena affecting the propagation of radio waves at all frequencies, including
experimental programs of world-wide scope on ionosphere measurements, radio field intensity,
ionospheric absorption, radio noise, solar and geophysical effects, the structure of the
atmosphere and ionosphere, extra-terrestrial relations and effects, and the influence of the
ground and troposphere on radio propagation.
(2) Collect,analyze, and disseminate data and information concerning radio wave propagation
and measurements, including predictions of radio propagation conditions and broadcasting of
technical services such as standard frequencies and time and also radio disturbance warnings.

(3)Coordinate the centralization of information on basic radio propagation investigations in the

United States and perform liaison in this field of work with other countries.

(4) Develop and have custody of the national primary standards of measurement of all electrical
quantities at all radio frequencies and perform calibrations in terms of these standards.
Note: From internal document, originally dated July 15, 1950. An April 30, 1953, copy was placed in
cornerstone of Radio Building, Boulder Laboratories, entitled, "Radio Research and the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory." Copy in Department of Commerce Library, Boulder, Colo., Catalog number
QC661.U5. A July 15, 1950, copy is in the Radio File.

38
Of interest is the origin of the name, "Central Radio Propagation Laboratory." It first appeared in Dellinger's

memorandum to Crittenden and Briggs, dated May 2, 1942, when he first broached the plans of the Navy to set up
a centralizing laboratory for a radio propagation prediction service (see footnote 13). At one point in the memo
Dellinger stated:

It has been proposed that our laboratory be called the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory.

That laboratory was named the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory.

Years later, in the November-December 1962 issue of the Bureau Drawer, (NBS Boulder Laboratories) in a
short sketch on the retirement of Walter Chadwick (first chief of the Regular Propagation Measurement Section,
and earlier, chairman of the Wave Propagation Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and now deceased) it stated
that: "It was he who suggested the name for the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory."

415
organizational unit of NBS it was one of the 14 technical divisions and designated as
Division XIV (later 14). Although organized into nine sections, one section never became
39
activated under its original name. Dellinger was designated chief, and Newbern Smith as
assistant chief, of the CRPL, each having held comparable positions during the 4 years of
40
the IRPL.
On January 14, 1946, a preliminary informal meeting was held at NBS to which were
invited representatives of the different agencies that were considered to have a direct
interest in the new central laboratory. On the morning of May 1, 1946, the group met at
NBS constituting the Radio Propagation Executive Council, as suggested by the Joint
Communications Board in its letter of December 26, 1945, to the Secretary of Commerce (see
41
p. 413). The director of NBS, Dr. Condon, presided at this meeting. The Council continued
meeting on March 14, 1955, approximately a year after the
for 42 meetings until its last
major move of the CRPL to Boulder, Colo. A charter had been drawn up for a reorganized
group to supersede the Council, to be named the Interdepartment Council on Radio
Propagation and Standards. However, this council did not come into existence.

3. The CRPL through 20 years of growth

At its first meeting (May 1, 1946) the Executive Council placed on record that, "It is also
agreed that every effort should be made to make sure that this laboratory was really heard
about, in the technical periodicals and the newpapers." To introduce itself to the NBS the
CRPL held an "Open House" late in the afternoon of May 28. On this occasion Bureau
personnel were invited to learn more about the radio work of NBS and to view its operations
on the Bureau grounds. However, there appears to be little evidence that a large-scale
publicity program was carried out in the technical periodicals and newspapers.
As a new medium to inform its fast growing organization, the CRPL initiated an in-
house publication, called CRPL News. The 15- to 30-page monthly paper covered personal
and technical news of the Washington laboratory, the field stations, and the associated radio
propagation laboratories. Beginning in July 1946, the paper was continued until February
1947, after which it was named the Radio Propagation Activity Report. Publication ceased
with the February 1949 issue. The paper served to bind the far-flung CRPL into a more
closely knit organization.
A year after organization of the CRPL a conference was called to which a number of
people in various areas of specialization in radio propagation were invited to the Bureau.
The 3-day meeting, called the Conference on Radio Propagation, was held at NBS during
May 8-10, 1947, with 145 in attendance. Rather than a meeting for presentation of formal
papers, the conference was largely that of informal discussions on the status of work in
radio propagation after the close of World War II and a look into the future. Areas of
discussion included: ionospheric measurement techniques and problems, ionospheric

The organizational structure of the new division is shown in appendix C, p. 761. Changes in the structure to 1965
:l!,

can be followed, covering pp. 761-773.

Over a period of 9 months, beginning in January 1946, the six propagation sections that were to be established
were staffed with section chiefs that had been recruited from outside of NBS. The six chiefs had gained experience
in radio propagation in agencies (mostly Government! other than in the wartime centralizing laboratory that had
been established at NBS in 1942. Of the six, only two continued with the CRPL at the Boulder Laboratories.
40
Dellinger and Smith headed the administrative unit of the CRPL which was named the Executive and
Administrative Office. Also in this office was S. W. J. Welch, the administrative assistant (later, administrative
officer) and Mrs. A. N. Kincheloe, chief clerk.
41
At this first meeting the purpose of the Council was stated by Condon to be:

that it was intended to bring together in an advisory body the interested agencies, particularly
the users of the services of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory.

Agencies represented on the Council changed from time to time although the Departments of the Army, Navy,
and Air Force had continuous representation.
Representatives of the various agencies served as chairmen of the Council over its 9-year life. S. W. J. Welch of
the CRPL served as secretary for 5 years, followed by R. C. Peavey, also of the CRPL.
Much of the Council's advisory capacity was engaged in budget studies and recommendations for operation of
the CRPL. Many varied views in these areas were exposed over the years by the Council, as well as by the
individual representatives. (Minutes of the 42 meetings of the CRPL Executive Council are in a bound volume at
Department of Commerce Library, Boulder, Colo., catalog number QC661.U48.)

416
 400 - 250

350
200
300

£ 250 - 150
LU
CO

£ 200

100
150

100 - 0
50
50 -
SOUNDING BALLOON 37 KM (23 MILES)
"

- STRATOSPHERE
;
MANNED BALLOON 22 KM (14 MiLES~)
AIRPLANE 15 KM (10 MILESI
TROPOSPHERE MT EVEHEST, 8 KM |5 5 MILESI n

"CRPL— Going Places"

Enthusiasm expressed by the CRPL for its new organization— indicated bx this sketch on front cover of
announcement for the first Open House, May 28, 1946.

VOLUME I, NO. I JULY-AUGUST, 1946

Cover page of the first issue of CRPL NEWS, circulated by the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory from July 1946
to February 1949. A 15-30 page monthly paper that covered personal and technical news
of the Washington
laboratory, the field stations, and the associated radio propagation laboratories.

417
 —

propagation analysis and prediction, physics of the ionosphere, effects of the Sun on the
ionosphere, cosmic radio noise, and propagation at VHF and higher frequencies.
Several years after the CRPL was established a new perspective of the existing
42
situation was revealed in an internal document that read, in part:

When the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory was established, it was

thought that the major planning in the use of radio, and therefore the
major uses of radio propagation research and services, would be in the
peace-time development of radio and radio systems. The impetus of the
research and development during the war had opened up hitherto
undreamed-of regions of the radio spectrum, and vast possibilities of
development not only in communications but in entertainment and
industrial applications. The program of the CRPL was then shaped toward
providing the necessary propagation and systems information for such
43
purposes as:

Then in 1950 the picture again changed, and it was revealed further in the document
that:

and
In the light of the deterioration of the world situation in recent years,
particularly in the last few months
Korean incident), however, it has
(the
become apparent that the radio propagation programs of the CRPL once
more must be directed toward the national defense, and is crucial for the
needs of the military forces. Besides the general need for propagation
information and standards in the planning and design of military radio and
radar equipment, the direct applications of the program to national defense
and military operations include the following: (twelve areas of research,
development, and operations were listed).

In 1953 an evaluation of the CRPL came via the report of the Ad Hoc Committee for
Evaluation of the Present Functions and Operations of the National Bureau of Standards,
44
dated October 15, 1953, to the Secretary of Commerce. The evaluation was summarized in
the report under the notation of "Findings," which stated:

A. The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory constitutes one of the finest

scientific groups in Government and its operations fall within the
legitimate sphere of federal activity.

B. The work of CRPL is of immense importance to industry. However, it is

inadequately supported financially in terms of national effort.

C. The executive committee to CRPL is not performing the vital

constructive function contemplated. This committee should be reconstituted
to include technically competent, interested people in positions of
responsibility.

D. The planned move to Boulder is a wise one which will lead to increased
efficiency.

E. The calibration work presently carried on is not sufficient for the

45
country's needs. It should be substantially expanded.

42
See reference in footnote 37.
43
The "purposes" listed were (stated by short titles): Global aviation, Global or international communications,
Television and frequency modulation, Commercial shipping, Atomic energy and nuclear physics, Weather,
Industrial uses.
44
This report, often referred to as the "Kelly Report," was a result of the AD-X2 controversy of the early 1950's (see
Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 495-497). The Ad Hoc Committee of 10 members was appointed by the National
Academy of Sciences, with Dr. Mervin J. Kelly, director of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, as chairman. (Copy in
Department of Commerce Library, Boulder Laboratories, catalog number 1.64-2,115 91.)
43
In view of the "Findings," one might consider in retrospect what resulted from this evaluation. Certainly, the
CRPL continued its good work. The CRPL moved to Boulder. There was greatly increased growth after this move.
The Radio Propagation Executive Council terminated in 1955 but was not reconstituted. The calibration work was
greatly expanded with the establishment of the Electronic Calibration Center in 1958.

418
 At the time the CRPL was established on May 1, 1946, the staff totaled 160 persons.
Two months later, on July 1, the new division had increased to 187. Recruitment continued
during FY 1947 and by July 1, 1947, the staff totaled 236.
By early spring of 1954 the CRPL staff totaled 328, with 122 at the Boulder Laboratories
(including the Facilities Division, but excluding Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory) and 152
remaining in Washington, D.C. A total of 54 was scattered among the 12 field locations,
including stations WWV, WWVH, and the Radio Propagation Laboratory at Sterling, Va.
By the close of 1954 the last contingents in Washington had "migrated" to Boulder, Colo, (a
46
few remained time at Sterling).
for a
As new programs were taken up and other programs extended, the CRPL staff
increased year after year until reaching a maximum by 1965 of 800 in the radio divisions
(see chart). Radio work at NBS had expanded, indeed, in the 60 years or so from the

46
Information based upon Telephone Directory of March 1954 which included all field station employees and the
Boulder Laboratories employees.

1954 1956 1958 I960 1962 1964

FULL-TIME PERMANENT STAFF, NBS BOULDER LABORATORIES

This chart, reproduced from the September 1964 issue of the Technical News Bulletin, shows the very rapid growth
of the Boulder Laboratories from 1954, the year of the major move from Washington, D.C. The indicated numbers
included all full-time permanent staff members of the total organization which, by 1964, had grown to six radio
divisions, the Cryogenics Division, the Administrative Division, and a centralized management office.

beginning around 1912 when the Bureau employees were occupied with radio circuits
(Dellinger, Kolster, and Lowell). Organizationally, by 1965 the radio work of NBS had grown
to four divisions in CRPL and two divisions (later three) in the Radio Standards Laboratory
(see app. C). On October 13, 1965, the four CRPL divisions were transferred to the newly
established Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) within the Department
of Commerce (see ch. XX).

419
 Studies of the ionospheric regions 47
Although significant studies were made of each of the several regions of the ionosphere
during the periods of the Radio Section and the CRPL, probably none had the extensive
study over such a long period of time as that made on sporadic E. For all investigators,
including those of the Radio Section, the IRPL, and the CRPL, sporadic E has proven to be
an elusive candidate for full and widely accepted explanations of its characteristics. 48

47
This section and the 15 succeeding sections of this chapter relate to selected combinations of approximately 60
CRPL ionospheric projects extending over the period of 1946 to 1965. Titles for these sections indicate general or
specific areas of research or services by the CRPL. The combinations, arbitrarily selected by the author (WFS), were
made in order to simplify the presentation of an unwieldy assortment of technical projects. To have made the
CRPL organizational structure (divisions and sections) over the 20-year period
selection on a functional basis of the
would have been well nigh impossible because of the many changes of structure and of project assignments.
This chapter is limited to the CRPL projects relating to studies of the propagation characteristics,
stratification, physical processes, and composition of the ionosphere — that portion of the atmosphere lying
approximately between 70 and 1000 km above the Earth's surface. Also covered, are the long-term prediction and
the short-term warning services provided by the CRPL, and participation in the IGY program.
48
The account given here may appear out of proportion in length to otherwork on the ionosphere by the CRPL, but
it lends itself for a matter of considerable interest. More than 30 papers were published relating specifically to
sporadic E and many more contained substantial amounts of material on the subject. Papers on no other specific
region of the ionosphere came close to this number.

250

if)
UJ

100

AURORAL ARCS:
AND DRAPERIES

•}; .
D Layer MET EORS.
50 I'-Vy." DAYTIME
-SpllN.DING-BA LLOON; ;37^M (23 M| L ESL
STRATOSPHERE -6$°C MANNED BALLOON, 22 KM (14 MILES)
AIRPLANE 16 KM (10. MILES]
,

Troposphere
77777777777777777777777777777777777.
The Ionosphere

Pictorial concept of the ionosphere as viewed in cross section —

the CRPL concept of 1946. Although the Fj layer is
observed only during the day, as indicated, it is now known that there are various manifestations of the layer(s) D
both day and night. Density of black dots indicates relative electron density or ionization of the upper atmosphere
at various heights above the earth 's surface.

420
 49
1. The anomalous characteristics of sporadic E
a) THE EARLY OBSERVATIONS BY NBS
The anomalous and usually random transmissions of television signals over long VHF
distances (of the order of 1000 miles) is attributable, in most instances, to reflections from
rather intensely ionized areas associated with the E layer of the ionosphere (approximately
100 km —
above the Earth) a phenomenon known as "sporadic E." In general sporadic-E
o0d3

ionization is observed in the communication band of 3 to 70 MHz. The phenomenon was

observed first within several years after the pioneer work in probing the ionosphere by Breit
and Tuve (see ch. VII). 54
During the winter of 1932-1933 Gilliland of the Radio Section observed virtual heights
of the ionosphere at a frequency of 4100 kHz with a continuous recorder (see ch. VII). His
observations, made at the transmitting station at Beltsville, Md., clearly indicated the
presence of sporadic E, which he reported in the July 1933 issue of the NBS Journal of
Research, and later in the October 1933 issue of the Proc. IRE [1]. In his conclusions
55 06
Gilliland commented primarily on the irregular strong reflections from the E layer. '

49
Because the observations, studies, and publications by NBS relating to the singular phenomenon of "sporadic E"
extended progressively over a period from the early 1930's to 1965, the account is a continuum in this chapter
rather than being divided with chapter VII.
°°
For an interesting account of the effect of sporadic E on Smith in
television reception, see the paper by Ernest K.
the March 1952 issue of the Transactions of the IRE for Professional Group on Antennas and Propagation; also a
similar paper in the June 1953 issue of Radio-Electronics.
01
The usually accepted concepts of the structure of ionized areas that cause sporadic-E reflections are: (1) a thin
horizontal layer of high electron density within the regular E layer; (2) a steep gradient within the E layer that
presents a sharp boundary for partial reflection of the incident waves; (3) blobs of ionization with electron density
differing considerably from that of the surrounding medium. Other concepts also have been suggested over the
years.
°2
Vertical-incidence reflections from sporadic-E regions are observed only when there are no reflections from the
regular E layer, i.e., only when the frequency exceeds the E-layer critical frequency. At lower frequencies any
sporadic-E reflections are masked by those from the E layer.
53
The IGY definition (Annals of the IGY, 195?) of sporadic-E reflection (E s reflection) is any abnormal E-region
reflection characterized by one or more of the following: (1) random time of occurrence; (2) partial transparency; (3)

variation of penetration frequency with transmitter power as deduced from F-region reflections; (4) uniform
apparent reflection height, regardless of frequency.

Note: In NBS Circular 582 (issued March Ernest K. Smith gives an interesting account of a working
15, 1957),
definition of "sporadic E," as to choice of a term and a
definition. His definition differs considerably from that used
in the IGY program (e.g., he adds that the period of reflection ranges from several minutes to several hours).
54
In 1927 Appleton (England) observed the presence of two layers in the ionosphere, the lower one was later to be
called the E layer. By 1929Schafer and W. M. Goodall of the Bell Telephone Laboratories Transmitting
J. P.
Station at Deal, N.J. observed sharp changes and discontinuities in the E layer, particularly at sunset. In 1932 the
same phenomena were reported by Ivo Banzi (Italy). Also, in 1932, Eckersley (England) reported on unusual
variations of the E layer, and Appleton and Naismith (England) reported on erratic diurnal variations of the E
layer.
55
Gilliland did not use the term "sporadic E" in this paper. The term was apparently used first in the August 1934
Monthly Report of the Radio Section. It was first used in a publication by NBS in the July 1935 issue of the Proc.
IRE by Kirby and Judson.
06
Because of the first published comments on sporadic E in a Bureau publication and the beginning of an extended
program in this area of ionospheric research by NBS, Gilliland's conclusions in this paper are given in full below:

III CONCLUSIONS
Of greatest interest perhaps is the reappearance of strong reflections at night from both E and F
layers. Some of these reflections indicate sudden increases in ionization, %vhile others suggest
that recombination in a lower part of the region exposes the upper part where ionization is

richer.

421
 Four months after his July 1933 report, Gilliland published a note on his
multifrequency automatic recorder of ionosphere heights operating in a range of 2500 to
4400 kHz. With this equipment he observed strong reflections from the E layer near sunset
on some evenings. However, with manually operated equipment, his observations of
abnormal reflections from the E layer were made down to 1600 kHz and later up to 11,200
kHz.
In a July 1935 paper Samuel S. Kirby and Elbert B. Judson discussed the study of 18
months of vertical-incidence recordings taken at the Meadows, Md. station (Washington,
D.C.) during the period of June 1933 to November 1934, including observations of sporadic E
57
[2]. Again, 2 years later (July 1937), a Radio Section group reported on observations of
sporadic E taken at Washington, D.C, from May 1934 to December 1936 [3]. 58 59 '

b) Progress in sporadic-E studies during World War II

With the increased knowledge the time of World War II and formation
of sporadic E by
of the IRPL, there began the desire, the need, and the ability to predict transmission by
sporadic E several months in advance. Such a prediction by a world map was published, for
restricted circulation, for the first time in the April 9, 1943, issue of the "High-Frequency
Radio Transmission Conditions," later to be known as the IRPL-D series (see pp. 410-411).

(Continued)

Many of the changes observed are very sudden, and strong reflections from the E layer may
appear at almost any hour. Various explanations have been offered in the past, including sun
spots, meteor showers, and thunderstorms. Comparisons are also made between such results and
changes in the earth's magnetic field. Although certain peculiarities, such as strong E
reflections, are observed at magnetically disturbed times quite similar phenomena are observed
when no unusual magnetic changes are in evidence. Since the changes in the ionosphere are so
frequent and so rapid it is impossible, with the small amount of data at hand, to show definitely
just how important each factor is.

None of the explanations yet offered seems to explain satisfactorily the extremely high
ionization frequently observed at night. Although E-layer reflections appear at almost any time,
they occur most frequently around the time of sunset or shortly after on this frequency during
the period of these observations.

This method offers a convenient means for studying the physical properties of the upper
atmosphere and should prove helpful in the solution of certain radio transmission problems.
With data of this type taken over a longer period and on other frequencies it is hoped that it will
be possible to obtain a more exact picture of the changes which occur in the ionosphere and to
determine some of the agencies responsible for these changes.

Author's (WFS) note: In commenting upon the random yet strong E-layer reflections, little did Gilliland realize that
explaining the phenomenon of sporadicE would become one of the most baffling problems faced by investigators of
the ionosphere during the years to follow and to the present time.
37
Kirby and Judson concluded that:

The data indicate the sporadic-E layer returns the wave to earth by reflection at a sharp
boundary rather than by refraction. This layer is frequently semitransparent and shows no
critical frequencies. Most of the nighttime E layer observed is of this nature. It is common at
much higher frequencies during the summer than during the winter.
58
The group stated in their July 1937 paper that:

. .Sporadic-E reflections frequently control long-distance transmissions both day and night.
.

Good sporadic-E reflections often provide intense signals at high frequencies and sometimes at
ultra-high frequencies. These reflections are very common during the summer but occur at
irregular intervals. The irregularities are both geographical and temporal.
59
Beginning with the July 1937 issue of the Proc. IRE and then periodically with the September 1937 issue and
continuing for the next 4 years, the Radio Section published ionospheric information based upon Washington, D.C.
observations (see ch. VII, pp. 236-237). However, for sporadic-E information they stated:

. Curves are not plotted for the sporadic E, since its appearance was so erratic that average
. .

resultswould not be reasonably dependable, although it is known that sporadic E frequently

determined the upper frequency limit to sky-wave transmission, especially during the summer.

Whenever observations of sporadic E were of significance, notations and comments were made in the reports.
Beginning with the July 1940 issue, the sporadic-E information began to appear in tabular form, giving the
approximate upper limit of frequency of strong sporadic-E reflections at vertical incidence for the days during
which the reflections were most prevalent at Washington, D.C.

422
 .

The map indicated the approximate percentage of total time that sporadic-E maximum
usable frequencies could be expected to exceed 15 MHz during July 1943, 3 months in
60 62 '

advance.

60
The information on which this and later maps were prepared was published monthly in much detail in the IRPL-
F series from data gathered from various locations over the world.
61
Much of the success of the ability to predict successful transmission by means of sporadic-E reflections was by
deducing the relation that: the logarithm of the percentage of total time of occurrence of the upper-limit frequency,
fEs, in excess of a given frequency, is approximately inversely porportional to that frequency for frequencies above
approximately 3 MHz.
62
The IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook, issued Nov. 15, 1943, commented on the abnormal variations in
ionosphere characteristics to a considerable extent and with a considerable degree of understanding based upon the
knowledge of the ionosphere as it existed at that period. Five types of abnormal variations of the ionosphere were
listed, including that of sporadic E.
In NBS Circular 462 on ionospheric radio propagation, issued June 25, 1948 (see footnote 136), the importance
to transmission by sporadic E was stated, but tempered with the statement, "The nature and cause of the sporadic-
E layer are not yet understood."

00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 00
Local Time

Sporadlc-F. Dl »t r 1 but ion predicted for July. Nun-bora on curves arc

percentiles of lo'nl tine for eporndlc-E ma.t lirum usable frequency in eiceos
r
or i 5 v~

"World map" showing relative occurrence of vertical-incidence sporadic-E reflections as predicted by the IRPL
(Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory) for July 1943. The map indicates the pattern of diurnal variation and
geographical distribution (by latitude) of sporadic E for reasonably reliable radio transmission (up to

approximately 15 MHz) during a summer month. Clearly indicated is the greater occurrence of sporadic E at mid
latitudes, also the minimum occurrence during daylight.

423
 In 1947 Marcella Lindeman Phillips of the Basic Ionosphere Research Section published
a paper on a study of the variations in sporadic E from observations in the vicinity of
Washington, D.C., made by the Radio Section over a period of nearly 12 years [4]. The data
available made it possible to scale each hour of the day from May 1935, being the longest
series of sporadic-E information available in 1946 for any location. Variations were
investigated with respect to diurnal, seasonal, and solar activity. Much new knowledge of
sporadic E was revealed by this study.

c) Can "sporadic-E" reflections come from meteor trails?

During the late 1940's several investigators in England and elsewhere attributed
sporadic-E reflections to meteor trails as their source. During a 5-year period (1946-1950) of
observations of echoes from meteor trails at the Sterling, Va. station, Victor C. Pineo
concluded, from a statistical study, that the frequency of occurrence of sporadic-E reflections
is unrelated to meteor phenomena when observed with a 27.2-MHz radar (see p. 462).
Sporadic-E reflections were observed with an automatic multifrequency ionosphere recorder.
Pineo reported his work in several issues of Science [5].

d) Ernest K. Smith conducts a lengthy study of sporadic E 63

Upon entering the CRPL in 1954 Ernest K. Smith, Jr. continued his study of sporadic E
64
that began some years earlier. In concluding his initial study in 1955, Smith considered his
findings as exploratory only and that much remained to be learned. In this early study
Smith was led to the viewpoint that a Temperate-Zone longitude effect occurs in the area
south of Japan due to a high incidence of sporadic E. This viewpoint was the result of a
study of ionosonde data from the existing worldwide network of stations and from oblique-
incidence field -strength measurements made in Japan and in the United States.
Following the discovery of a new manifestation of F-layer scatter in the Western Pacific
in 1956, to be known later as the "Far East Anomaly," the United States participated in an
IGY program for further study of sporadic E in the region (see p. 483). 65
During a research program on VHF forward scatter, conducted by the CRPL between
1951 and 1955, a related program was conducted on the characteristics of sporadic E (see

63
It is quite a coincidence that two NBS personnel with the name Smith should have been so much a part of and
directed research programs on the ionosphere over a period of 20 years or more. Newbern Smith's interest, in
association with the Radio Section, the IRPL, and the CRPL, lay with the total ionosphere; Ernest K. Smith's
with the CRPL, ESSA, and the ITS lay with the more specific area of sporadic E.
interest, in association
— —
Yet the Smiths were outnumbered by the Kirbys three in all who investigated communication via
transmission in the ionosphere and in the troposphere. The father, Samuel S. Kirby, pioneered with the ionosphere,
followed by his son, Robert S. Kirby, who became a leader associated with tropospheric transmission projects.
Richard C Kirby (no relation to the other Kirbys) administered ionospheric communication projects.
64
E on
In his Master's thesis at Cornell University, Smith had reported in 1951 on his study of the effect of sporadic
television reception. His thesis was later published, in part, in two periodicals His Ph. D. thesis of
(see footnote 50).
1955 at Cornell University, entitled "Worldwide Occurrence of Sporadic E," was published as NBS Circular 582
(issued March 15, 1957) [6]. His study examined the areas of vertical-incidence observations and VHF transmissions
over oblique-incidence paths, the material gathered from a variety of sources on a global basis.
66
Following the operation of an experimental circuit between the Philippines and Okinawa for a year by the Signal
Corps on contract with Page Communications Engineers, Inc. of Washington, D.C., a second experimental circuit
(1347 km) was set into operation beginning in September 1957. This circuit was designed to measure sporadic E at
50 MHz as part of the U.S. participation in an IGY program. The observations were reported in several publications
VI
For the IGY program an experiment was designed to compare sporadic-E conditions in the area south of Japan
(denoted as the Far East location) with that of the same latitude in the Western Hemisphere (the Caribbean). The
transmission path in each area was approximately 1300 km, with nearly identical equipment used for the two
paths. The IGY program continued for 1 year, beginning in the fall of 1957.
The CRPL team found from the oblique-incidence measurements, taken by a field-intensity technique, that
sporadic E is three to five times more frequent in the Far East than in the Caribbean, and that diurnal and
seasonal variations are more regular in the Far East. In both areas there appeared but negligible dependence of
sporadic E on magnetic activity. The measurements were supplemented by observations taken at receiving stations
on the established circuits.
in addition to those
Planning and operational procedures were such that the sporadic-E measurements in the Far East and
Caribbean could be compared to those made on the Equatorial Scatter Project (see p. 446) and the VHF Ionosphere
Scatter Project over the path between Long Branch, 111. and Boulder, Colo.. Various sponsors supported these
distantly separated projects.

424
sec: NBS
Pioneers in Radio Communication by Ionospheric Forward Scatter). Later in 1959,
R. E. K. Smith, and C. D. Ellyett published their analysis of the data [8]. VHF
M. Davis,
transmissions at approximately 28 and 50 MHz had been observed over a 1243-km path with
the transmitter at Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the receiver at the Sterling station in Virginia.
Over this particular path they found the incidence of sporadic E to be greatest from May
through August. Diurnally, they found peaks of incidence around 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Over
the 5-year period they found no variation with sunspot numbers.
In 1959 J. A. Thomas and E. K. Smith published a survey paper on the knowledge of
66
sporadic E that existed at that time [9]. In their introduction they stated:

This survey paper is an attempt to fill the need for a general summary of
the present state of our knowledge of the sporadic-E (E s ) layer of the
ionosphere. At the present moment, a large amount of scattered data
concerning sporadic-E reflections is available, but there is, as yet, no theory
which completely explains any of the variety of types of E s reflections found
in different parts of the world. . . .

The year 1962 saw the publication of a monograph on ionospheric sporadic E by Smith,
67
along with Sadami Matsushita, also of the CRPL [10]. The compilation contained 24 papers,
many the result of IGY investigations of sporadic E. Smith's paper on "The Occurrence of
Sporadic E," in the monograph, gave a brief review of the temporal and geographic
variations of the occurrence of sporadic E based on knowledge previous to th? IGY program.
Included in the monograph on Ionospheric Sporadic E was a short paper by R. W.
Knecht and R. E. McDuffie of the Sun-Earth Relationships Section. The authors had
analyzed the observations of equatorial sporadic E taken at seven ionospheric vertical
68,69
sounding stations in the vicinity of the geomagnetic equator in Peru and Bolivia. Their
analysis indicated that the equatorial type of sporadic E occurs in a belt of a width of about
700 km across the geomagnetic equator. This is in close agreement with the width of the
equatorial electrojet (see sec: Geographical Nonuniformities of the Ionosphere, pp.
70
446-448).
During the period of 1963-1965, John W. Wright of the Vertical Sounding Research
Section proved the correctness of theory advanced by others on the explanation of variations
of the sporadic-E layer caused by wind shear within the layer. His study was based upon
observations by gun-launched and rocket probe trails and by ground-based ionosondes.

2. Observing scatter F
A manifestation of the ionosphere that first came to notice in the late 1930's is now
71,72
generally known as scatter F. During the 1950's there was a renewed interest in the
66
J. A. Thomas was associated with the Department of Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, but
on a fellowship at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, while preparing the survey.
6 '
Sadami Matsushita of the High Altitude Observatory, and of the Astro-Geophysics Department of the University
of Colorado, served as a guest worker in the CRPL.
68
The magnetic equatorial type differs from the sporadic E found in other parts of the world in at least four
characterizing features.
69
This was a cooperative investigation in the IGY program including NBS; the Institute Geofisico de Huancayo.
Peru; and the University of San Andres, Bolivia. Only data from five stations were of significance.
70
Also in 1962 Robert Cohen, Kenneth L. Bowles, and Wynne Calvert of the CRPL published a paper on the nature
of equatorial slant sporadic E, one ofmany types of sporadic-E phenomena. Their observations were by ionosonde
recordings and radar reflections. Among their conclusions of the study was the indication that all sporadic-E echoes
observed near the geomagnetic equator are due to a thin stratum of magnetic-field-aligned irregularities embedded
in the E layer.
71
In 1938 Booker and Wells of the Carnegie Institution of Washington published a paper that noted ionospheric
echoes they attributed to the scattering of radio waves by the F region. These were observed on vertical sounding
records taken at the Institution's observatory, located in an equatorial (magnetic) region at Huancayo, Peru. The
scattering was observed at night over a wide range of frequencies.
72
is that of an echo pulse of long duration reflected from
Indication of the presence of "spread F" by an ionogram
the F2 layer. described in terms of the appearance of an ionogram rather than that of the physical nature
Thus it is

of the ionosphere. It is considered to be caused by scattering of a signal from irregularities embedded in the
ionosphere, both in depth and spreading out from the perpendicular from the F 2 layer (spreading from the zenith
when viewed from a ground-based ionosonde).

425
 3
scattering of radio waves by the F
As an important segment of an IGY forward-
region.'
scatter project, the CRPL
conducted a study of spread-F phenomena over an equatorial
(magnetic) region of considerable width in South America (with mid-point at Huancayo,
74
Peru). Robert Cohen of the Ionospheric Research Section directed the project. Many of the
staff members of the CRPL, plus South American organizations and government agencies,
participated in the total forward-scatter project.
Analysis and interpretation of ionograms of the spread-F observations were published
by Cohen and Bowles in 1961 [11]. They found that equatorial spread F could be pictured by
70
a number of characterizations.

3. The D layer — The reflection domain of long radio waves

It is to the credit of Newbern Smith and Samuel S. Kirby of the Radio Section that
observations with a field-intensity recorder led to their announcement in 1937 of finding an
ionized layer below the E layer, later to become known as the D layer. 7 *1

By 1943, when the IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook (issued 1 November, 1943)
became available in limited circulation, sufficient knowledge had been gained of the
properties and propagation characteristics of the D region to be useful to the communication
77
engineer.
Following in the wake of a renewed interest in low frequency radio waves (see sec. 000),
theCRPL initiated new experiments to learn more of the D region. Early in 1950 Jack N.
Brown and James M. Watts of the Ionospheric Research Section™ successfully obtained film
recordings of vertical-incidence reflections from the D region. This was accomplished with a
high-power pulsed transmitter operating at 50 kHz [12]. 79
With a newly developed low-frequency ionosonde, early in 1952 Watts and Brown began
to make sweep-frequency observations of the ionosphere over the range of 50 to 1100 kHz.
During the next several years their observations revealed many puzzling phenomena of the
lower ionosphere, which were subjects of a publication in 1954 [13]. Daytime reflections
indicated three distinct and sharply bounded layers extending from about 70 to 110 km in

73
In 1960 Francis N. Glover of the Ionosphere Research Section prepared a survey paper
— "spread F," published as
NBS Technical Note 82.

14
A brief account of this extensive IGY project is given in the section "Geographical Nonuniformities of the
Ionosphere" (pp. 446-448). For observation of scatter F at 50 MHz a 2580-km circuit was used that crossed the
geomagnetic equator with mid-point at Huancayo.
"Among the characteristics Cohen and Bowles found were that equatorial spread-F echoes could be differentiated
from the more general F scatter, both forms occurring only at night. They found that the scatter F came from
scattering by relatively thin sheets of irregularities in electron density which occur at the bottom of theF layer and
sometimes as much as 100 km below the layer. However, the irregularities or "patches" can occur as high as 450
km. They found that a necessary condition for occurrence of spread F near the magnetic equator is that the
surfaces of constant electron density be approximately parallel to the Earth's magnetic field. The patches or
irregularities can extend horizontally in the magnetic east-west direction for distances of the order of 1000 km.
For a period of several years additional publications were turned out by the CRPL on scatter F, based largely
on the observations made in South America. One, however, by W. K. Klemperer, related to the characteristics of
spread F at the geomagnetic latitude of Ithaca, N.Y. With the advent of observations by satellites, new
opportunities came for study of spread F (see section "Probing the Ionosphere From Above," pp. 503-505).
lh
Existence of the D layer is not readily revealed by the pulse technique of vertical-incidence ionosondes because of
the inability of the region to reflect waves of a frequency greater than about 0.5 MHz. Smith and Kirby announced
their observations in a Letter to the Editor, published in the May 15, 1937, issue of the Physical Review (see ch. VII,
p. 229).
11
Known or observed of the D region by 1943 was the information that: (1) a layer exists in the daytime at a height
of 50 to 90 km of sufficient ionization density to absorb or reflect radio waves, depending upon the frequency, (2) the
ionization density varies approximately with the amount upon the D region, (3) at times of
of sunlight incident
"radio fallout" (Dellinger Effect or sudden ionospheric disturbance), causing an abnormal increase in ionization and
consequent increase in conductivity, there is a strengthening of the sky wave at very low frequencies.
78
The adjective form, "Ionospheric Research Section" was changed in 1959 to the noun form, "Ionosphere Research
Section." The section title will appear frequently in this chapter but each of the two forms appears in correct
relation to the time it was used before and after the early part of 1959.

79
The observations were made at the Sterling, Va. field station with a transmitter output of about 200 kW feeding
into a large loop-antenna. In their brief published report Brown and Watts recorded reflections from a virtual
height of approximated 80 km, with variations in the height ranging from 70 to 90 km during a 1-day period. On
one occasion there was evidence of two reflections from different heights for a short period of time.

426
 -\
V

V
AA
\ /v
r
\
V] W
\ /
J
V
T
STER - ING, V 6

1 \

16 18 22 02 04 06 08
JAN. 15 * - >- JAN. 16 , 1950

LOCAL TIME IN HOURS

IONOSPHERE VIRTUAL HEIGHTS 50 KC/S

A pioneering experiment in early 1950 by the Ionospheric Research Section proved that it was possible to observe
reflections at a frequency of 50 kHz from the lower region of the ionosphere by the vertical-incidence technique.
The graphical representation summarizes determinations of virtual heights of reflections observed over a 24-hour
period. Near local time of 04 there was evidence of reflections from each of two closely spaced layers.

virtual height. They discovered a nighttime layer between the E and F layers, which was
erratic in its existence, but seemed to have continuity with the E layer during sunset.
Among the various ionospheric studies at low frequencies made at the Sterling field
station was that of the change in polarization of reflected waves. Both plane and circular
polarized 160-kHz waves showed various degrees of elliptical polarization upon reflection.
Unstable polarization occurred at sunrise and sunset and at other irregular times.
In 1959 Watts, with C. D. Ellyet, published a lengthy survey paper on evidence of
80 81
stratification in the ionospherebelow 100 km [14]. '

Some studies were continued by the CRPL during the early 1960's on the D region, but
with the sober viewpoint that it is a region of the ionosphere that yields its secrets with
experimental difficulty. 82 More was learned of the physical and chemical processes of the

C. D. Ellyett was associated with the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Ellyett had published
80

a paper in 1947 on observation of echoes from the D region in the vicinity of two islands in the southern Pacific.
81
Gathering their information from a number of sources, Ellyett and Watts concluded that one layer of the D
region is observed consistently at about 85 km. There was evidence to indicate that other finely structured layers

exist in the D region but have no long-time constancy of height and pattern. Their information was gathered
largely from radio, optical, and rocket observations.
82
In a paper published in 1964, James R. Wait of the CRPL stated:
One of the most challenging problems in VLF research is to obtain information on the
ionosphere D layer from measured data on amplitude and phase of a distant transmitter. CW

427
region, along with evidence that the ionizationis produced by extreme ultraviolet radiation

and X
rays from the Sun.
Although nonlinear processes in the ionosphere are not confined to the D region, their
83
occurrence is more frequent in the lower ionosphere. An international meeting, the
Conference on Non-Linear Processes in the Ionosphere, cosponsored by the CRPL and the
Voice of America, was held at the Boulder Laboratories on December 16 and 17, 1963.
84
Twenty-four papers were presented at the conference.

4. The E and F layers

Because of the greater yield and formidable means of gathering data on the E and
less
F layers than on other regions, the Radio Sectionmade great strides during the 1930's on
probing the ionosphere and learning its secrets. Later, during the years of the CRPL,
research on these layers was oriented toward scattering phenomena, height profiles of
electron density, theoretical considerations of the nature of the layers, and construction of
80
models of their make-up. Among the more theoretical treatments of the ionosphere as a
stratified media was the book published by James R. Wait in 1962, entitled Electromagnetic
86
Waves in Stratified Media [16].

5. The case of the "G layer"

In several papers published during 1933 and 1934, members of the Radio Section
reported on their observations of reflections of radio waves at heights much above the F 2
layer (see ch. VII, pp. 229-230). The more prominent and lower layer they chose to call the
"G layer." But the ionosonde proved to be a rather ineffectual means of obtaining detailed
knowledge of the upper ionosphere. More effective probing was by means of radar
(incoherent scatter), rockets, and satellites. Moreover, treatment of the upper atmosphere
leaned more in the direction of electron density and the properties of a plasma, rather than
that of well-defined layers with sharp boundaries that reflect radio waves back to the Earth.
Thus, the terms G and H layers have rarely appeared in the literature in more recent years.

Improving upon the prediction services

During World War II the IRPL had met the need of the military by developing a
prediction service for useful frequencies within the band suitable for ionospheric
propagation. As an instruction manual for predicting from the CRPL Series D tables, charts,
and nomograms, in 1947 the Regular Propagation Services Section, under Walter B.

83
Mathematically, a nonlinear process involves quantities with squares or higher powers. In radio engineering
terms a rectifier or detector involves a nonlinear process. In radio propagation, the Luxembourg Effect (cross
modulation reaction between two radio waves) is a nonlinear process that takes place in the D region of the
ionosphere at a height of about 75 km.
84
Twenty of the papers were published as NBS Technical Note 211 in six volumes, issued April 17, 1964, with
Donald H. Menzel (Harvard College Observatory) and Ernest K. Smith, Jr. (CRPL) as editors.
85
In 1962, two members of the Sun-Earth Relationships Section and a member of the Physics Department of the
University of Colorado presented a paper at the International Conference on the Ionosphere (London) on a new
model of the atmosphere and ionosphere in the E and F! regions [15]. Their model, based upon observations of
others, encompassed a height range of 100 to 300 km. First, they prepared a model for a neutral atmosphere
determined by the temperature profile, the height of the turbopause (at 110 km, for range of 100-120 km), and other
factors. From this model they were able to form an ionospheric model of the E and F! regions from photoionization
and other data. This model, in turn, yielded a variety of information on the processes that occur within the day-
time ionosphere of the E and F regions.
l

In 1964, H. Rishbeth, a consultant to the CRPL, published a paper depicting a model of the large-scale
structure of the undisturbed F 2 layer at mid latitudes [17].* His model considered the time-varying rates of
photoionization, recombination, and diffusion. Comparison of numerical values of the model parameters with
observational data was "reasonably consistent."

'Rishbeth was on leave from the Radio Research Station at Slough, Buckinghamshire, England.
86
At the time Wait was a consultant in radio wave propagation, assigned to the director's office of the Boulder
Laboratories.

428
Chadwick, brought out NBS Circular 465, entitled "Instructions for the Use of Basic Radio
Propagation Predictions," which stated in the Preface:

Its purpose is to explain how calculations of maximum usable frequencies

and optimum working frequencies may be made for sky-wave transmission
over any path for any time of day during the month in question by use of
the contour charts for frequency issued monthly in the Basic Radio
Propagation Predictions (CRPL Series D).

In December 1962 NBS Handbook 90 was issued, entitled "Handbook for CRPL
Ionospheric Predictions Based on Numerical Methods of Mapping." The Handbook, prepared
by Sidney M. Ostrow, superseded NBS Circular 465. The team of Roger M. Gallet and
William B. Jones had developed a method of numerical mapping of ionospheric
characteristics by using electronic computer methods and applying the technique to the
CRPL prediction service. 87 88 Previously, for nearly 20 years, the CRPL Series D prediction
'

charts had been prepared by manual and graphic methods. The former Series D charts,
published monthly, were replaced by a new series, the CRPL Ionospheric Predictions, with
numerical prediction maps. There were two forms of maps (with tables of predicted
numerical map coefficients) that could be used for predictions, one suitable for electronic
computation, the other with a punched card system. The new prediction maps yielded more
information and with greater accuracy than the earlier zone prediction charts. Minadora
PoKempner organized the procedures used in the new prediction series. 89
Two years after its establishment the CRPL was obtaining data on ionospheric
observations from an international network of 58 stations. From 14 of these stations the
information was received on a scheduled basis, 7 controlled directly by NBS and 7 operated
in association with other agencies. By 1954 ionospheric data were being received from
approximately 90 stations scattered around the world, including 8 NBS-controlled stations
and 7 NBS-associated stations. 90 These data, as well as sunspot data, were used for
prediction services and for research. By 1949 much of these data were transferred to punch
cards for automatic machine calculation of statistical information.

87
NBS Handbook 90 was preceded by several publications, one dating back to 1960, that introduced the matter of
computerizing the propagation of ionospheric maps for the CRPL worldwide prediction service. In the December
1960 issue of the Journal Des Telecommunications, Jones and Gallet stated that, beginning in 1957, the CRPL had
activated a program for completely revising and thereby improving the forecasting method. The great increase in
number of reporting ionospheric stations brought on by the IGY program, and the advent of electronic digital
computers, hastened the time for revision of the forecasting method.
The process developed was ionospheric mapping by "numerical" methods; a "numerical map" being the
mathematical representations of ionospheric quantities (or characteristics) such as maximum usable frequency and
critical frequency as functions of the variables of latitude, longitude, and time (including diurnal variation). Jones
and Gallet published papers on the subject in the July-August 1962 and November-December 1962 issues of the
NBS Journal of Research. Later, in August 1963, Martha Hinds and Jones published NBS Technical Note 181,
describing the computer program for ionospheric mapping by numerical methods.
88
In 1965 Gallet and Jones received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service as a joint
award "for the development of efficient computer programs for the description and prediction of the worldwide
properties of the ionosphere."
89
In 1961 Minadora PoKempner received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for a
substantial contribution toward fulfilling the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory's mission in the fields of
frequency allocation, frequency usage, and specifications for the design of communications equipment, and for
faithful and intelligent service of a 14-year period."
90
The NBS-controlled stations were located at: Anchorage, Alaska; Point Barrow, Alaska; Ft. Belvoir, Va.;
Narsarssuak, Greenland; Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico; Ft. Randolph, Canal Zone; Guam; and Maui, Hawaii.

429
 World-Wide Distribution of Observing Stations, January, 1947

Growing out of the development by the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory during World War II of a
prediction service for radio communication via the ionosphere, thereafter the number of observing stations grew
very rapidly. By January 1947 the number had reached 63, with worldwide distribution as shown on the
accompanying map. Although the total number fluctuated, by 1954 ionosphere data were received from 90 stations.
Seven of the stations were operated directly by the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory and another seven in
association with other agencies.

430
NBS moved into the vicinity of Pt. Barrow, Alaska in 1949 with equipment to study the ionosphere beyond the Arctic
Circle. Over a 30-year period many types of observations have been made in this far-north region. Beginning in
1951, for a period of 2 years, and another period in the early 1960s, the facility was used as a receiving station for
observations of ionospheric forward scatter. The station has served in a proton-event warning system, thus taking a
vital part in the nation 's manned space flight programs.

Before moving to Boulder in 1954 a method was developed for preparing monthly
ionospheric data tabulation sheets using punchcard machine methods. The punchcard
method was also applied to computation of monthly medians of ionospheric data, with the
result of agreement with computations made by the conventional manual method.
In the interest of improving the predictions of the long-path maximum usable
frequencies, a project of several years duration was carried out before the move to Boulder.
Analyses were made of traffic logs of commercial and government communication systems
over paths in different parts of the world. Discrepancies were found that were a function of
path length and of season and some attempts were made to set up empirical factors to bring
predictions into line with observations. 91
As a Year (IGY) program, the CRPL made
result of the International Geophysical
significant improvements close of World War II the IRPL
in its prediction service. By the
had developed a prediction service for the Armed Forces that was based upon vertical
incidence ionospheric information from 50 stations which, however, was often quite meager
from some of the stations. At the time of the formation of the CRPL (May 1, 1946) the
number of reporting stations had grown to 55, and by January 1947 the number of stations
around the world had increased to 63 (see accompanying map). By 1957, at the beginning of
the IGY program, the number of stations had increased to 78 and at the close of the 2 1/2-
year program information became available from 161 stations. Many of the added stations
were located in South America, Africa, and Antarctica where, previously, ionospheric
information was almost completely lacking. Thus, predictions could be based upon

91
During 1947 some investigations were carried out on a radio traffic analysis project to ascertain the extent to
which the F 2 -layer critical frequency at one station could be predicted from that observed at another. If valid, it
would be possible to extrapolate observed values to areas where no ionospheric data were available. At long
distances the relationship was found to be poor and predictions for maximum usable frequency based on the data
would be unreliable.

431
The Secretary of Commerce, Luther H. Hodges, visits NBS stations in Antarctica during November 1962. This
photograph was taken at the Byrd station. On this inspection trip the Secretary also visited the NBS stations at
McMurdo Sound and at the South Pole. Members of the CRPL staff, reading from left to right in the rear row are:
L. D. Lewis, D. L. Vance, D. E. Patton; in the front row, H. E. Pearson (U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey), Secretary
Hodges, and R. L. Sefton.

information that was more directly related to remote parts of the world than was previously
available, hence the 3-month predictions could be made more accurately on a worldwide
basis.
During the last several years of the 1950's a project known as "World Maps" was
initiated and completed for producing over 500 maps as a simplified method of predictions
for F 2 ionospheric communication. The world maps were placed on a Greenwich mean time
basis rather than local time and were prepared for 6 selected months through a calendar
year. This left but one variable in preparing predictions, that of sunspot number. For a
period of time a cooperative program was carried on with the Radio Research Station,
Slough, England for intercomparison of world map predictions.

Observations with the ionosonde

1. A sequence of ionosondes, and observation by vertical-incidence signals

The "all powerful" tool for observing the ionosphere, namely, the ionosonde, was a
subject of importance at the first meeting (May 1, 1946) of the Radio Propagation Executive
Council. Dellinger stated:

Ionosphere stations at present are operating with different models of

recorders and it is desirable to have a standardized ionosphere recorder to
put all the records on a self-consistent basis.

The ionosonde was the all-important tool for observing vertical-incidence reflections for
research and prediction services. It was also useful for oblique-incidence studies.

432
 Construction of a new model of ionosonde had been started by the Radio Section in the
fall of 1945 and a half year later was nearly ready for bids for construction by an outside
firm. This new model became known as the CRPL Model C ionosonde.
92

In 1950 the Model C-3 ionosonde was developed, and later the Model C-4. Each model
had improved features over the previous model as inspired by experience gained with an
93
earlier model. The Model C-4 was placed in service in 1957.

92
The Model C ionosonde was developed in two designs, both by Peter G. Sulzer (later a staff member of the CRPL
for several years).The Model C-l was an improvement over the earlier NBS designs by Gilliland. Further
improvements resulted in the Model C-2 ionosonde that had a frequency range of 1 to 25 MHz. The ionosphere
could be scanned over this frequency range in a time as short as 2.5 seconds to facilitate the study of short-time
variation of ionospheric conditions. Observations could be made visually or recorded on 35-mm movie film. A wide-
band antenna system was designed to present a fairly uniform signal over the 1 to 25 MHz range of the ionosonde.
The entire operation was automatic. The prototype of the Model C-2 was completed in time for use by James M.
Watts in Brazil for the May 20, 1947, total eclipse of the sun (see ch. VII, p. 218). Production models were used at a
number of the NBS field stations. Some details of the Model C ionosonde can be found in the October 1947 issue of
the Technical News Bulletin.
93
A detailed account of the history of vertical-incidence ionosphere sounding at NBS is covered (to 1959) by Sanford

C. Gladden of the CRPL in NBS Technical Note 28 [18]. In addition to the historical account, Gladden described the
various models of the ionosondes developed and used by the NBS, also those developed by laboratories associated
with NBS in cooperative programs. He also furnished much information on the operation of the various field
stations.
Over the years of the CRPL many of the staff members were engaged in vertical-incidence observations of the
ionosphere with the NBS models of ionosondes at stations scattered over the globe. Their names are well noted in
Gladden's Technical Note.

This lady's wrist watch used with the Model C-l ionosonde (only one instrument constructed) that was developed in
1.945. There was no scale of frequency or height on the ionogram, and time of sweep and time of day were recorded

for each ionogram by photographing the watch (alongside of tape record). The setting of 1:32, on this watch of
historical interest, is that on a published ionogram.

433
Probably for the first time ever, NBS Model C-2, C-3, and C-4 ionosondes appeared in one photograph. The occasion
was in July 1977 at the Boulder Laboratories where the units had come in for refurbishing between deployment at
field sites (see adjacent photo and caption on Boulder Ionosphere Station). These ionosondes have had long service
by the Environmental Data Service operation of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
From left to right are: Model C-3, Model C-4, and Model C-2 ionosondes. Voltage regulator for the C-2 is to its
left, Model C-4 ionosondes were used worldwide at the many recording stations of the IGY program during

1957-1958.

434
The Boulder Ionosphere Station located at the foot of Green Mountain on the spacious grounds of the Boulder
Laboratories. Now operated by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) as one of many
stations for continuous observation of the ionosphere, the facility was first used by the CRPL to train operators in
the use of ionosondes. The facility also serves for the final testing of ionosondes brought in from time to time from
the widely-scattered NOAA stations.

During the IGY program, beginning in July 1957 and extending for several years,
Model C-4 ionosondes were installed at a number of stations in South America and in
Antarctica, some operated directly by the United States.
It had often been observed that vertical-incidence signals are subject to short-term
fading. By 1949 a closer study was made of the fading to determine its relation to
characteristics of the ionosphere. Observing instantaneous values of the field intensity at 15-
second intervals in the daytime and then at night, it was found that adjacent 15-second
nighttime values were quite irregular as compared with daytime values. This was
interpreted to indicate that the equivalent reflecting surface was smoother during the day.
Beginning late in the 1950's there came a new interest in the vertical-incidence
sounding programs of the CRPL to the extent that the Vertical Soundings Research Section
was established in 1961, with John W. Wright as chief. Since vertical sounding is a
foundation of ionosphere research, a mission of this section was to maintain a high grade of
quality control over the world network of stations. A section project was that of developing a
means of determining true heights of ionosphere layers from vertical soundings (virtual
heights). A computer technique simplified the complicated calculations. True heights are
desired for study of accurate electron density profiles of the ionosphere.
In the early 1960's vertical soundings were made as high as 900 km to study electron
and ion densities and their ratio at high altitudes.

435
2. The case of oblique-incidence observations of the ionosphere
Unlike observation of the ionosphere by signal reflection at vertical incidence by means
of an ionosonde at a single point, point-to-point radio communication by reflection from the
ionosphere depends upon the oblique-incidence of signals. The result is that the maximum
usable frequency for communication is higher than determined by vertical-incidence
observation, and the relation is an important matter for prediction services and was studied
at some length by the CRPL. Also, the phenomenon of "back scatter" became a matter of
94
considerable study in its relation to the oblique-incidence of signals by the ionosphere.
Initial experiments on back scatter by the CRPL were begun at the Sterling, Va. station
in 1946 by William L. Hartsfield, Sidney M. Ostrow, and Richard Silberstein, using a high-
power pulse transmitter at 13,660 kHz. Several methods of observing the weak signals that
returned from distant points were used. In the summer of 1951 another technique was
introduced by using a sweep-frequency transmitter. In the short time of a single sweep the
back scatter (in terms of virtual height and skip distance) can be observed as a function of
frequency [19]. The reliability of backscatter echoes for determination of maximum usable
frequency was checked by observations over a 1150-km path between Sterling, Va. and St.
95
Louis, Mo. Vertical incidence observations were made at a midpoint on the path.
In 1953 a two-way, sweep-frequency pulsed transmission system was installed to cover
the 2370-km path between Sterling and Boulder for observation of backscatter and
determination of maximum usable frequency at oblique incidence. Modified Model C-3
ionosondes were used as a transmitter and a receiver at Sterling and at Boulder. Special
attention was given to proper choice of the transmitting and the receiving antennas. At
Carthage, 111. a Model C-3 ionosonde was used for vertical-incidence observations at the
midpoint of the path. The overall frequency range of operation was from 3 to 30 MHz. The
system was used for several years for these studies, as well as for study of point-to-point
communication [20]. Over a period of several years of study the percent differences between
the maximum usable frequency from backscatter data and from oblique-incidence data were
found to be very small (median values of differences less than 1%); the difference between
vertical-incidence data and oblique-incidence data was somewhat greater. Over a period of
about 5 years Richard Silberstein served as project leader on oblique-incidence studies.
Analysis of the data was extended for a period after the experimental work with the
objective of improving prediction methods.
Around 1958 Vaughn Agy and Kenneth Davies studied the records that had been taken
over a period of years with the sweep-frequency pulse technique of observing oblique-
incidence on the 1150-km (Sterling-St. Louis) and 2370-km (Sterling-Boulder) paths. The
purpose was to check on the accuracy of results of observed maximum usable frequencies
with calculated values based upon use of the Smith (N. Smith of NBS) transmission curves.
The discrepancy was found to be around 3 percent, a result similar to that found by other
laboratories [21].

Remote sensing beyond the ionosphere layers

1. A pioneering project at the Long Branch field station

Early in 1958 W. E. Gordon of the School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University,

wrote a paper that was published in the November 1958 issue of the Proc. IRE. Gordon was
well known to Kenneth L. Bowles, chief of the CRPL's VHF (Very High Frequency)
Research Section, and had informed Bowles of the possibility, by means of a powerful radar,

a4
Backscatter are weak signals returned to the transmitting point from distant ground regions via reflection from
the ionosphere, particularly from the F 2 layer. Observation of backscatter can yield information (both
instantaneous and for prediction) on maximum usable frequency and skip distance to a distant and inaccessible
point by observation from the transmitter location only.
"Back scatter" had been suggested as far back as 1927 for a possible explanation of echo signals observed in
round-the-world observations of radio signals by the Naval Research Laboratory (see p. 459).
95
Recordings of backscatter echoes from a considerable distance often show a complex situation, that of ground
scatter reflected by the F 2 layer and other layers, as well as by the E layer itself.

436
 a

of studying incoherent scattering of radio waves by free electrons at all levels of the
ionosphere, and also of observing radar echoes from the Sun and planets. At the time
Bowles had access to equipment being assembled at Long Branch, 111. that could serve as a
radar of sufficient power and sensitivity to have marginal success in observing incoherent
96 " 98
scattering by free electrons.
During daylight hours of October 21 and 22, 1958, Bowles obtained oscillograph
photographs with the makeshift radar equipment that gave evidence of incoherent electron
scattering at a height of around 350 km. Bowles published his rather meager but indicative
observations in the December 15, 1958, Physical Review Letters [22].
A
few months after his initial and pioneering experiment, and after improvements in
the radar operation at Long Branch, in February 1959 Bowles again made observations of
incoherent scattering, this time with greater confidence in the observations and with
greater yield from the information gathered. Bowles was able to observe incoherent scatter
up to heights of 1500 km, extending into the exosphere, including weak incoherent scatter in
the presence of the strong reflections that normally occur in the D, E, and F layers." Bowles
was able to determine electron density profiles ranging up to a height of 750 km, the basic
information that was being sought. These experiments resulted in a paper published early
100 101
in 1961 [23].
'

An early spinoff from the incoherent scatter technique developed by the CRPL, was
that of determining ionospheric temperatures. The method had distinct advantages over
several developed by other investigators. In a paper published by Thomas E. Van Zandt and
Bowies in September 1960, their data on scatter radar profiles confirmed the exponential
decrease of electron density in an observed region (370-520 km) above the F layer. Their
determination of temperature indicated approximately 1050 K for the F layer —
temperature that checked those observed by other investigators. Later observations at the
Jicamarca Radar Observatory near Lima, Peru indicated ion temperatures ranging from 800
to 1500 K, with the higher temperatures occurring at the greater heights extending into the
exosphere.

96
Long Branch is near Havana (southwest of Peoria), 111. It was the location of an NBS field station near midpoint
on a path between Washington, D.C. and Boulder, Colo., and was established in 1956 with Edwin F. Florman in
charge. The many transmitters and antennas were accommodated on a 160-acre tract about 6 miles south of
Havana, and operated with the call letters WWI. Much of the operation was associated with VHF transmission
research programs, including those of forward scatter by the ionosphere. The station was closed down early in 1970
after several years of operation by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, Office of Telecommunications,
Department of Commerce.
97
Early in the fall antenna was assembled at the Long Branch station that
of 1958 a suitable broadside array
A newly
consisted of 1034 half-wave dipoles covering about four acres, with a calculated gain of 35 decibels.
acquired pulse transmitter operated at 40.92 MHz, with a peak-pulse power output of 1 megawatt (earlier
incorrectly rated at 4 to 6 megawatts).
The pulse transmitter had been ordered for multi-path studies in meteor burst and VHF ionosphere scatter
communications, but was first pressed into service by Bowles for the incoherent scatter experiment.
98
Bowles was able check the performance of the radar, and particularly the antenna, by emission from the
to
Cygnus-A that passed through the center of the antenna beam. He found this source
celestial radio (noise) source of
to have a "signal" intensity approximately 10 times that of the galactic noise background.

"The ionosphere is usually defined as the region of the Earth's atmosphere above 50 km and extending out to
several Earth radii, in which free ions affect the propagation of radio waves. The exosphere is the region of the
ionosphere above 500 km through which the temperature remains relatively constant at 1500 K.
100
Bowles was able to confirm that the intensity of scatter was approximately the same as predicted by Gordon.
However, to his surprise, Bowles found that the Doppler broadening or spectrum width of the scattering was but
one-tenth that predicted by Gordon. This was confirmed at a frequency of 440 MHz in early 1960 by Victor C. Pineo
(formerly of the CRPL) at the Lincoln Laboratory of MIT.
In his paper published in 1961 (cited above) Bowles gave an explanation of the more limited spectrum of
Doppler broadening, based on theoretical considerations. He also explained that the scatter comes from statistical
fluctuations of the electron density, the distribution of which is controlled by the positive ions.

In 1961 Bowles received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service "for outstanding
101

contributions to radio science by the demonstration and development of techniques involving the incoherent scatter
of radio waves by electrons in the ionosphere."

437
2. A specialized radar facility on a grand scale
With the observing incoherent scatter from Long Branch, a big step
initial success of
was taken by Bowles and VHF Research Section (later to become the
his associates of the
Ionosphere and Exosphere Scatter Section, with Bowles as chief) in the Upper Atmosphere
and Space Physics Division of the CRPL. The big step was the design and construction of a
radar with a very powerful transmitter (5 megawatts peak-pulse power at 50 MHz) and a
102
sensitive receiver with special features, located near Lima, Peru. The site was in a deep
valley in the foothills of the Andes and the facility became known as the Jicamarca Radar
Observatory. The broadside array antenna was increased to many acres in size compared
with that at Long Branch and consisted of 9216 crossed pairs of half-wave dipoles over a
reflecting screen, truly a huge scatter radar installation. Construction was begun in
January 1961 and completed the following year.

102
The near Lima, Peru was selected for several reasons. Previously, no ionosphere observations of any extent
site
had been carried on in an equatorial region, largely being confined to the temperate or arctic regions. It was
believed that observations made near the geomagnetic equator would yield more definite information on
identification of the ion species existing in the magnetosphere. Also, that noise clutter due to the irregular flow of
electrical currents in the ionosphere was a minimum near the magnetic equator.
The antenna array was increased in size by several stages, eventually reaching an area of 84,000 m or nearly
2

21 acres.
The entire project was carried on with the cooperation of the Government of Peru through the Institute
Geofisico del Peru.

— —
Dipoles by the thousands (9216 crossed pairs of half-wave dipoles) covering an area of 21 acres that serve as a
huge antenna for a scatter radar installation. Construction of the facility, known as the Jicamarca Radar
Observatory, began in January 1961 at Jicamarca, a site east of Lima, Peru, located near the geomagnetic equator.
This venture into new realms of radio research of the ionosphere was a cooperactive project of the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory and the Instituto Geofisico de Peru.

438
 Even before completion of the antenna array observations were begun on incoherent
108
scatter. In July 1962 Bowles, Gerard R. Ochs, and John L. Green reported in the NBS
Journal of Research that a correction factor of approximately 2 must be applied to the radar
equation that was applicable to their study. Also, that the average radar cross-section per
free electron is usually the theoretically predicted value of one half the classical Thomson
cross-section. In the February 1, 1963, issue of Science Bowles published a short account of
the team's observations to determine electron density profiles at heights to nearly 7000 km
as added information on the ionosphere and exosphere [24].

3. A look at Venus
Although the large antenna array at the Jicamarca Radar Observatory was very
limited in its range of declination, the 3.5 degrees deviation of the main lobe from the main

axis was sufficient to track echoes from the planet Venus for 3 minutes each day. In the fall
of 1962 Venus made a close approach to the earth and the Jicamarca facility was used to
observe 50-MHz radar echoes from its surface. The transmitter was operated at a peak-
power of 4 megawatts, with alternate pulses of 3 milliseconds and 500 microseconds at
1-second intervals and a pulse-repetition frequency of 20 Hz. Occasionally the returned
—
signal was three times the received noise power a very favorable condition. Observations
extended over a 10-day period from November 28 to December 7, 1962.
Nearly all of the returned power of the reflected signal came from an area of less than
one-fortieth of the visible disk of Venus. Also observed was libration (oscillatory) fading and
other short-term characteristics of the echoes. Wilfred K. Klemperer, Ochs, and Bowles
participated in the Venus project [25].

4. A continuing program at the Jicamarca Observatory

The out-of-the-ordinary radar installation near Lima, Peru became a much-used facility
for a variety of CRPL projects for which it was uniquely suited. Beginning in the fall of 1965,
the Environmental Science Services Administration continued using the facility until July
1969 when operation was turned over to the Instituto Geofisico del Peru. During most of the
ensuing years the facility has been the flourishing scene of many projects, including
international participation.

Geographical nonuniformities of the ionosphere

Studies of the ionosphere soon led to the general realization that the medium was far
from uniform in the nature of its several layers, height distribution of electron density,
geographical zoning, diurnal and seasonal variations, and other manifestations of
inhomogeneity. With the increasing number of ionosphere sounding stations scattered over
the world by the United States and other nations, it became evident that the ionosphere was
characterized by many anomalies.

1. Mapping the ionosphere on a worldwide scale

a) The January 1, 1942, world maps

The increased knowledge gained of the ionosphere by the Radio Section in the late
1930'sand into the early period of World War II was sufficient to the extent that world
maps or charts could be prepared to show some of its global characteristics. These maps first
became available in the Radio Transmission Handbook, Frequencies 1000 to 30,000 KC of
January 1, 1942, a classified document prepared by the Radio Section under sponsorship of

103
Although the signal-to-noise ratio in the receiver of the incoherent scatterfrom the F region was greater than
unity, the ionization densities are much lower in the exosphere. Here the reflected power is so low that the signal-
was of the order of 10 2
to-noise ratio
4
to 10" and an averaging of receiver output was resorted to, and statistical
procedures were used for evaluation of the reflected power from free electrons.

439
 104
the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) (see pp. 403-404). The maps indicated,
on a worldwide basis, the nature of maximum usable frequencies and lowest useful high
105 106
frequencies for a certain period of time. '

The Handbook contained an absorption index map of the world for the period of
November through February, shown with curves that indicated several values of the
107
absorption index, k. Also prepared for the Handbook were two maps of the auroral zones,
the Northern and the Southern. Although quantitative data relating to the ionosphere were
quite scarce in 1942, enough experience had been gained to indicate that absorption of
energy and radio waves is high in the auroral zones during periods of disturbances. Much
would be learned of the regions in later years.
In the early effort at determination of distance range by a graphical method for
acceptable reception of radio signals, a number of factors were considered. Among the
factors was the condition of severe atmospheric noise (or "static"). In the Supplement a map
indicated areas of the world where severe noise conditions exist in the summer over or near
land masses extending north and south 40° to 50° from the equator.

b) THE 1943 WORLD MAPS

With the organization and the
of the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL)
more ionospheric data became available
intensification of the radio propagation program,
and the IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook was issued on November 15, 1943. New, in this
handbook, was a gyro-frequency map of the world, with contours showing the gyro-
frequencies in megacycles (ranging from 0.07 MHz near the equator in eastern South
America to 1.16 MHz in the Arctic and Antarctic regions). A world map showed the auroral
zones. Another world map showed the auroral zones with contours indicating the absorption
index, k, ranging from 0 to 2.5. A new world map for noise was an improvement over the
earlier one, as it indicated noise zones with ratings by noise grade, ranging from 1 to 5.

Grade the lowest noise level, typified the regions of high latitudes (beyond 50°), while
1,

grade 5 typified tropical regions of high noise level.

With much increased data available from widely scattered ionosondes, it became
possible to chart the critical and maximum usable frequencies of the F ls F 2 E, and sporadic- ,

E layers on the basis of worldwide configuration. The 1943 Handbook contained 12

absorption index charts, one for each month, thus furnishing absorption information in
more extensive seasonal detail than given in the earlier handbook.

c) THE 1948 WORLD MAPS

The war years and early post-war years brought a wealth of information on the
ionosphere, and in 1948 the CRPL brought out another handbook, NBS Circular 1}62,
108
entitled "Ionospheric Radio Propagation." Available, were charts showing worldwide

104
At the time the Handbook and its Supplement (June 1, 1942) were prepared, ionosphere and field-intensity data
were available to the Radio Section from six sources associated with a cooperative project sponsored by the NDRC.
Included were data obtained by the 1941 Louise A. Boyd Expedition to waters west of Greenland (see ch. VII, pp.
225-226). Other sources were three ionosphere stations operated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and
stations operated by the Canadian and British Governments.
105
Quoting from the Handbook, it was stated that the "maps" were:

. pseudo-maps, being like maps except that the horizontal scale is longitude difference
. .

instead of longitude.They are on a rectangular projection, which is similar to but not the same
as the conventional Mercator projection of the world.
106
Specific maps maximum usable frequencies and the lowest useful
depicted, by curves (or contours), the predicted
high frequencies megacycles) for radio reception at a certain time of year (November 1941 through February
(in

1942) and at specific latitudes (0° and 40 °N) of the receiving location.
107
Values of the absorption index, k, were relative to the value of unity at the sub-polar point (Earth location where
Sun is directly overhead). The map was plotted in terms of latitude and local time (longitude difference) of the
receiving station.
108
An early task of the CRPL was the preparation of a book "to meet the need for an elementary presentation of
the theory and practical use of radio-wave propagation involving the ionosphere." NBS Circular 462, issued June
25, 1948, was, in part, a revision of the IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook that was prepared during World War II
at the request of the armed services.

440
distribution of critical frequencies and minimum virtual heights of the E, F 1} and F 2 layers
at the equinox and December solstice (for the year 1945). Also available, for the first time,
were world contour maps that could be used to predict maximum usable frequencies with
consideration of distance factors. These maps incorporated the concept of three longitude
zones delineated on a world scale, named the East, West, and Intermediate Zones, plus the
North and South Auroral Zones. 109
A new set of noise distribution maps became available in the 1948 NBS Circular that
indicated five noise zones, ranging from 1 to 5 for degree of severity. Four maps were
available, one for each of 4 monthly groups (e.g., June-July-August).

d) "World Maps," and the 1962 world maps

After a pilot study, a project to be known as "World Maps" was initiated in 1957 for
prediction of F 2 ionospheric propagation on a world scale, using Greenwich mean time
(G.m.t.) in place of the previously used three-zone system. The simplified system used but
one variable, the sunspot number. In preparing the maps the CRPL participated in a CCIR
Study program for F 2 prediction. Over 500 maps were produced during the course of the
110
project (also, see p. 429).
Updated world maps became available in NBS Handbook 90, entitled "Handbook for
CRPL Ionospheric Predictions Based on Numerical Methods of Mapping," issued December
21, 1962 (see pp. 428-429). Previously, when NBS Circular 462 was issued in 1948, most of the
ionospheric information that can be expressed by world maps had been covered at that time.

2. Auroral blackouts and polar cap absorption

a) In the Arctic

By 1950 the CRPL became interested in arctic phenomena of the ionosphere as revealed
by ionosonde recordings taken at several CRPL field stations spread across northern regions
of the Earth. This study was begun by Vaughn L. Agy of the Upper Atmosphere Research
Section. There was general interest by radio circles, including the CRPL, in the transmission
characteristics of the arctic region because of the importance to radio communication within
and across arctic regions. In an early paper published in Nature (Mar. 6, 1954), Agy noted
his findings on the "probability of blackout" of no-echo conditions of the ionosphere as
111
affected by diurnal variation. Later, in December 1954, the work was published in greater
detail [26]. In this paper Agy's study was made of vertical -incidence observations over a
4-year period (1949-1953) from 18 stations across northern regions from Sweden to Adak
Island in western Alaska. The result was a series of plots that showed diurnal variations in
the occurrence of "blackout" conditions. 112

(Continued)
In the Foreword, the director of NBS, E. U. Condon, stated, in part:

The sciences, and indeed all fields of human activity, depend on the contributions of many
individuals, and the National Bureau of Standards is indebted to many investigators and
agencies for permission to use their results in this book. In particular, the excellent work that
has been done by the Radio Propagation Unit of the United States Army Signal Corps is
acknowledged, especially that on atmospheric radio noise. Finally, acknowledgement is made to
members of the Bureau's staff who have been responsible, under the direction of J. H. Bellinger,
and Newbern Smith, chief and assistant chief, respectively, of the Central Radio Propagation
Laboratory, for various chapters of this book: chapters 2, 4, and 5, A. G. McNish; chapter 3, R.
Bateman, H. V. Cottony, H. P. Hutchinson, and A. H. Morgan; chapter 6, W. B. Chadwick and R.
Silberstein; chapter 7, T. N. Gautier; chapter 8, J. W. Herbstreit, K. H. Norton, and Edna Shultz;
chapter 9, T. N. Gautier and R. Silberstein.
109
For "longitude effect" see footnote 16.
110
The maps were published in two sets, the first in NBS Technical Note 2 (April 1959) and the second in NBS
Technical Note 22 (October 1960).
111
"No-echo" phenomena in the Arctic had been noted by observers in the early 1930s.
112
Among
the conclusions reached by Agy were: that blackouts are widespread and long lasting during periods of
great magnetic disturbances and that the blackout increases with latitude and is greater during the summer
months (greater sunshine). At times of moderate magnetic disturbances or quiet periods, any blackouts that occur
are much less defineable. Similarities between the geographical disturbances of blackouts and auroras were noted,
but time distributions could differ considerably.

441
 Another group of observations became available to the CRPL, beginning in 1951, that of
field-strength data from a chain of recording stations located along a north-south corridor
between the 95th and 100th west meridians from northern United States to northern
Canada. Transmitters (of several frequencies) at each end of the corridor (Bismark, N.D. and
Baker Lake, Canada) provided the radio signals. The project was sponsored by the U.S.
Information Agency and much of the operation was by personnel of the Canadian
Department of Transport. The CRPL program was to determine, with greater accuracy than
before, the location and extent of the "auroral absorption zone" and how it affects high-
frequency waves in crossing the zone. Although the corridor for observations was limited
geographically, compared to the whole of the northern regions of the Earth, Agy was able to
draw several general conclusions from his study [27]. 113
The regional and causal characteristics of ionospheric absorption in northern regions
were quite puzzling to observers until studies were made of the great solar flare of February
23, 1956. The effects of this flare captured the interest of Dana K. Bailey while he was
associated with Page Communications Engineers, Inc. (Washington, D.C.) before rejoining
CRPL, and in September 1957 he published an account of the absorption event [28]. In
particular, he discussed the effect of the absorption on VHF communication circuits in high
geomagnetic latitudes. Significantly, it had been observed that the absorption was
accompanied by a large increase in cosmic-ray intensity, and that during the absorption
period of several days there was but little evidence of magnetic disturbance or auroral
114115
activity. After rejoining the CRPL, Bailey published an extensive tutorial paper in 1964
on polar-cap absorption [29]. In an interim paper Bailey outlined three distinct radio
techniques for the detection and study of the solar cosmic rays associated with polar-cap
116
absorption, including the use of riometers.
the studies of polar blackouts by the CRPL that aided in an understanding of
Among
polar-cap absorption (PCA) was a 30-minute animated sound motion picture produced by
Agy, depicting polar blackouts during the IGY. The picture was shown by Agy at the 5th
technical meeting (Radio Wave Absorption in the Ionosphere) of the Ionospheric Research
Committee of AGARD (NATO Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development),
June 1960, at Athens, Greece, and again at the International Conference on Cosmic Rays
117
and Earth Storms (September 1961) at Kyoto, Japan. On each occasion Agy presented a
paper on the subject of black-out characteristics.

113
Among the conclusions were: the auroral absorption zone is centered near the center of the visual auroral zone
(around 60° north latitude, in area of the chain of recording stations), the auroral absorption zone may be no more
than 6° wide, and nighttime absorption is increased during magnetic disturbed periods for transmission paths that
cross the auroral zone.
114
Later, it clear to investigators that two large-scale absorption phenomena occur in polar
became increasingly
regions: "auroral absorption" that occurs in general association with aurora and magnetic disturbance and is
(1)

confined to the auroral belt; and (2) "polar-cap absorption" (PCA) that is now considered to be but indirectly
associated with the auroral ring, and is believed to be due primarily to ionizing effects of high-energy solar protons
at lower altitudes down to 50 km at a location where the atmosphere is much less conducting than at the upper
ionosphere layers. Much of the effect is associated with the D region.
115
In March 1959 the CRPL sponsored a Conference on Arctic Communication, held at the Boulder Laboratories.
Many of the papers related to recent research of the ionosphere in arctic regions, others to the engineering aspects
of arctic communication.
116
The riometer (relative ionosphere opacity meter) was developed by C. Gordon Little and H. Leinbach at the
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, College, Alaska (later, in 1958, Little joined the CRPL). The riometer
measures absorption of cosmic radio noise in its passage through the ionosphere and has proven to be a valuable
and relatively simple apparatus for observing polar blackouts and for observation of conjugate-point phenomena
[30],

111
Reception of the film at the Athens meeting was evidenced by the speaker for the Concluding Remarks of the
4-day conference,when he stated: "The progress (of Polar-Cap Absorption events) has strikingly been shown by
Agy's film."

442
 PCA EVENT OF OCTOBER 20-23, 1957
(GMT)

1700, 10-20 0600. 10-21 1000, 10-21 1400, 10-21

SID PCA BEGINS PCA BEGINS PCA DEVELOPING

1700, 10-21 2140, 10-21 0400, 10-22 1000, 10-22

PCA MAGNETIC "BREAKUP" "BREAKUP"
"COMPLETE" SUDDEN IMPULSE UNDERWAY CONTINUES

EVENT OVER
BY
0400, 10-23

1900. 10-22 2200, 10-22 0100. 10-23

Twelve frames from a 30-minute animated sound motion picture of the polar cap absorption (PCA) event of October
20-23, 1957. Against a background of land masses (gray areas) surrounding the Arctic Ocean and adjacent waters
(white) are depicted, in black, the areas of extensive absorption or "blackout" of radio waves in the ionosphere.
Beginning October 20, the absorption area increased to a maximum on the following day, then decreased slowly,
and vanished on October 23. Most probably, the cause of PCA is the rather intense ionization effect of high-energy
solar protons in the lower ionosphere.

b) In the Antarctic

In 1959 Robert W. Knecht, chief of the Sun-Earth Relationships Section, published a

report on observations of the ionosphere over the south geographic pole taken on a C-3
ionosonde placed in operation at the South Pole Station in June 1957. Knecht found that
F-region ionization persists during the 6-month winter night, even in the absence of sunlight
during most of the period. Also, that diurnal variations of the critical frequencies of both the
Fj and F 2 layers occur throughout the year. 118
After a pilot experiment in the winter of 1961-1962 on conjugate point observations with
riometers (see footnote 116), a study of ionospheric absorption with riometers was made by
119120
the CRPL in the Antarctic during the period of December 1962-April 1964. In the May
30, 1964, issue of Nature Hugh J. A. Chivers and John K. Hargreaves of the High Latitude
Ionospheric Physics Section reported on riometer measurements of the absorption of 30-MHz
cosmic radio noise at both stations of each of three pairs of magnetically conjugated

118
Knecht's report was followed in 1962 by one on studies of IGY data prepared by W. R. Piggott of the Radio
Research Station, Slough, England, and A. H. Shapley of the CRPL. Their report, entitled "The Ionosphere over
Antarctica," was published, among other papers on Antarctic research, by the American Geophysical Union as
Geophysical Monograph Number 7. The report was primarily studies of the F 2 layer in the Antarctic, but included
studies of polar-cap absorption events.
119
The concept of conjugate point studies is that of observations made at opposite ends of a given line of the
geomagnetic field that permit investigation of geophysical phenomena, such as ionospheric absorption, which are
propagated along the field.
120
By 1963 a complex of riometer stations was in operation in eastern Canada (three operated by the CRPL, seven
by the Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment of Canada) which provided a means of observing the
extent and movement of absorption patches in the ionosphere. With the aid of a computer it was possible to map
absorption movement with respect to time and latitude. This technique was used in mapping the large absorption
events that occurred in the region during and after the period of September 26-29, 1963.

443
 121
stations. In a subsequent paper they reported that in the region of the South Pole the
absorption activity followed a diurnal pattern, with greater intensity of activity at night, but
of shorter duration than during the day.
Another program in the Antarctic was one of the various projects engaged in by the
CRPL during the IQSY (International Geophysical Year of the Quiet Sun) of 1964-1965, that
of a phase of cosmic-ray research by use of the technique of ionospheric forward scatter.
This was a cooperative project of NBS with the Bartol Research Foundation of the Franklin
Institute, Swarthmore, Pa. The program was directed by Dana K. Bailey of NBS and M. A.
122123
Pomerantz of the Bartol Research Foundation.
121
Three stations were in eastern Canada, with their three magnetically conjugate stations in the Antarctic (one at
the South Pole).
122
At the time, Bailey was a consultant in the Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division; Pomerantz was
chairman of the U.S. National Committee for the IQSY.
123
Bailey had been much involved in ionospheric forward-scatter research since 1951, initially, in developing a new
method of radio communication and, later, using forward scatter as a rewarding means of observing phenomena
associated with the ionosphere (see section on Ionospheric Forward Scatter). He authored a number of papers in
this area of radio research, among them being a survey paper on the intense absorption of radio waves in the lower
ionosphere, including the mesosphere, published in 1964 during the IQSY program (see [29]).

Looking down on an area of the South Pole station on a bright day in January. The view is from the top of one of
—
twin towers supporting ionospheric forward-scatter antennas the tower's shadow (vertical to photo) can be seen at
lower right, with the photographer's shadow at center right. The tower at upper center supports the antennas for
vertical-incidence ionosphere sounding. The station was one in a chain of five for study of ionospheric forward
scatter in the Antarctic during the IQSY program of 196If-1965.

444
 Early in 1964, during the mid-summer season in the Antarctic, Wesley B. Harding and
Milton W. Woodward of the CRPL engineered the installation and activation of forward-
124
scatter circuits at five stations on the Antarctic Continent.
Following the 21 months of forward-scatter observations in the Antarctic, Bailey and
Pomerantz published two papers on the effects of precipitation of high-energy (relativistic)
125
particles into the lower ionosphere. Later, in 1968, Bailey published an extensive paper
that encompassed this subject, but confined the treatment to observations made in the
Arctic [31]. This paper included data, and Bailey's analyses, taken by a variety of ground-
based observing techniques.

124
The four forward-scatter paths had terminals at three U.S. stations including the South Pole, at the United
Kingdom station located on Halley Bay, and at the Vostock station operated by the U.S.S.R. (see accompanying
map).
125
Previous to the forward-scatter method of observing solar proton emissions in the Antarctic, observations in the
Arctic had been made in the frequency range of 32 to 36 MHz. In the Antarctic, during a period of minimum solar
activity, the frequency range was lowered to a narrow range between 23 and 24 MHz for increased sensitivity in
observing the effects of charged particles over a greater energy spectrum.
After installation of the equipment by NBS, the forward-scatter observations in the Antarctic were made by
personnel associated with the Bartol Research Foundation. The large-scale project was financed by the National
Science Foundation.

w 40J
i£ J£ IC OJ W JOJ W SJT

130- 140' 150" 160' 1

70- W (TO* ISC 140*

Location of transmitting and receiving stations for study of forward scatter in the Antarctic. The IQSY (196i-1965)
study was a cooperative program of NBS and the Bartol Research Foundation. The Vostok II station was operated
by the U.S.S.R., and the Halley Bay station by the United Kingdom.

445
 HHHHHHHHHH^HHB

Raising a five-element Yagi antenna for mounting at top of twin 131-ft towers at the U.S.S.R. -operated Vostock II
station in Antarctica. This photograph, taken in March 1964. shows one of a group of five stations used in an
IQSY (International Geophysical Year of the Quiet Sun) program of observing ionospheric forward scatter in the
Antarctic. Wesley B. Harding and Milton W. Woodward of the CRPL engineered the installation and activation of
the transmitters, receiving equipment, and antennas for this 2-year operation. The program led to a better
understanding of the lower region of the ionosphere.

3. Ionospheric observations near the geomagnetic equator

a) VHF SIGNALS ACROSS THE GEOMAGNETIC EQUATOR

The success achieved by the CRPL in research conducted in temperate and arctic
regions on ionospheric VHF forward scatter as a mode of radio communication gave impetus
for continuing the research with experiments in equatorial regions or, more specifically, in
126
the region of the geomagnetic equator. The IGY program provided such an opportunity,
both by funding and in the diversification of its ionosphere research projects. Planning for
the VHF forward-scatter project began in 1955 with the guidance of Bowles and later, of
Robert S. Cohen. Transmitters, receivers, and antennas for operation at 50 MHz were
transported to South America and measurements conducted during a 1-year period from

126
The reader is referred to pp. 485-498 for an account of the earlier CRPL research on ionospheric VHF forward
scatter.

446
December 1957 through November 1958. ™ Additional experimentation and measurements
were continued by the CRPL subsequent to the IGY program.

127
Observations were made over two transequatorial paths straddling the geomagnetic equator along the west coast
of South America. The shorter circuit of 1230 km was used to observe scattering effects in the lower E region of the
equatorial ionosphere. Later, a path across South America, parallel to the geomagnetic equator, was operated for
further studies of VHF forward scatter.

One of four radio receiving mobile laboratories being loaded in August 1955 at the Boulder Laboratories for
shipment to South America as a facility in an IGY program to study ionospheric forward scatter across the
geomagnetic equator. After test runs in several locations, the trailers were barged down the Mississippi River to
New Orleans, then by freighter to South America. Standing, left, by the trailer are Kenneth L. Bowles (left) and
Robert S. Cohen, who were in charge of the project. The destination of this trailer was Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Bowles and Cohen reported on this project in several publications over a period of about
8 years. A summary report By 1963 a number of interesting
was published in 1963 [32].
conclusions had been reached from the research of VHF forward scatter near the magnetic
equator. It was found that E-region scatter predominated and that the intense daytime
128
scattering largely due to the equatorial electrojet.
is The weakest signals caused by
scattering in the E region were comparable to the strongest signals propagated over similar
paths in temperate regions. Lesser scattering was observed from the D-region and some
nighttime scattering from F-region irregularities (also, see sec: Studies of the Ionospheric
—
Regions, 2. Observing scatter F on spread F at the geomagnetic equator).

128
The "equatorial electrojet" is the concentration of electrical currents flowing in the ionosphere in a narrow belt
along the geomagnetic equator.

447
 The work of Bowles and others in South America with incoherent scattering technique
(see sec: Remote Sensing Beyond the Ionosphere Layers) led to many observations of
ionospheric characteristics in the region of the geomagnetic equator.

b) African studies
To further enhance the knowledge of ionospheric propagation in equatorial regions,
experiments were conducted in Africa during two periods of 1961 in cooperation with the
U.S. Information Agency. Transmissions of 20 and 50 MHz from Tripoli, Libya were
observed by ionosonde recording at Accra, Ghana over a 3300-km path. 129
The most interesting phenomenon observed was the appearance of echoes from spread
F shortly after sunset. There was evidence that the reflections resulted from scattering by
clouds of electrons moving rapidly along the Earth's magnetic field.

4. "Far East Anomaly"

By the mid-1950's the U.S. Army Signal Corps had constructed several links of a
network of stations in the Western Pacific for communication by ionospheric scatter
propagation.
130
During the operation at 36.4 MHz of an experimental circuit between the
Philippines and Okinawa in the period of May 1956 to May 1957 a new phenomenon was
131
discovered that became known as the "Far East Anomaly." Although Ernest K. Smith of
the CRPL had been aware of a high incidence of sporadic E in the area, this previously
undiscovered phenomenon was found to be associated with the F layer. Beginning in
September 1957, a second circuit was placed in operation for 1 year for measurement of
sporadic E at 50 MHz by the CRPL as part of the IGY program for studying the ionosphere
132
on a worldwide scale.
Unexpectedly, it was observed that during the evening hours the signals would often
increase by 40 to 50 dB above the normal level on the 36-MHz circuit and 30 to 40 dB on the
50-MHz circuit [33,34]. The enhancement of signals reached a maximum during September
and October. 133 Pulse-delay measurements indicated that reflection was from the F layer
and, also, that the signals would usually arrive from a direction somewhat angled from the
great circle path.
There was reason to believe that the anomaly is associated with equatorial spread F
134
(see pp. 425-426). Various speculations have come forth to explain the anomaly.

129
Tripoli lies considerably north, while Accra lies just south of the geomagnetic equator, thus the signals crossed
the magnetic equator.
130
For information on the development of communication by ionospheric forward scatter see section "NBS Pioneers
in Radio Communication by Ionospheric Forward Scatter" of this chapter.
131
The experimental circuit of 1329-km distance was constructed and operated on contract to Page Communications
Engineers, Inc. of Washington, D.C. Ross Bateman, formerly chief of the CRPL's Ionospheric Research Section, was
in charge of the project.
132
The second experimental circuit of 1347-km distance was placed nearly parallel to the first circuit and was
constructed by the Page Company.
133
A seasonal enhancement of signals appeared during the vernal equinox at 36 MHz but appeared only in 1957 for
the 50-MHz signals. The enhancement of signals would usually begin in the early hours of the evening, increase
rapidly, level off, and then return to normal level around midnight.
Because of its association with the evening hours, the signal enhancement is occasionally called the "evening
signal anomaly."
134
At no time was there any relation observed of this anomaly with the state of the Earth's magnetic field. From
observations made by the CRPL in the Caribbean during the IGY ionosphere program on sporadic E there was no
evidence of the Far East Anomaly.
A second expedition was made by the CRPL to the Phillipines-Okinawa area during September and October
1959 for further observation of the Far East Anomaly. During this period the 50-MHz signals were monitored at
four moderately distant stations in several directions from the transmission path, with observation that the
Anomaly was somewhat widespread in the Western Pacific.

448
 The Sun— The all-powerful control of the
ionosphere 135

1. A long-time study of solar activity

a) Taking account of the Sun

In an NBS publication of 1938, Smith, Gilliland, and Kirby of the Radio Section called
attention to their study of the Bureau's ionosphere observations from 1933 to 1938 [35]. It
was a period of increasing solar activity, from a sunspot minimum in 1933, and was
accompanied by large increases in ionization of the upper atmosphere. They concluded from
this study that:

. . . there is a good correspondence, and in the case of the E-layer,

correlation in considerable detail, between the averages of sunspot numbers
and the critical frequencies (or ionization various
densities) of the
ionosphere layers. This means that the averages of sunspot numbers give a
good criterion of the general level of solar activity, and a good index to the
general amount of the ionizing radiation emitted from the sun. Exact
correlation is indeed not to be expected in detail, since sunspots and the
ionizing radiation are two different manifestations of solar activity, which
follow the same trend in general but not in detail.

The existence of these relations, together with the vast amount of data
available on sunspot activity in the past, suggests the possibility of
forecasting the average condition of the ionosphere on the descending half
of this cycle, and perhaps even in future cycles. Accordingly, average radio-
transmission conditions and average optimum frequencies for radio
communication over different paths can be estimated, months and even
years in advance.

After 1 1/2 years of operation, the IRPL issued a research paper for restricted
distribution, entitled "Methods used by IRPL for the prediction of ionospheric
characteristicsand maximum usable frequencies," (IRPL-R4, 31 Dec. 1943). Of significance
was the statement in the Introduction:
The essential basis of long-time predictions is the fact that the critical
frequencies and virtual heights of the ionosphere layers are subject to
regular variations diurnally, seasonally, and from year to year with the
sunspot cycle. These variations repeat themselves in a sufficiently regular
manner so that average characteristics can be predicted with reasonable
accuracy.

Over a period of about 7 years there had evolved within the Radio Section a method of
determining the maximum usable frequencies (muf) for radio transmission via the
ionosphere, based upon critical frequencies from observations of virtual heights of the
ionosphere layers by vertical-incidence measurements (see ch. VII). By April 1942 the Radio
Section was able to produce worldwide prediction charts that were based upon time of day
and year, latitude and longitude, and sunspot numbers (see pp. 407-409). In turn, these
charts yielded in advance the desired information for selection of maximum usable
136137
frequencies.
A later contribution to the research papers on the relation of the ionosphere to solar
activity, initially issued for restricted distribution by the IRPL, was published in 1947 by

135
Quoting from the First Annual Report of the Boulder Laboratories for period July 1, 1954-June 30, 1955 (p. 52),

the statement was made for the Sun-Earth Relationships project, that:

It isthe sun which provides all but perhaps an infinitesimal amount of energy to the earth's
atmosphere and is therefore basically responsible for the ionospheric conditions which make
possible and influence the propagation of radio waves over long distances.
136
The method of predicting ionosphere characteristics and maximum usable frequencies, and thus successful
transmission via the ionosphere, is rather complex and too detailed to cover in this treatment. The reader is
referred to the IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook (November 15, 1943), the IRPL-R4 (December 31, 1943) for their

449
Marcella L. Phillips [36]. Amade of records for time variation of noonday
study had been
critical frequencies of 1; and E F2 F
layers
,
of the ionosphere over a period of 12 years at
three locations (Washington, D.C., Peru, Australia). Comparison was made with the
variation of Zurich sunspot numbers over the same period. From this study the author
concluded:

Because of the precision in measurement of ionospheric critical frequencies,

their close correlation with solar activity, their ability to measure far lower
values of solar activity than those given by sunspot-numbers, and their
consistence, as demonstrated above, their use seems to afford what at
present may well be our most precise measure of general solar activity.

Although the passage of time showed that

this concept is generally true, there are
many complicating factors involved in the complete overview of the Sun's activity as
observed from the Earth platform.

b) Predicting sunspot numbers

In 1944 Alan H. Shapley published a short account on estimating the epoch of the
coming minimum of solar activity (at year 1944.9) and the succeeding maximum (at year
138
1949.6). He estimated the height at maximum activity to be at 80 (relative number R M ).

His estimates were based upon investigations of earlier sunspot cycles by others.
Following in the train of a number of investigators beginning around 1930 (and
including Shapley), Alvin G. McNish and J. Virginia Lincoln of the Upper Atmosphere
Research Section developed a method of predicting sunspot numbers which they published
in October 1949 [37]. They developed a formula for predicting smoothed annual sunspot
numbers based upon sunspot observations going back to 1834 and upon some information as
far back as 1755. The importance of their work, along with that of their immediate
predecessors, was, in their own words:

Until recently these predictions were largely of academic interest, but with
the discovery of the close relationships which exist between radio
propagation conditions and sunspot activity the prediction of sunspot
numbers has assumed great practical importance.

In a subsequent publication, 5 years later (1954), they found that the formula they had
developed worked quite satisfactorily for the 11 -year cycle just completed, in spite of the fact
that the sunspot numbers had been the highest recorded since 1834. Their method of
predicting sunspot numbers has had useful application over the years to the present time.

c) The Sun in relation to the world

A nearly 20-year program of Sun-Earth relationships by the CRPL had its start in the
Radio Disturbance Analysis project within the Basic Ionosphere Research Section. This was

(Continued)
historical significance, or to NBS Circular 462, entitled "Ionospheric Radio Propagation" (June 25, 1948) for more
complete technical accounts.
137
The growing scope of knowledge of the ionosphere by members of the Radio Section permitted them to say, with
assurance, in the IRPL-R4 research paper:

Since the ionosphere is produced by radiation from the sun, the variations of that radiation are
related to at least of the variations of the ionosphere. The first step in predicting
some
ionosphere characteristics, therefore, is to predict the amount of ionizing radiation emitted from
the sun. It has been found that in general, but not in detail, sunspot numbers are a measure of
solar activity, and of emission of ionizing radiation. On the average, a high value of sunspot
number corresponds to a high value of ionizing radiation and consequent ionization of the earth's
atmosphere. Thus a prediction of the average sunspot number is the first step in making an
ionosphere prediction.

Note: Changes in ionization density of the Earth's atmosphere cause changes in heights of the ionosphere layers
which, in turn, determine the maximum usable frequencies for various distances of transmission.
138
At the time Shapley was with the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington,
D.C. In 1947 he joined the CRPL, later to become chief of the Sun-Earth Relationship Section.

450
early in 1947 when Alan H. Shapley entered the CRPL as leader of the project. Later, a
separate project was initiated for the more specialized field of solar-terrestrial relationships,
with one of the tasks that of preparing solar-flare information for publication in the CRPL-F
series, Part B on Solar Geophysical Data. Other work within the project, until the move to
Boulder in 1954, was in the area of coronal-magnetic correlations, sunspot number
predictions,and indices for solar activity.
With the move to Boulder, a close cooperative relationship was established with the
High Altitude Observatory (HAO) of Harvard College and the University of Colorado. 139 For
the next 10 years there were many cooperative projects between NBS and the Observatory,
including joint authorships on a number of published papers. Among the projects was the
preparation of the joint HAO-NBS Weekly Report on Solar Activity (later, with daily
information from Sacramento Peak Observatory, New Mexico).
The early purpose of the Sun-Earth project (later to become the Sun-Earth
Relationships Section, with Shapley as chief) was:

... to understand more fully solar activity and its effects on the earth;
more particularly to study the amount, kind, and variations of solar
radiation which interacts with the ionosphere, the origin in the sun of the
radiation, the mechanisms of its emission, its trajectory, the mechanism of
its interaction with the earth's atmosphere, and the special methods for
140
detecting the solar effects on the atmosphere.

In pursuing the objectives of the section's projects much of the work was slanted
toward studies of the Earth's geomagnetic and ionospheric storms as a result of solar flares
and other manifestations of the Sun's activity. An abundance of papers was published over a
period of nearly 10 years.
In 1959 Constance S. Warwick and Marion B. Wood reported on their study of the
relation of limb flares to short-wave fadeouts and radio-noise bursts [38]. Their information
came from a Of considerable interest was their conclusion that radio-
variety of sources.
noise bursts at 2800 MHz are strongly related to the occurrence of short-wave fadeouts, an
observation that had been made by other investigators several years earlier. Taking
cognizance of this strong relationship, the Radio Warning Services Section initiated
observation of radio-burst noise at 2800 MHz three times daily as a measure of solar activity
for its radio disturbance warning service.

142
2. The Radio Disturbance Warning Service 141
a) Reporting on radio reception— A prewar service
The Radio Section first began publishing its observations of ionosphere disturbances
and fade-outs on a monthly schedule through the medium of the Proc. IRE beginning with

139
The High Altitude Observatory had beginning in 1940 at Climax (on the Continental Divide, to northeast of
its

Leadville), Colo., as a field observatory of theHarvard College Observatory. At this site was installed the Western
—
Hemisphere's first coronagraph a telescope for observing the Sun's corona by creating an artificial eclipse. Later
the observatory was operated jointly by Harvard College (University) and the University of Colorado, with Walter
Orr Roberts as its first director (see ch. XIX, p. 708). The HAO was a source of information on solar disturbances
during World War II for the IRPL warning service, the information being received by telegraph and via the
Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The High Altitude Observatory became a part of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder) in
1961, although much of its operations continued on the campus of the University of Colorado.
140
Some years later the purpose was extended to a better understanding of solar emission of particles that cause
geomagnetic and ionospheric storms, and their measurement by means of rockets or balloons.
141
Considerable attention and space has been given to the topic of the Radio Disturbance Warning Service. For it
was Dellinger who said in 1961 if he were asked "What was the most outstanding of all the Bureau's radio
achievements in these fifty years?" he might answer "... it was the propagation prediction and warning
service. . .
." (see app. D, p. 795).
142
The reader is referred to a somewhat similar but more detailed account of the NBS Radio Disturbance Warning
Service, entitled "Ionospheric Forecasting in the United States 1942-1966," prepared by J. Virginia Lincoln for
presentation at a session on History of Ionospheric Forecasting at the AGARD
Conference of September 1969 at
Greyrocks (near St. Jovite, Quebec). The account was published (January 1970) in the AGARD Conference
Proceedings No. 49 by NATO Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development.

451
 143
the September 1937 issue (see ch. VII, pp. 236-237). These monthly publications were
primarily reports on maximum usable frequencies, virtual heights, and critical frequencies
of a previous month, but as the series progressed the reports contained information (by
means of graphs) for predictions of radio transmission conditions several months in advance.
Although the reports were supplemented with observations of ionosphere disturbances and
fade-outs, there was no attempt to predict the occurrence of these interruptions to radio
transmission. The reports continued to the time of the U.S. entry into World War II, the last
issue being December 1941. Thereafter the information was made available as mimeograph
copies to the armed services.

b ) The IRPL gives aid to World War II communications

It was the accepted belief that excessive bursts of radiation and emission of high-speed
corpuscles by the Sun cause interruptions to radio transmission, and there existed the hope
144
that these interruptions could be predicted in advance.
Progress had been made by 1938 in rating the degree of ionospheric "storminess," both
in the ionospheric "character" and the magnetic "character" by numerical ratings of
145
severity. Although reports on the degree of ionospheric storminess of a past month were of
interest, a more useful service to the armed services would be that of forecasting ionospheric
disturbances as an aid to radio communication. Beginning in 1942, a prediction service was
provided by the IRPL on a weekly schedule, with the information available via IRPL-J series
of classified publications (see footnote 24). Although useful, the disturbance prediction
service was not as successful as that provided for selection of frequencies for ionospheric
146
propagtion.

first NBS publication on ionospheric disturbances had appeared as a Letter to the Editor in the November
145
The
15, 1935 issue of the Physical Review (see ch. VII, pp. 227-228). The first NBS publication on fade-out or sudden
ionospheric disturbance (SID) appeared in the October 11, 1935, issue of Science (see ch. VII, p. 221).
144
This hope was well expressed in an unpublished IRPL report of limited circulation, entitled "Solar Variability,"
dated 10 January 1944 (not of the IRPL-R series). The report concluded with the paragraph:

Predictions. A perfect correlation remains to be found but the discovery of a mechanism for
still

the prediction of the ionospheric storms is an important first step. It is to be hoped that future

studies, carried over at least a complete cycle (11-year cycle of sunspots), of all of the observable
features of solar variability may enable the student to forecast storms with a reasonably high
degree of precision.
145
The ionospheric character figure (I) for ionospheric disturbances observed at Washington, D.C., was based on an
arbitrary scale of 0 to 9, to indicate quality of radio transmission, with 9 representing the greatest disturbance. The
American K-figure magnetic character of the magnetic storm that is associated with ionospheric storms was
for
determined by seven observatories on an arbitrary scale of 0 to 9, with 9 representing the most severe disturbance.
Both numerical systems had supplanted earlier systems of different numerals.
146
An evaluation of the prediction service as viewed by the IRPL after the close of hostilities can be gained from the
Radio Section's Monthly Report for November 1945 (Radio File) which stated:

Warnings and forecasts of ionospheric and radio disturbances:

Monitoring service, magnetic measurements, and direction-finding measurements, principally at
the Sterling, Va. station, and also at various cooperating laboratories, enabled detection of
ionospheric disturbances in their early stages by means of radio propagation failures over paths
crossing auroral regions and by geomagnetic abnormalities. Warnings of such storminess were
given to the Armed Services and a few commercial companies. An 'alerting' service for
ionospheric storminess was maintained by means of a weekly or semiweekly forecast of disturbed
conditions for several days in advance. This was made chiefly on the basis of solar data,
ionospheric disturbances generally being associated with solar meridian passage of pronounced
sunspots or flocculi at the proper solar latitude, thus usually recurring with the 27-day solar
rotation period. Forecasts of this type were effective during part of the declining solar-activity
cycle, before spots of the new cycle became numerous. Fortunately, the earlier part of the war
took place during this phase of the solar-activity cycle. Later forecasts were far from precise
because, although sometimes advance information is given by east-limb coronal data, as yet, no
good method was developed for the forecasting of new active solar areas. This work is being
maintained as a peace-time service.

452
C) A RADIO DISTURBANCE WARNING SERVICE
1) A service to radio communications
On January 9, 1946, the Bureau's station, WWV, began broadcasting ionosphere
141
disturbance warnings and continued the service until October 1, 1976. Beginning in
October 1965 the information for broadcasting was furnished by the Environmental Science
Services Administration, and later by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, until
the service was discontinued on October 1, 1976. Over much of this long period the short-
term forecasts were broadcast at intervals ranging from once to many times each hour.
From the time that the Sterling Radio Propagation Laboratory began operations in
1943 at Sterling, Va., facilities became available for the ionosphere prediction service,
including the disturbance warning service. On October 18, 1949, the prediction operation
was moved to Ft. Belvoir, Va., on the grounds of the Army's Corps of Engineers, located on
the Potomac River south of Washington. The station, known as the Ft. Belvoir Radio
Propagation Field Station, was located at this site for 18 years until the facilities were
148,14!l
moved to Boulder, Colo, in July 1968. During nearly the entire period of operation,
Edward J. Wiewara served as the engineer-in-charge.
In the fall of 1951 a similar operation was initiated at the Radio Propagation Field
Station at Anchorage, Alaska, to be known as the North Pacific Radio Warning Service (in
1964 changed to CRPL High Latitude Space Environment Monitoring Station). The service
covered radio communication paths extending from California through Alaska and across
the Pacific to Japan. Beginning on January 5, 1954, the warnings were broadcast by WWVH
in Hawaii, with coverage over the entire Northern Pacific.

14
'

From 1946 to 1952 several types of coded signals were used to indicate the quality of radio transmission.
Beginning on July 1, 1952, a scale of 1 to 9 was used to forecast the quality of transmission, the digit 1 denoting an

impossible propagation condition and 9 an excellent condition (the digit system was reversed from that used
previous to World War II). The digit scale, to become known as the CRPL radio quality figure scale, was used until
1976 when the warning service was discontinued.
From 1946 to 1971 the disturbance warnings broadcast by WWV were in the International Morse code.
Beginning on July 1, 1971, the warnings were broadcast by voice announcements.
148
This CRPL field station served as a collecting point for observations of radio, ionosphere, solar, and geomagnetic
phenomena taken much of the world. However, it did perform an important function in
at stations scattered over
furnishing disturbance warnings on a scheduled basis to aid radio communication over North Atlantic paths that
are subject to the severe ionosphere disturbances in the auroral belt. For this, the station's operation was known as
the North Atlantic Radio Warning Service. In October 1965, upon the formation of the Environmental Science
Services Administration (ESSA), the station was named the Telecommunications and Space Disturbance Service
Center.
Along with facilities for receiving and transmitting propagation information by land lines and radio, the
station was fitted with an automatic ionosphere recorder (ionosonde), a radio direction-finder, radio field-intensity
equipment, and a means of measuring the vertical and horizontal component and declination of the Earth's
magnetic field. Most of these observational techniques had been developed and used at the Sterling station in the
earlier years. With this equipment, plus information obtained on sunspots, it was possible to prepare short-term (up
to 12 hours) disturbance warnings. The warnings were based upon observations of reduced height of the upper (F 2 )

ionosphere layer, of large variations in direction and large variations and reduced magnitude of the Earth's
magnetic field (observations aided by those of the Coast and Geodetic Survey), of bearings and "bearing swings" of
the radio direction-finder, and on information of sunspot activity furnished by several observatories.
In 1960-1962 the Ft. Belvoir facilities were used for an extended period in preparation for, and furnishing of,
special propagation forecast information to several NASA facilities for the Project Mercury earth orbital flights.
The staff of the North Atlantic Radio Warning Service was congratulated by NASA for contributing to the success
of the October 1962 flight by Astronaut Shirra and the one of May 1963 by Astronaut Cooper.
149
In 1959 of the North Atlantic Radio Warning Service received the Department of Commerce Silver
members
Medal Meritorious Service as a group award "for outstanding dependability and extremely competent
for
performance of duties, as a member of the International Geophysical Year Radio World Warning Group, under
unusually hazardous circumstances and extreme personal hardship."
The members included:
Norbert Bender John W. Pritting
Kent Boggs John J. Sullivan
Lawrence A. Jones James M. Weldon
Roger C. Moore Edward J. Wiewara

453
The Warning Service Building was one of four buildings used by the CRPL in its 16-year operation (beginning in
1.94,9) of the Fort Belvoir field station south of Washington, D.C. The antenna structure at left
of building was for
the direction finder, the antenna at right was for field-intensity measurements of transatlantic circuits.

Operator, William J. Boone, Sr., observing direction of arrival of radio waves at the Fort Belvoir field station from
transatlantic stations. Deviations from normal direction indicate that ionospheric transmissions are unsettled or
are much disturbed in the event of a severe magnetic storm. Also housed in the Warning Service Building was
receiving equipment for recording field-intensity observations. Another building housed the several types of
ionosphere recorders.

454
The Chugach Mountains form a backdrop to the North Pacific Radio Warning Station near Anchorage, Alaska,
with operations beginning in 1951. The service covered radio communication paths extending from California
through Alaska and across the Pacific to Japan. In 1964 the facility came and continues to be known as the High
Latitude Space Environment Monitoring Station, now operated by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration).

2) A service to the International Geophysical Year

Although the primary function of the Ft. Belvoir station was that of operating as the
North Atlantic Radio Warning Service, the station became the focal point of a worldwide
communications network for issuing IGY Warning Messages during the IGY program of
1957-1959 (see p. 484). Functioning as a facility of the International IGY Committee, the world
network was under the general direction of Alan H. Shapley of the CRPL. This operation of
150
the Ft. Belvoir station was known as the IGY World Warning Agency.

3) A long, long warning service

During most of the 35 years of development and operation of the ionosphere

disturbance warning service the project was in charge of J. Virginia Lincoln, who entered
151
the Radio Section on September 23, 1942, as a junior physicist. For many years Miss
Lincoln was chief of the Radio Warning Services Section. The earliest warning service was
based primarily on the bearings and "bearing swings" of the radio direction-finders. From

150
The Ft. Belvoir station was the nerve center for the worldwide dissemination of IGY Warning Messages that
were issued on a daily schedule. The warnings were based on the Sun's activity that was being observed on a 24-
hour daily schedule at a number of locations around the world. The Warning Messages were of two kinds: an alert
to indicate a forthcoming Special World Interval (SWI) and the SWI itself which was a message that indicated a
strong disturbance of the Sun. Thereafter, for a period of several days, IGY scientists the world over intensified
their geophysical observations. The messages were transmitted from Ft. Belvoir over a worldwide wire and radio
teletype network. Messages on the state of the IGY Alert were broadcast many times daily by stations WWV and
WWVH, and by a radio station in Tokyo and one in Buenos Aires. The broadcasting of Geophysical Alerts
(Geoalerts) by WWVand WWVH were continued (until October 1, 1976) after the IGY program as a service for the
World Warning Agency of the International Ursigram and World Days Service (IUWDS).
Roger C. Moore initially headed the World Warning Agency, followed by James M. Weldon, then by Edward J.
Wiewara.
October 25, 1973, Miss Lincoln was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional
151
On
Service, with the citation "for outstanding accomplishments and leadership and the development and
administration of major national and international scientific data management programs."

455
long years of experience, best results were obtained from the forecast service when based
upon observation of variation of the Earth's magnetic field and on solar flux measurements
(a measure of the overall level of solar activity) taken at 2800 MHz three times daily.
Although the length of the forecast periods was changed considerably over the years
(ranging from several hours to 25 days), in general, the degree of success reached an 85
152153
percent rating.

The ionosphere in motion

1. Tidal motion

a) An early CRPL study of lunar tides

During the summer of 1946 Alvin G. McNish, of the newly formed Basic Ionospheric
Research Section, initiated a study of the variability of noon values of F 2 critical frequencies,
particularly as it related to the records of a station in an equatorial region, the Huancayo
154 155
Observatory in Peru. For a number of years observations taken at Huancayo had
indicated an anomaly in the midday F 2 critical frequency that was singularly associated
10 '1

with the magnetic equator. McNish's study led to the presentation of a paper at the 28th
annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 1947,
the title of the paper being "Possible Effects of Terrestrial Magnetic Variations of Ion
157
Density in the F 2 Layer."
In June 1949 McNish and Thomas N. Gautier published their theory of lunar effects on
158159
the midday decrease of F 2 ion density in the region of the geomagnetic equator [39].

152
During the many years of development and operation of the ionosphere disturbance warning service no tutorial
or extensive descriptive paper was published. However, through the years,many articles appeared in the Bureau's
Technical News Bulletin that explained the service and announced changes and improvements.

Beginning with the April 1960 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, Miss Lincoln has served to the
present time as editor of the regularly published information on Geophysical and Solar Data, collected on a
worldwide basis from many observatories.
154
McNish had entered on duty at NBS on August 15, 1946, as chief of the Basic Ionospheric Research Section.
Previously, he was associated with the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, where he was engaged in ionospheric research.
The Huancayo Observatory, operated by the Carnegie Institution, had been taking multifrequency ionospheric
observations since 1934 at its location in the region of the Earth's magnetic equator.
105
In 1960 McNish received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service "for outstanding
contributions of great importance to the special fields of geomagnetism and ionospheric physics, and to the more
general fields of metrology and standardization.

Note: McNish chose not to move with the CRPL to Boulder in 1954 and later became the chief of the Metrology
Division, retiring from NBS in 1970.
156
The anomaly was a remarkable characteristic of the diurnal variation in F 2 -layer critical frequency. Instead of
dawn to a maximum frequency in the early or late afternoon and then falling to the
rising from shortly before
predawn minimum as it does at middle-latitudes the F 2 critical frequency at the magnetic equator was found to
attain a maximum at about 10 a.m., then fall to a secondary minimum around noon, then rise to a second (and
usually greater) maximum in the late afternoon.
157
McNish explained that the ionospheric anomaly of the midday decrease in F 2 ion density (manifested by the
decrease in F 2 critical frequency) could be accounted for by a very large diurnal variation in magnetic field at the
geomagnetic equator. The full explanation came later in a published paper (see text above).
158
McNish and Gautier were able to deduce from the ionospheric records of the Huancayo Observatory that the
diurnal variation of the Earth's magnetic field causes a forced diffusion (movement) of ions in the F 2 region, and
that this diffusion could account for the midday decrease in the F 2 critical frequency. There was further
confirmation of the theory by their finding that when the solar and lunar magnetic diurnal variations are in phase,
the midday values of the F 2 critical frequency are lower than when the solar and lunar variations are out of phase.
They found the maximum ion density at noon to be 60 percent greater 3 or 4 days after the quarter Moons than it

is 3 or 4 days after the new and full Moons.

Later, in a Letter to the Editor (September 1949 issue of the J. Geophysical Research), McNish and Gautier, in

commenting upon "the very large lunar effects in F2 critical frequency discovered at the Huancayo (Peru) Magnetic
Observatory," stated that they had examined the ionospheric data at other low-latitude stations and found the
same lunar effects. However, data from stations 20° north of the geomagnetic equator showed somewhat different

456
b) A THEORETICAL TREATMENT OF IONOSPHERIC MOTION
After the CRPL moved to Boulder, a theoretical study was made of the effect of solar
heating at the base of the atmosphere on the solar and lunar semidiurnal oscillations in the
ionosphere. Theoretical considerations of tidal effects in the upper atmosphere agreed well
with observed data at different heights. The subject was treated in several publications by
Hari K. Sen and Marvin L. White of the Upper Atmosphere Research Section.

C) A LUNAR EFFECT AT LOW FREQUENCIES

Many years after the lunar study by McNish and Gautier, A. H. Brady and D. D.
Crombie of the LF and VLF Research Section studied the lunar-tide variations in the D
region, using a method of VLF phase observations. Previously, no direct studies had been
made of the effect of lunar tides on the apparent height of radio reflections in the D region.
Brady and Crombie published their study in 1963 [40]. Because of the small number (2) of
transmission paths observed, their results, and therefore their conclusions, were somewhat
160
limited in scope.

161
2. Ionospheric winds
Before development of radio and a realistic concept of the ionosphere,
the
meteorologists had observed noctilucent clouds and their movement in the upper
162
atmosphere. Their height has been determined to be within a range of 75 to 90 km, with
observations indicating a concentration of clouds at the 82-km level. Thus, these clouds
occupy the upper half of the D region of the ionosphere (considered to develop between 50 to
163
90 km). The earliest observation of their drift or horizontal motion was made in 1890.
Speeds of 40 meters per second are common and have been observed as high as 200 meters
per second. In northern latitudes the movement is generally in a southwest direction.
Other methods of measuring the drift or motion of the upper atmosphere (ionosphere)
previous to the CRPL's interest in making such observations included: visual and radio
observations of luminous trains of bright meteors, and several radio methods of measuring
the drift of patches of ionization of different intensities. One of the radio methods reported
by investigators was selected by the CRPL as best suited to conduct its own study of
ionospheric motion. This was the radio fading method in which horizontal motions of the
ionosphere are determined from motions of the diffractive pattern of reflected waves from
ionospheric irregularities.

manifestations of the lunar effect, thus indicating a greater complexity in the lunar variations of F, critical
frequency.
109
Interestingly, another investigator, D. F. Martyn of the Australian Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research, had published a paper in the July 1947 issue of the Proc. Royal Society of London on work closely parallel
in time of investigation and in subject matter to that of McNish and Gautier. The title of Martyn's paper was
"Lunar tidal variations in the F more interesting, his
region near the geomagnetic equator." Even investigation
was based upon 3 years Huancayo Observatory. His theory of the effect of
of data taken, also, at the tidal motions
in the atmosphere differed somewhat from that of McNish and Gautier.
On one path, Panama to Boulder, observed at 18 kHz, they found daytime semidiurnal variations of 0.11 km in
160

the height of reflections from the D layer. On the 19.8-kHz Island of Oahu to Boulder path, the variations in height
were found to be less.
161
Not be confused with "solar wind" which
to is a stream of charged particles (mostly electrons and protons) from
the quiet Sun.
162
The nature of noctilucent or night-luminous clouds is not clearly understood, although they have been studied
since 1885.The clouds are observed in the early evening hours or near dawn when the Earth is dark but direct
sunlight illuminates the upper atmosphere. They can be observed only in northern (also southern) latitudes most
commonly between 50° and 70°. The "season" is usually confined to the period of June, July, and August
(December, January, and February in southern latitudes).
163
Another type of cloud associated with the ionosphere was described by C. Hoffmeister in Volume 11 (1961) of the
Annals of the International Geophysical Year. These are luminous bands or "light strips" observed between 90 and
180 km, with a maximum of observations between 120 to 130 km. Thus they occupy the entire region of the E, F^
and F 2 layers of the ionosphere.

457
a) Observations at the Sterling field station
At the beginning of FY 1950 a research project was initiated by Calvin D. Salzberg and
Reynold Greenstone of the Upper Atmosphere Research Section for systematic and
continuous observations of ionospheric winds at the Sterling, Va., field station. 164
In a December 1951 publication Salzberg and Greenstone concluded that wind
movements take place at 80- to 100-km heights [41]. There was no one prevailing direction to
the winds but they observed systematic diurnal and seasonal changes. Comparison with
observations made by the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, England indicated that the
wind movements are a part of a worldwide circulation system.
During the next several years the equipment was improved by automatically sensing
and recording the phase differences of the signals received by the three antennas, with
much additional data being acquired systematically. After the move of the CRPL to Boulder
in 1954 the project was not reactivated.

b) Evidence of ionospheric winds from an analysis of backscatter observations

From
backscatter observations made at the Sterling field station around 1952, Lowell H.
Tveten of the Ionospheric Research Section took the opportunity, on occasion over a period
165
of years, to analyze the records. At the suggestion of Richard Silberstein, in charge of the
backscatter program, Tveten was able to deduce from a backscatter ripple analysis of the
records that the ionosphere was in motion in the F 2 region and of the magnitude observed
by others during the 1950's using several different techniques. He found speeds ranging
from 80 to 1000 km/h, and a direction generally toward the southeast. Tveten published his
study in 1961 [42].

c) Observing ionospheric winds by a Doppler technique

The Doppler-shift technique has been used widely for measurements involving wave
motion and is well adapted to the field of radio science. In 1962 Kenneth Davies of the
Ionosphere Research Section published a short paper on adapting the technique to the
measurement of [43,44]. Eight months previous to Davies's paper,
ionospheric drifts
investigators at Stanford University had published an account of their observations of large-
scale ionospheric disturbances over long paths (up to 6000 km) by a Doppler-shift technique.
Davies' technique permitted observations to be made over relatively short paths 20-km —
distance in his first experiment. Moreover, the technique was well suited to observations of
166
vertical motions of an ionospheric disturbance.
In his early observations Davies found 2-km vertical displacements of the F 2 layer over
a 15-minute period as an ionospheric cloud (irregularity) moved horizontally, indicating an
undulative nature similar to a corrugated surface. Horizontal movements with velocities up
to several hundred meters per second were observed.

d ) Observations with artificial clouds

December 1962 John W. Wright, chief of the Vertical Soundings Research Section,
In
participated with other agencies inan experiment of observing ionospheric winds in the E
layer by rocket sounding and measuring the drift of artificially created clouds (also see pp.
459-460). The experiment was conducted in the vicinity of the Eglin Air Force Base, Florida

164
Required for the operation was a 2.3-MHz pulse transmitter with 10-kW peak power, and three receiving
antennas spaced 200 meters apart at the vertices of an isosceles triangle.
165
These records, largely taken in December 1952, were mainly in the form of 16-mm motion pictures of PPI (plan
position indicator) representation of a sounder technique (akin to radar) of observing backscatter. The pulsed
transmitter was operated at 13.7 MHz; with a peak power of 500 kW.
166
The measurement technique used by Davies had been developed several years earlier by James M. Watts and
Davies as a method of rapid frequency-analysis of fading radio signals and similar observations having long-time
scales and slow variations. Briefly, the technique consisted of recording, on slow-moving magnetic tape, the beat
frequency produced by the received carrier and a local oscillator (with the requirement of frequency stability of the
oscillator equivalent to that of the frequency-stabilized transmitter).
The beat frequency of the order of 5 Hz was converted into an audio tone by fast playback, with the speed-up
factor as high as 1500. The frequency spectrum, obtained by a conventional audio-frequency analyzer, gave a
measurement of drift speed.

458
 —
as a COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) project on ionospheric winds. The experiment
lent confirmation to a theoretical consideration that wind shear is a cause, or contributing
167
cause, of sporadic E.

Around-the world and ABOVE-THE-EARTH experiments

1. Around the world on an 18-kHz wave
In 1927 the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) observed round-the-world signals of
MHz. During the winter of 1948-
several transmitters operating in the range from 16.5 to 20
1949 the CRPL investigated the encircling of the world with an 18-kHz wave a wave 1000 —
times longer than those used by the NRL. Special transmissions from the U.S. Naval Radio
Station NSS, Annapolis, Md. (350-kW output at 18 kHz) were received at the CRPL Sterling
Radio Propagation Laboratory at Sterling, Va., 50 miles to the west of Annapolis. A four-
turn vertical loop, 150 feet in height and 350 feet in length, oriented east and west, served as
the receiving antenna for the VLF signals.
Measurement of delay time of the round-the-world signal was by a moving-film record
of an oscilloscope display of the direct-transmitted and delayed signals. Under normal
ionospheric conditions the delay time was observed to be 0.1373+0.0005 second. Attenuation
of the signals ranged from 56 to 70 decibels during encirclement of the Earth, or
approximately a reduction of 1000 times in field strength. Observations made throughout
the day and night indicated that the delayed signal reached a maximum in field strength
during sunset in the Washington-Annapolis area.
The Earth-encircling transmissions were explained either as propagation by surfaces of
the Earth and ionosphere serving as a waveguide, or by multiple reflections from the Earth
and ionosphere as a geometrical-ray effect. By the ray treatment the number of hops lay
between 47 and 55, depending upon the height of the ionosphere. The experiment was
reported by Jack N. Brown of the Ionospheric Research Section in a December 1949
publication [45].

2. Observations of artificially ionized clouds in the ionosphere

Project Firefly

A 5-year project that began in 1958 involved the participation of a number of staff
members of the Ionosphere Research and Propagation Division in a program of the U.S. Air
Force Cambridge Research Center. This program of observing the characteristics of
artificially ionized clouds in the ionosphere with ionosonde techniques was a part of a larger
program being conducted by the Air Force on missiles and communications. 168
The main series of experiments were carried out in the summer and fall seasons of
1959, 1960, and 1962. In most cases a vertical-incidence ionosonde (1-25 MHz frequency
range) was in operation at each of four locations of the Eglin Rocket Range, including a
station near the rocket launching area at the Eglin Air Force Base. With this system of
ranging it was possible to determine cloud size, height and position of cloud with reference
to ionosonde locations, and the vertical and horizontal drifts of the clouds. Cloud lifetime

167
Observations were made at heights ranging from 100 to 150 km and indicated the persistence of ionospheric
winds for more than 5 hours after twilight. Wind speeds ranged up to 150 m/s. This range of heights is above the
region of the upper atmosphere where noctilucent clouds can be observed (see p. 457).
168
Project Firefly was conducted at Eglin Air Force Base in northwest Florida by the Air Force with support from
the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Specifically, the project was to study the chemistry and physics of
the upper atmosphere by perturbation of the natural composition with artificially introduced chemicals to form
various species of molecules, atoms, ions, and electrons. Perturbations would be by explosive bursts or trails at
heights ranging from 70 to 140 km, and would provide information on photochemical processes of the upper
atmosphere, air motions, wind sheer, the nature of radio signals reflected from artificial electron clouds, and the
possibility of generating ionized clouds for point-to-point communications. The project was under the general
direction of the Chemical Physics Branch of the Photochemistry Laboratory of the Air Force Cambridge Research
Center.
The CRPL team provided technical guidance to the U.S. Army Signal Corps in operation of the several
ionosondes used to observe the cloud echoes, and analyzed the ionograms to determine the character of the
artificially ionized clouds.

459
could also be observed and in some instances was greater than 2 hours for sunlit conditions.
In many cases optical observations of the clouds could be made.
In 1959 only two ionosondes were used, thus limiting the ranging observations. The
1959 series could be classed as a preliminary or "learning" series. The 1960 series consisted
of 27 rocket launchings. Fourteen of these rockets were "salted" with cesium for effective
169
electron clouds, nine for sunlit clouds (launched at dawn), and five for night clouds. Only
above 80 km were echoes observed of sunlit clouds. Although the night clouds had short
lifetimes, echoes were observed for all cloud heights (94 to 138 km). Wind speeds of all
clouds ranged from approximately 15 to 150 m/s. No echoes were observed from detonations
of high explosives. Other types of chemical charges were used, with no significant results. In
general, the cloud echoes had the appearance of sporadic E-layer echoes on the ionograms
170
[46].
Again, in 1962, another series of 27 launchings was carried out, with some changes in
the chemical charges. In general, the conclusions reached from this series were much the
same as in the 1960 series [47].
John W. Wright directed and took a very active role in the conduct of the Firefly
experiments. He was aided by a number of personnel of the Ionosphere Research and
Propagation Division, and especially by Garth H. Stonehocker, Edmond J. Violette, and John
J. Pitts.

3. Observation of a nuclear explosion at the Jicamarca Radar

Observatory
Because of the special features of the Jicamarca radar (see pp. 438-439) and its location
near the magnetic equator, the facility was uniquely suited for observing certain features of
171
the July 9, 1962 nuclear explosion "Starfish" above Johnston Island in the mid-Pacific. Of
172
particular interest was the observation of synchrotron radiation.
In 1963 Gerard R. Ochs, Donald T. Farley, Jr., and Bowles, of the Ionosphere and
Exosphere Section, reported on observations of the explosion conducted at Jicamarca [48].
They detected strong emissions immediately after the explosion, with a maximum reached
about 6 minutes after the blast. At maximum, measured at 50 MHz, the intensity of the
emission was 1000 times greater than the threshold of natural radiation. The measurement
technique indicated that the emission was synchrotron radiation. They estimated a total
of 12xl0 electrons of energies in excess of 1 MeV was trapped in the radiation belt after
24

the explosion. By using the huge antenna in half sections they were able to observe any
polarization of the radiation. They found some elliptical polarization, the character of which
was partly due to the method of generation of the wave, and partly due to its passage
through the ionosphere.
In 1964 Ochs reported that by September 1963 the 50-MHz radio noise had decayed to
0.115 of its maximum observed 14 months previously.

169
Although the dawn-launched clouds were sunlit at the ionosphere heights, they permitted ground-based optical
observations against a dark-sky background.
170
It is interesting to note that in 1944 the Radar Countermeasures Group of the Radio Section, in cooperation with

the Bureau of Ships, experimented with several chemicals in the attempt to create clouds that would serve as radar
reflectors. However, unlike the Firefly clouds in the ionosphere, these clouds were formed but a few hundred feet
above the surface of Chesapeake Bay. Although radar signals were reflected by the clouds this project was
abandoned by the Navy. The wartime Phantom project was classified secret and was not revealed until the
preparation of this historical account of radio work at NBS (see ch. IX, pp. 336-338).
171
This was a project among many scientists carried out for, and supported by, the Defense Atomic Support Agency
(DASA) and other agencies in connection with the 1962 series of high-altitude nuclear tests known as Operation
Fish Bowl. "Starfish" was a nuclear explosion of about 1.4 megatons at 400 km above Johnston Island that created
a temporary radiation belt around the Earth.
"" Synchrotron radiation is the emission of radio frequency waves by highly energetic or relativistic (approaching

speed of light) electrons trapped in the Earth's magnetic field. The radiation can be produced by nuclear explosions
and encircles the Earth as a belt of radiation. It is called synchrotron radiation because it was first discovered in
studies involving the particle accelerator known as the synchrotron.

460
4. HANDS, across land and sea

New information revealed during the 1950's, by atomic blasts, on the nature and
propagation characteristics of the ionosphere, led to a variety of detection systems for
observation of nuclear testing. Beginning in FY 1964 the CRPL received support from the
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) for development and evaluation of methods of
detecting high-altitude nuclear detonations by continuous recording the project being —
known as HANDS (High- Altitude Nuclear Detection Studies). 173
Much of the HANDS project was centered on a data gathering system of sensors and
computer operations whereby there was automatic reduction of observations of nuclear-
explosion effects in the presence of natural backgrounds. The operational facility was
located at the Table Mountain (a mesa) field station north of Boulder. Data from each type
of sensor was recorded routinely every 5 seconds until an "event" (a nuclear explosion or
other disturbance of interest) was detected, after which the computer would set the entire
system into accelerated operation for the detailed recording of all sensors simultaneously
m,i75
[49]
Engaged in the HANDS project within the CRPL were: A. Glenn Jean, Jack A. Kemper,
Robert H. Doherty, Charles E. Hornback, James R. Winkleman, and Raymond T. Moore
(NBS Washington). 176 The project, activated in 1963, was maintained at the Table Mountain
site for several years and then was phased out.

Meteors— Fleeting visitors to the ionosphere

Although meteors or "shooting stars" were observed by ancient man, their influence
upon 20th-century radio systems was not observed until 1921 when Pickard heard a distinct
hiss in direction-finding equipment as a brilliant meteor traveled across the sky. Some years
later Pickard observed the enhancement of radio signals during meteor showers. From time
177
to time others began to report the effect of meteor showers on radio signals.

HANDS was an activity within a larger ARPA project designated as Project VELA, a study of ground-based
173

techniques for detecting geophysical effects produced by nuclear explosions at altitudes above 20 km.
174
The sensors were upon the type of signal or phenomenon being observed. One of the
of various types, depending
various geophysical disturbances that takes place in a nuclear explosion is that in the ionosphere caused by the

almost instantaneous or "prompt" production of gamma and x rays that increase the electron density of the upper
atmosphere. A. Glenn Jean and Douglass D. Crombie of the CRPL had suggested earlier a means of detecting
nuclear explosions by observing changes in the phase and amplitude (attenuation of signal) of coherent radio waves
propagating through or near a disturbed area brought on by ionization by gamma and x rays.
Preceding the HANDS project a CRPL team had used the VLF phase-shift technique in observing long-lived
effects in the D region following the high-altitude nuclear explosion of July 9, 1962 (see p. 460). With this
technique they had evidence of an alternation to the effective height of reflections in the D layer brought about by-
radiation from radioactive debris that affected VLF transmission for at least 2 weeks following the explosion.
Another but less sensitive method of detecting the explosions is by observing changes in the amplitude of
cosmic noise by means of a riometer (relative ionosphere opacity meter), (see footnote 116). Other sensing devices
used at the recording facility were for observation of amplitude and directional changes of the Earth's magnetic
field, deviation of Earth currents, and infrasonic disturbances in the frequency range of 0.002-1 Hz.

175
The CRPL team that reported on the HANDS December 1965 issue of the Proc. IEEE (a special
project in the
issue on nuclear test detection) cited nine publications by NBS
authors on research projects that related in various
ways to methods of nuclear test detection. The same issue contained two additional papers by CRPL authors
relating to methods of nuclear test detection.
176
In 1959 Jeanand Kemper received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service as a joint
award "for outstanding technicalaccomplishments and unusual devotion to duty under severely trying conditions
in the interest of National Defense, as a member of the radio propagation measurements group."
77
In 1932 Appleton, Naismith, and Ingram observed reflections by pulsed radio signals in England that later
'

proved to be caused by meteor trails. On October 10, 1946, Appleton and Naismith observed the Giacobinid meteor
shower with radar equipment at the Radio Research Station at Slough (England). However, Ferrell of the U.S. had
submitted a report a year earlier on his observations of meteors with radar equipment operating at 105,000 kHz
(Oliver Perry Ferrell, "Meteoric impact ionization observed on radar oscilloscopes," Letter to the Editor, Phys. Rev.,
Vol. 69, Nos. 1 and 2, Jan. 1 and 15, 1946, pp. 32-33).

461
1. Viewing the Draconids by radar— October 9, 1946
With the equipment following World War II came the opportunity
availability of radar
from the ionized trails of meteors. The
for investigators to observe the reflection of signals
big opportunity came during the period of October 7-12, 1946, when the Earth passed
through the Giacobinid or Draconid meteors of the Giacobini-Zinner comet. Other radio
techniques were also used to observe this meteor shower. Among the observers in the
United States was a CRPL team using a war-surplus radar at the Sterling, Va. facility. 178
During the next 5 years Victor C. Pineo took occasions to observe radar-type echoes of
meteor trails and reported these observations in three issues of Science. By the end of 1948
Pineo had found sufficient evidence that radar reflections from ionized meteor trails could
occur in the complete absence of sporadic-E reflections. He reached this conclusion which
differed from that of some observers who held to the view that the sporadic-E layer was
formed, at least in part, from ionization by meteors. Later, by a statistical study, Pineo
found that the frequency of occurrence of sporadic-E reflections is unrelated to meteor
phenomena when observed with a 27.2-MHz radar, a further proof of his earlier conclusion.
Beginning in November 1948 and extending for about 1 year, Pineo and Thomas N.
Gautier studied the dependence upon frequency of the duration of radar-type echoes from
meteor trails. For this study they used two radar frequencies, 27.2 and 41.0 MHz. They
found that the duration is approximately proportional to the square of the wavelength,
confirming the findings of others [51]. Duration of some echoes at 27.2 MHz exceeded 2
minutes.

178
At the suggestion of Stanford University the CRPL team of Ross Bateman, Alvin G. McNish, and Victor C. Pineo
arranged for and conducted the observations. A Signal Corps type SCR-270-D radar operating at about 107 MHz,
with a peak-pulse power of about 100 kW was used.
The observations on the rainy night of October 9 were reported in the Washington Post on the following day.
On this eventful night Dr. Condon, director of NBS, and Dr. Newbern Smith, assistant chief of the CRPL, witnessed
the meteoric reflections on the radar screen during the peak (60 meteors per hour) of their occurrence. The
Washington Post stated:

By the grace of radar, this reporter 'saw' the Giacobini-Zinner meteor show tonight, heavy rain
and clouds notwithstanding.
At 8:45 p.m. a strong pip revealed a meteor train of ionized dust estimated to be 75 miles from
the earth's surface. The next came at 8:50, 90 miles off. Then 8:59—70 miles; 8:59 1/2—90 miles;
9:01—70 miles.
That was the way it went, up to the time the press departed in order to make newspaper
deadlines.

A few days later the observations were reported by the CRPL team in the October 18 issue of Science [50]. The
observations of October 9, 1946, were reported also in the November 1946 issue of the Technical News Bulletin.

The Annual Report 1950 of NBS stated (p. 85):

Use of radar techniques to receive the reflections from the ionized trails left by meteors in the
earth's upper atmosphere makes it possible to observe meteors during daylight hours as well as
at night. These observations, pioneered by the Bureau as early as 1940, have yielded considerable
data on diurnal and seasonal variations in the rate of arrival of meteors at the earth. . . .

There reason to believe that the stated year "1940" is in error and should be "1946." None of the detailed records
is

of the Radio Section or inquiries made by the author of persons who would be aware of 1940 observations has
shown that observations of meteors by radio or radar techniques were made by the Radio Section earlier than in
1946.

462
 cr 80
o OCTOBER 9,194
X
60 OCTOBER 11,194
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< 8=45 9^00 9=15 930 945 1000 1015 1030 10-45 11=00 11 = 15
< 900 9 15 930 945 10=00 10=15 10=30 10=45 11=00 11 =
15 11=30

EASTERN STANDARD TIME (P.M.)

Early radar observation of meteors

On the night of October7, 1946, a CRPL team observed radar reflections at the Sterling field station from the

Draconid'-meteor showef. This became possible by using a Signal Corps type SCR-270-D radar operating at about
107 MHz and with the antenna in a fixed position (azimuth of 345 degrees and elevation of 45 degrees, shown in
upper left photo). Viewing of the transient radar echoes was on an A-scope (rate of reflections could be observed),
with photography on a PPI-scope (plan-position indicator with a rotating time base of 2 seconds), shown in upper
right photo.
Four meteor echoes appear on the screen of the PPI-scope (center photo). Trace (1) indicates approximate range
and an echo duration of 15 seconds; (2) range 75 miles, duration 13 seconds; (3) range
(distance to meteor) of 75 miles
100 miles, duration 1/3 second; (4> range 85 miles, duration 3 2/3 seconds.
Rates of occurrence per hour of the radar echoes on the nights of October 9 and 11 are shown by bottom plot. On
night of October 9 the hourly rate reached a maximum of about 70 echoes per hour between 10:30 and 11 p.m.,
coinciding approximately with the astronomically predicted time of 10 p.m. for the maximum intensity of the
Draconid shower. Photos and data taken from November 1946 issue of the Technical News Bulletin.
Note: Alternate vertical coordinate lines indicate 15-minute intervals of echo observations, e.g., the interval from
8:45 to 9:00 p.m.

463
2. Early CRPL experiments with meteor-burst communication
In the April 1952 issue of the Physical Review,Dana K. Bailey of the CRPL, along with
others, reported on the effect of meteors on VHF
experimental transmissions used to study
179
the scattering of radio waves by the ionosphere (see p. 495 ).

Pineo's experience with radar reflections from meteor trails, and his growing
experience with the ionospheric forward-scatter system between Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the
Sterling station, led him to suggest the development by the Ionospheric Research Section of
180
a long-distance communication system that would utilize meteor reflections.
With support from the Air Force the section team of G. Franklin Montgomery and
George R. Sugar studied the feasibility of a communication system that would utilize
reflections from meteor bursts [52]. In addition to a theoretical treatment, they conducted a
series of experiments with teletype transmissions to determine the practicability of a
planned technique. The first of these experiments was on September 18, 1953, using the
Cedar Rapids-Sterling forward-scatter system (49.8 MHz) with adaptations that permitted
—
transmission of 3200 binary digits per second a necessary speed in order to transmit fairly
lengthy messages during the very short periods of meteor ionization trails. A 100-kHz
bandwidth was required in order to attain high transmission speed. Errors in transmission
of signals, caused by multipath-signal distortion, were not obvious on the records but were
evidenced by oscilloscope observations.

3. A meteor-burst communication system in successful operation

In 1954 another team was assigned to the meteor-burst project, with further
experimentation being carried out. By the summer of 1955 construction was underway on a
complete communication system patterned after the mode of operation developed by
Montgomery and Sugar. Robert J. Carpenter of the Ionospheric Research Section was in
charge of the program, assisted by Gerard H. Ochs and others. This project was sponsored by
the Air Force Cambridge Research Center and was known as "Pup." Although the power
output of each transmitter was but 2 kW, the radiated power was confined to a rather
narrow beam by a directive antenna. Two-way tests were conducted at a 50-MHz
transmitting frequency between the Sterling station and another located at Walpole, Mass.
during the spring and summer of 1957. By this time the Section's facilities had been
gradually moved to Boulder and the meteor-burst system was set up for operation between
Kilbourne, 111. (several miles south of Havana, 111.) and Erie, Colo, (east of Boulder and one of
the Boulder Laboratories field stations), a distance of 800 miles. A half-year testing program
continued until the summer of 1958. Optimum speedup of the teletype operation during
transmission of signals was found to be 40 times that of normal. Analysis showed a number
of contributing causes to sources of interference and introduction of errors; nevertheless, the
system was equal in performance to other long-distance systems and was relatively free from
ionosphere disturbances [53]. Several years later Carpenter and Ochs studied the probable
minimum limit or message element duration for meteor-burst communication. They con-
cluded that operation with 4-microsecond signal pulses was feasible and was not affected by
multipath distortion.

179
During the early 1950's the Canadian Defence Research Board and Stanford University initiated, independently,
the development of a complete communication system that used the ionization trails of meteors at heights of about
100 km for short periods of reflection of radio signals. Such a system transmits messages only during the very brief
periods when meteor propagation is effective. During the much longer intervals between meteor entrances into the
ionosphere the system accepts messages and stores them for subsequent transmission. Such systems took the name
of meteor-burst communication systems. Early in their development they were largely shrouded in secrecy because
compared to other radio communication systems.
of military application due to greater security in message transfer
By March 1954 the Canadians demonstrated the practicability of their earliest meteor-burst communication
system to which they gave the name JANET. They successfully transmitted teletype messages in each direction
over a distance of 950 km between Ottawa and Halifax. An advantage of such a system for long distance
communication at that time was applicability to the VHF band (30-300 MHz) at frequencies higher than the already
overcrowded portion of the spectrum assigned to ionospheric propagation.

Pineo made the suggestion in November 1951 by memo to Ross Bateman, chief of the Ionospheric Research
180

Section.At the time Pineo was chief of the Radio Propagation Laboratory at Sterling, Va. (the name was usually
shortened to "Sterling station").

464
 —

4. Further study of meteor-burst communication

A project known as Meteor-Burst Propagation Research was activated in April 1956,
with Bowles as the project leader, and was continued until 1963, in the later years led by
Sugar. The object was "to study the basic principles and the statistics governing the
propagation of bursts of radio signals, over oblique paths, due to meteoric ionization." After
some early work on determining the time correlation of signals from three transmitters,
reflected from meteor bursts and received from three locations, a more extensive program
was planned and set into operation in order to gain maximum information on meteor-burst
propagation. The program featured a geophysical significance to the location of three
transmission paths and an elaborate system for automatic data recording and reduction
techniques in order to handle the large volume of data required for statistically significant
181
results.
After many months of preparation the observational system was set into operation in
September 1959 and data were recorded until the end of June 1960 (the Long Branch
Boulder path was operated for 6 additional months). Of principal interest in the processed
data was the diurnal variation of the duty cycle (fraction of time a received signal exceeds a
prescribed threshold). This information was compared for the three paths, for the three
frequencies, and for several antenna configurations. The general conclusion reached was
that the diurnal variation of signal amplitude could be relied upon to be within a 10-decibel
spread when used as a consideration for system design. In 1964 Sugar published a survey
report on meteor-burst propagation that included summary results of the lengthy NBS
program [54].
Although this rather extensive program of research and equipment design was initially
undertaken as a classified program for potential military application, by 1958 it was largely
declassified. Because of their relative complexity, meteor-burst communication systems have
not had much application. However, with recent simplification of digital techniques, there is
a resurgence of interest in these systems.

THEORETICAL STUDIES OF THE IONOSPHERE

During the 1930's when the Radio Section was gaining first-hand knowledge of the
ionosphere by probing with ionosondes of its own design, further knowledge was gained by
the writing of a number of papers containing theoretical analysis of the experimental data.
These published papers were contributed largely by Dellinger, S. S. Kirby, and Newbern
Smith. In the following years, from 1941 through 1945, the war effort curtailed further
publication of research papers. Then, after several years of reorientation of the radio
research programs at NBS, there began a flow of theoretical papers by the CRPL that
continued to 1965, when the flow continued thereafter through the channels of ESSA and
NOAA.
One can consider that the first of this long line of theoretical papers on the ionosphere,
which numbered well over 100 papers during the CRPL period, was a paper by Henry G.
Booker, a consultant to the CRPL. 182
Booker's paper was followed shortly thereafter by another, the first of a CRPL series of
theoretical papers by Joseph Feinstein. To the time of move by the CRPL to Boulder, Colo.

181
Three transmission-reception paths were selected, all of nearly the same path length, just under 1300 km. The
— —
Norman, Okla. Fargo, S.D. path was at right angles to the east-west Long Branch, 111. Table Mountain (Boulder)
path, and intersection was near midpoint of each. Another, the north-south Barrow (northern Alaska) — Kenai (near
Anchorage) path, was selected for comparison of meteor-burst activity in the Arctic regions with the activity in
temperate regions. The Alaska operation was known as the "Arctic Wolf project. On these several projects Ralph
J.Slutz and George R. Sugar served as project leaders, with many others participating in the various laboratory
developments and field operations.
Each of the three paths had a 2-kW, CW transmitter at one end and an NBS-designed receiver at the other.
The transmitters operated at three frequencies, 30, 50, and 74 MHz. The receivers fed multichannel digital
recorders.
182
Booker's paper, entitled "Application of the Magneto-Ionic Theory to Radio Waves Incident Obliquely upon a
Horizontal-Stratified Ionosphere," was published in the September 1949 issue of the J. of Geophysical Research. The
work was started by Booker in 1938 in England, was interrupted by World War II, and completed at NBS in 1948.

465
in 1954, Feinstein published no less than seven theoretical papers relating to radio
183
propagation in the ionosphere, all in outside journals. Two other papers were on the
troposphere.
In 1955 James R. Wait entered the CRPL as a theoretical physicist and served as a
consultant to various projects within the CRPL until the formation of ESSA. His output of
184
theoretical papers took on prodigious proportions. Very many of these publications were
in the area of low-frequency propagation and are covered in another section (see pp. 474-
478). However, Wait's talent in theoretical research extended beyond that of radio
propagation in the ionosphere and is noted elsewhere (see ch. XIII, p. 571 and p. 590). Some
of Wait's papers, and those of others, were on studies of radio propagation over irregular
surfaces, through inhomogeneous media, and around natural obstacles, being applicable in
some cases to the ionosphere, in others to the troposphere.
Other than theoretical papers on low-frequency propagation, the preparation of
theoretical papers on the ionosphere during the 1960's to the time of formation of ESSA was
virtually absent.

Observing the night sky

1. An airglow program moves to Boulder

An early program established in the newly organized Radio Propagation Physics

Division at the Boulder Laboratories was that on airglow and related illumination of the
185
night sky. The program was transferred in June 1954 from the Naval Ordnance Test
Station (Inyokern, Calif.) to the CRPL, with Franklin E. Roach accompanying the program
as project leader.
Two photometers were brought to Boulder from the California test station and installed
at the new observatory site on Fritz Peak (9000-foot altitude) several miles south of
186
Rollinsville (west of Boulder) and near the Peak-to-Peak Highway. Observations were
underway by January 1955.

183
Feinstein's earliest CRPL
paper was a presentation for the 1950 URSI General Assembly. In another paper,
published in 1950, Feinstein showed that the ionosphere is a linear medium only to a first approximation [55].

Second-order terms of his equations expressing propagation characteristics indicated the presence of harmonics of
the frequency of a wave traversing the ionosphere. Also, under certain conditions, he found that radio waves of
different frequencies could give rise to sum and difference frequencies. At the time, experimental evidence of these
effects was meager.
Two of Feinstein's earlier papers were reported in a new periodical at its embryonic stage, the Transactions of
the IRE Professional Group on Antennas and Propagation. Several years later he published a paper, in two parts, in
two issues of the same periodical, entitled "Some Stochastic Problems in Wave Propagation." His treatment of the
problems was applicable to both ionospheric and tropospheric wave propagation. Feinstein considered that:
Random variations associated with ionospheric propagation are changes of the level (height above Earth) of
reflections from the ionosphere as a function of time; and among those associated with tropospheric propagation
are changes in the surface of a rough sea and fluctuations in refractive index of the atmosphere.
184
In 1959 Wait received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service "for highly
distinguished authorship in the field of radio propagation."
185
In the early 1900's astronomers observed a persistent green radiation in spectrograms of the night sky, which
was called the "permanent aurora." Later, it was given the name nightglow and then, beginning in 1950, the name
airglow has come into common usage. Its exact nature and cause have been a matter of considerable study,
especially during the IGY program of 1957 and 1958. Except under very favorable conditions, the airglow is not
visible to the human eye. There has been considerable speculation as to its cause but with no common agreement
except the certainty that it is due to excitation of atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere and apparently
centered at heights around 100 km. More recently, there has been considerable belief that airglow and the aurora
have a common source. Other manifestations of the night sky are the zodiacal light and its counterglow, the
gegenschein, as well as that of starlight.
186
A photometer suitable for airglow observations consists essentially of a small telescope that transmits the feeble
glow a photomultiplier tube, plus an amplifier and galvanometer recorder. A mechanical drive controls
to
movement of the telescope to scan the sky. A refinement for greater accuracy of measurement is the incorporation
of a birefringent filter (an optical filter of two refractive indices) that separates the emission sources of light in
airglow from background such as zodiacal light. A necessary requirement is that of calibration of the photometers
with a radiation standard.

466
Lawrence R. Megill adjusting controls of the automatic airglow photometer mounted on top of Fritz Peak. The metal
housing protects the photometer and remains open only for nighttime recordings of airglow. A closeup view of a
long stretch of the Continental Divide can be had from Fritz Peak (elevation 9010 ft). On the date this photo was
taken, October 2, 1957, the aspens would be in full autumnal foliage, mottling the nearby landscapes with a golden
glow.

Franklin E. Roach of the Radio Propagation Physics Division views his airglow photometer on a cold day in 1957
Since 1955. observations of the invisible glow in the night sky from large areas of the ionosphere have been
recorded on Fritz Peak, several miles south of Rollinsville (west of Boulder) and near the Peak-to-Peak Highway.

467
 Interest in, and importance of, the airglow program was that of obtaining improved and
more extensive observational data in order to gain a better understanding of the physical
and chemical processes of the upper atmosphere or simply, to learn more about the —
ionosphere.

2. Roach and an international photometric unit for airglow

The first absolute measurement of the intensity of airglow was in 1930 by the Fourth
Lord Rayleigh (R. J. Strutt, the son of J. W. Strutt who was the famous and better known Lord
Rayleigh). During the early 1950's various investigators felt the need of an international unit
to replace the many different units that had been used in research to express the intensity of
airglow. In September 1955 Roach presented a resolution to a commission of the International
Astronomical Union proposing that the unit for expressing brightness of airglow and aurora
R 2
be defined as in X 10 quanta/(cm -s-sr), and that the unit be called the rayleigh (named after
the Fourth Lord Rayleigh). A result of this action was a paper coauthored by Roach and two
others, published in 1956 [56]. By the time of the IGY program international agreement had
been reached on use of the rayleigh unit.

3. Taking a major role in the IGY airglow program

Concurrent with the early airglow observations at Fritz Peak was another airglow
program —
that of preparing for the coming International Geophysical Year (IGY) spanning
the period of July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. One project of the United States
participation in this program was the design by Roach and others, and construction in the
187
shops of the Boulder Laboratories, of six photometers of advanced design.
Taking part in the U.S. Program of the IGY, Roach served as vice-chairman for Airglow
on the Aurora and Airglow Program Panel. The CRPL operated airglow stations at Fritz
Peak and Rapid City, S.D., and entered into cooperative work with the Huancayo
Geophysical Observatory in Peru. These 3 stations were among the total of 28 stations
188
scattered around the world engaged in the total IGY airglow program. Roach served as
189
editor of the final report of the world program, which became available in 1962. Later,
Roach served as editor of the report on the Airglow program of the International Year of
the Quiet Sun (IQSY), a 2-year project in the 1960's. (For more information on the IGY see
ch. XVII, pp. 674-675.) For a number of years Roach was occupied with many international
reviews on airglow.
During the course of the IGY program the Airglow and Ionosphere Subcenter for
receiving data on a worldwide basis was established at Boulder, Colo., within the operation
of the CRPL (see ch. XVII, pp. 674-675). Processing of the data was carried out at the
Boulder Laboratories.

ls
'
The prototype for the six photometers was installed at Fritz Peak. One was used at the NBS airglow observatory
for the IGY program at Rapid City, S.D. The others were furnished to stations in different parts of the world.
188
Other airglow stations in the American chain were located at Thule, Greenland; Saskatoon, Canada; Sacramento
Peak, N. Mex.; and Tantazantla, Peru.
189
The report was Volume XXIV of the Annals of International Geophysical Year and titled, Observations of the
Night Airglow During the International Geophysical Year and the International Geophysical Cooperation 1959. Not
to be overlooked is the Preface to this volume, prepared by Roach. It read:

Preface

In referring to this volume, it is proposed that the editorship be credited to all the I.G.Y. Airglow
Observers who participated in the program. The list of participants is given on pages 7-8. Since it
is impractical to mention all names individually in making literature references, the
the
participants have selected the generic pseudonym Igor Georges Yao. This has been derived from
the initials of International Geophysical Year Airglow Observers, I. G. Yao.

F. E. Roach

Thus on the title page the name I. G. Yao appears as editor.

468
4. Observations from Fritz Peak
When the CRPL began
observations of airglow at Fritz Peak in 1955, the green line
its

of oxygen (5577 angstroms) already had received much attention by earlier observers. "" But 1

there was much about the line, and airglow in general, that was unknown. By 1956 Roach
and his colleagues had determined the region of airglow to be about 100 km in height above
the Earth, in the region of the E layer. Observed from Fritz Peak were the large patches or
cells of airglow emission across the night sky. For the first time these cells were mapped in
191
their extent and movements These movements were indicative of strong dynamic
[57].
motions of a cyclonic type in the upper atmosphere. Observations of the 5577 line showed
definite seasonal changes in the intensity at various latitudes.
A comparison of a statistical study of the distribution of intensities of the 5577 line at
Thule, Greenland (airglow station operated by the United States) with similar data of low-
latitude stations indicated that the faint aurora and airglow are probably of common origin.
During a somewhat routine observation of airglow at Fritz Peak on the night of
September 29-30, 1957, accompanied by an auroral display in the northern sky, the observer
192
noted an unusually strong response to the red 6300 line from the zenith. For some years
thereafter Roach and his coworkers studied the mid-latitude, nonvisible auroral arcs which
emit the strong monochromatic 6300 line [58]. Interestingly, the Fritz Peak observatory lies
near the mid-point of the approximately 700-km width auroral arcs that sweep across the
Earth near mid-latitudes with a total thickness ranging in altitude from 300 to 600 km.
Although associated with the formation of the visible aurora, the invisible auroras at mid-
latitudes have not been easy to explain.
A variety of other observations of airglow and, to a limited extent, of aurora emissions
and of the zodiacal light, occupied the talent and a portion of time of the CRPL team,
headed by Roach, from 1954 to 1965. Observations have been continued to the present time
at Fritz Peak by ESSA and later by NOAA.
Nearly 40 publications came from the CRPL airglow team over a period of 10 years, a
number that indicates the variety of the research areas investigated.

5. Refining the measurement techniques

During the Fiscal Year 1960 a simplified type of photometer was designed and several
constructed in the Boulder Laboratories shops. This was for use in the zenith direction only,
but allowed for fast observation in four colors of the airglow. A feature of the design was the
ease of calibrating the instrument.
A definite advance in the techniques of an absolute calibration of airglow photometers
—
was attained by 1963 in preparation for the IQSY program an essential requirement for
accurate intercomparison of measurements in a worldwide program. The primary standard
was a blackbody that illuminated a magnesium oxide screen.
From 1954 to 1965 Roach served as project leader and later as section chief for the
CRPL airglow program. 193 194 During those years the team of workers included: Jose E. Cruz,
Edward Marovich, Lawrence R. Megill, Charles M. Purdy, Manfred H. Rees, and others. 195
190
The green 5577 oxygen (atomic oxygen) line was observed by A. J. Angstrom in 1868 to be in the night sky in the
absence of the aurora. In 1930 the Fourth Lord Rayleigh measured its absolute intensity.
191
The airglow cells were found to be approximately 2500 km in diameter and moved with a translational velocity
of 100 m/s and a rotational period of about 5 hours.
192
On thesame night a similar observation was made at an observatory in France by a French astronomer, Daniel
Barbier, who had been studying the strong 6300 emission from overhead for several months.
193
Beginning in 1954 the airglow program was associated with the office of the Radio Propagation Physics Division,
and in 1958 became the Airglow and Aurora Section within the division. Later the section became a part of the
Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division. Early in 1965 the section took on the name of Equatorial Airglow
Studies and was assigned to the new Aeronomy Division.
194
In 1961 Roach received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service "in recognition of
outstanding contributions to upper atmosphere physics by means of studies of optical emissions from the night
sky."
195
In 1964 Megill received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for distinguished
authorship on the influence of electric and magnetic fields on electron distribution functions in the upper
atmosphere with particular reference to the night airglow."

469
 From 300 kHz down, down, down 196

1. Low-frequency electromagnetic waves — A recurring interest

Hertz worked in that part of the radio frequency spectrum that we now call "short
waves." Some of his experiments were performed in the neighborhood of 80 MHz or 3.75
meters. In 1901 Marconi transmitted the coded letter "S" across the Atlantic at
approximately 915 meters (328 kHz). Using large-scale, high-frequency alternators operating
at 50 kHz, in 1906 Fessenden carried on two-way wireless telegraphy communication across
the Atlantic. By the early 1920's greater reliability in radio communication was placed on
transmitters operating in the range of 16 to 25 kHz for transoceanic and worldwide
coverage. However, these stations resembled large power plants accompanied by gigantic
antenna structures. Then, in the late 1920's came a swing toward the higher frequencies for
197
long-distance communication. But in in the late 1930's there came a renewed interest in a
better understanding of low-frequency propagation that has continued to the present time. 198
Since 1911, when Austin's investigations of long-distance radiotelegraphy resulted in
the familiar Austin-Cohen formula (see ch. II, pp. 34-35), many others have contributed to
expressions of the relation of field strength to distance that are applicable to frequencies
199
below, say 500 kHz. The Austin-Cohen formula was derived (empirically or
semiempirically) from measurement of 80- and 300-kHz transmissions over seawater. In a
Bureau publication, first prepared as a confidential paper in July 1917 and in 1919 as a
Bureau Scientific Paper, Bellinger developed a more accurate transmission formula as a
result of antenna studies, taking an original, theoretical, and relatively simple approach (see
ch. VI, p. 115). After an extended lull in the projects pursued by the Radio Section that
were slanted toward low frequencies, the subject was renewed in 1943 within the
200
Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL). It was then that Marcella L. Phillips
developed two nomograms by which the field strength at distances out to 10,000 km could be

196
For purpose of clarity, nomenclature for frequency bands used in this account is in accordance with the Atlantic
City Radio Convention of 1947 and later modifications, as follows:

LF Low Frequency 30-300 kHz

VLF Very Low Frequency 3-30 kHz
ELF Extremely Low Frequency 30-3000 Hz*
ULF Ultra Low Frequency 0.001-300 Hz*"

*Frequency range covered by the ELF Conference of January 1960 at Boulder, Colo, was 1 to 3000 Hz.
*
'Frequency range covered by the ULF Conference of August 1964 at Boulder, Colo.

However, the CRPL would occasionally include observations ranging up to 1 MHz within the low-frequency

designation. Occasionally in this account the term low frequency is used to designate the entire spectrum up to 300
kHz.
197
On June 20, 1922, at an IRE meeting in New York City, Marconi pointed out the importance of short-wave radio
(1 to 20 meters) in the future (see ch. I, p. 13).

198
Renewed interest in low-frequency radio transmission developed in England during the late 1930's, and then,
again, after World War II. Among the researchers were those associated with Cambridge University. Of this team,
Kenneth G. Budden was a guest worker at NBS Boulder in FY 57, while on sabbatical leave.
199
Louis W. Austin was associated with the Bureau of Standards but was not a staff member (see ch. II). His
investigation that led to the Austin-Cohen formula (or equation) is found in the October 1911 issue of the Bulletin
of the Bureau of Standards.
200
From World War I to World War II, there were but few projects in the Radio Section related to low frequencies,
although Kolster and Dunmore's work on the radio direction finder after World War I was at 300 kHz. By 1930 the
blind landing system developed by Diamond and Dunmore utilized a frequency of 93.7 MHz. Later, in the
development of the radiosonde, the transmitting frequency was 185 MHz.
However, during this period between the two world wars, the Radio Section published several Letter Circulars,
entitled: Distance Ranges of Radio Waves. The graphs were applicable, with the then-known understanding of
radio-wave propagation, over a wide range of frequencies from 10 kHz to around 30 MHz. The graphs were
particularly applicable to the low frequencies. Letter Circular 317 was issued January 25, 1932, and Letter Circular
658 (superseded LC615) was issued August 5, 1941. (See ch. VII, pp. 197-198 and accompanying graphs.)

470
determined at frequencies in the range of 10 to 60 kHz (within the VLF and LF range)
201-203
[59]-

2. The CRPL initiates an observational study of LF propagation— At the

Sterling field station

the spring of 1947 the Experimental Ionospheric Research Section, with Ross
In
Bateman as chief, initiated a project entitled, "Ionosphere Measurements at Low
Frequencies." The project opened a new field of operation by the CRPL. 204 The early interest
in low frequencies by the CRPL was that of increased knowledge of the lower region of the
ionosphere. Later, came an interest in propagation studies for better understanding of the
use of low-frequency techniques for radio navigation, long-range communication, and for
greater reliability and accuracy in the reception of WWV
time and frequency signals.
To study the ionosphere in its relation to low-frequency propagation it was necessary to
design and construct a suitable transmitter and adapt a commercial receiver to an
oscilloscope recorder. The combination unit served as a low-frequency ionosphere recorder
or ionosonde, and was installed at the Sterling field station [61]. It was believed to be the
first equipment designed for observing vertical-incidence (and later, oblique-incidence)
reflections at low frequencies from the lower region of the ionosphere. 205 For ionospheric
studies made with this equipment refer to the section: Studies of the Ionospheric Regions
(pp. 420-428).

201
In 1941, Kenneth A. Norton (formerly of the Radio Section and later of the CRPL, but then of the Federal
Communications Commission) published a paper with equations and curves for calculation of ground-wave field
intensity over land and sea [60]. His graphical method was applicable at all radio frequencies (with certain
considerations) and at distances out to 2000 miles.

202
The two nomograms developed by Mrs. Phillips were presented first in a classified IRPL document. Years later,
in 1956, they were published in the Fourth Edition of Reference Data for Radio Engineers, International Telephone
and Telegraph Corp., N.Y.
203
In 1949 the Upper Atmosphere Research Section prepared a table of attenuation coefficients for VLF
propagation for the Ninth Edition of the Smithsonian Physical Tables. The values of the coefficients were taken
from observations of other investigators and were suitable for a revised form of the original Austin-Cohen formula.
Also in 1949 a nomographic method was devised for estimation of the number of hops compatible with observed
delay times for round-the-earth echoes of LF radio signals (see p. 459 for experimental work). This material was
prepared for the Provisional Frequency Board at Geneva, Switzerland (see ch. XVII, p. 664), accompanied by graphs
showing diurnal, seasonal, and frequency variations of attenuation coefficients for various transmission paths at low
frequencies.
204
The Quarterly Report for April-June 1947 stated, in part:

The problem is to measure virtual heights and intensities of ionospheric reflections at low and

very low frequencies in order to provide a basis for an adequate theory of low-frequency radio
propagation. It is proposed to make some initial measurements at a frequency between 300 and
400 kc/s using an oscillator-type pulse transmitter and a modified commercial communications
receiver.
203
The recorder (ionosonde) was designed and constructed by J. M. Watts, J. N. Brown, and J. C. Blair of the
Experimental Ionosphere Research Section, the project beginning early in 1951. The original sweep-frequency
equipment operated in the range of 50 to 1100 kHz, and later was extended down to 37 kHz. Pulsed power output
from the transmitter was more than 200 kW, delivered by a broad-band amplifier (hy 1953 increased to nearly 1
megawatt). Many of the design features were borrowed from previously designed CRPL high-frequency ionosondes
that had proved to be highly successful.
For transmission a large single-turn loop antenna was operated in a vertical plane, being 150 feet high and 350
feet long. Practical reasons ruled out the use of larger and more efficient antennas of various types. At 100 kHz the
loop antenna radiated approximately 5 watts. Reception of signals was from a low and long horizontal dipole
antenna, selected for minimizing vertically polarized interfering signals.

471
 50 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

FREQUENCY, KC

SAMPLE DAY RECORD MADE BY SWEEP FREQUENCY RECORDER MARCH 27, 1952 AT 1606

FREQUENCY, KC

SAMPLE NIGHT RECORD MADE BY SWEEP FREQUENCY RECORDER MARCH 28, 1952 AT 0015

—
Early in 1950 the CRPL succeeded in obtaining 50-kHz reflections from the ionosphere at 80 km a task difficult of
accomplishment. With a specially designed ionosonde, operating in the frequency range of 50 to 1100 kHz, early in
the spring of 1952 these recordings were made at the Sterling field station, probably the first time ever at these low
frequencies. On the two ionograms shown here, one for day and one for night, the heavy trace at "O" height came
from the direct pulse from the transmitter. Traces marked "A" indicate reflections from the E layer, and occur
both day and night. The extraordinary component of the F layer, "B, " and the ordinary component. "C, " appear-
only at night. "Pattern" traces were caused by interference, mainly from broadcast stations above 550 kHz. The
equipment-produced horizontal and vertical lines indicate 20-km intervals of apparent height and 100-kHz
frequency intervals, respectively.

472
3. Ionospheric observations at the Sunset field station
With the move to Boulder, Colo., there came the opportunity to make use of a
mountainous region to support a large antenna without huge masts. The site selected was at
Sunset in Four-mile Canyon, northwest of Boulder. Here an antenna 3400 feet long was
suspended between two mountain tops. 206
At this new facility the sweep-frequency range of the low-frequency ionosonde was
increased to 2000 kHz for correlation of measurement in the gyro-frequency range and for
probing into the higher regions of the ionosphere where reflections could be received from
the E and F layers, thus studying the entire ionosphere at "one fell 'sweep'." At the Sunset
station, beginning in 1956, under the leadership of Watts, many observations of the
ionosphere at frequencies below 2000 kHz were made for a number of years. The studies led
to a better understanding of the ionosphere. In addition, the facility served as a source of
observations for study of whistlers, hiss, the dawn chorus, and sferics (see sec. on: The
"Sound" of Radio Waves at Very Low Frequencies, pp. 479- 482). The facility also served as a
source of observations for IGY programs.

206
Among the projects served by the long antenna was that of an experimental installation of WWVL
for the
broadcasting of a standard frequency at 20 kHz, the service beginning in late 1961 (see ch. VIII, p. 278).
Advantages of the long antenna were: good radiation efficiency when used for transmitting at low frequencies,
and high signal reception (high signal-to-noise ratio) when used for receiving the audio frequencies of whistlers and
VLF emissions. As a receiving antenna it operated as a very large vertical loop antenna with an area of 110,000 m 2 .

Beginning in 1956, this "one-of-a-kind" ionosonde with a sweep- frequency range of 50 kHz to 2 MHz was used for a
number of years for studying the ionosphere at low frequencies. Located at the Sunset field station northwest of
Boulder, RF power was radiated efficiently by a very long antenna stretched across Four-mile Canyon and
anchored at each end to a mountain top. William S. Hough is shown ready to push a button that started the cycle
of operation.

473
4. Theoretical approaches toward the understanding of radio propagation
at low frequencies

Beginning in 1949 a more intensive theoretical approach was taken by the CRPL in the
general study of the ionosphere, including some areas of study that came within the range
207
of low frequencies (pp. 465-466).
By 1955 others had entered the CRPL to pursue theoretical investigations of low-
frequency propagation in the ionosphere. Three VLF Propagation Studies projects were
initiated during FY 1956 within the Upper Atmosphere Research Section. At the time,
Thomas N. Gautier was chief of the section. Within a year two of the projects were
combined and named VLF Propagation Theory. Entering the CRPL in 1955, James R. Wait
208
served as a consultant to various projects. He was engaged in theoretical studies of low-
frequency propagation for many years thereafter, making many outstanding contributions
to the somewhat specialized field.
Theoretical research by the CRPL in the area of low frequencies branched into several
lines of investigation spread over several divisions and sections because of the diversity of its
209
application to problem areas in radio communication.
One of the early papers by Wait (and Howe) was NBS Circular 574 that furnished
graphical values of amplitude (microvolts per meter) and phase (lag) of electric field as a
function of distance for groundwave propagation out to 1500 miles for the band of 200 to 500
kHz. The values were based upon radiation from a short vertical antenna over a curved
stratified earth, the subject of a previous paper by Wait. This set of low-frequency
transmission curves as a function of distance was one of the many that had been prepared
by various investigators over a long period of years, including those that were derived from
210
the Austin-Cohen equation from as far back in time as 1911.
The application of waveguide-mode theory to VLF ionospheric propagation was the
subject of a short paper by Wait and Howe in 1957 [63]. They considered the ionosphere as a
sharply-bounded isotropic medium at frequencies below 16 kHz. This paper was followed by
a number of papers prepared by Wait (some with coauthors) for the VLF Symposium of
January 1957. Three of Wait's papers were published in the special issue (June 1957) of the
1957) of the Proc. IRE [64-66]. 211

20 '
During the period of 1950-1954 Joseph Feinstein of the Upper Atmosphere Research Section published a number
of theoretical papers on the ionosphere, including a summary Wave Propagation at
report entitled "Ionospheric
Low Frequencies." The full-length paper was prepared General Assembly of URSI held
for presentation at the 1950
in Zurich, Switzerland, the summary report being published in the Proceedings. Feinstein found that ray-theory
treatment of the ionosphere was inadequate where large gradients in electron density at reflection boundaries
occur within the wavelengths of low frequencies. Using wave-theory principles and treating the ionosphere as an
inhomogenous medium at low frequencies, in a 1953 publication Feinstein was able to explain satisfactorily the
polarization experiments carried out at the Sterling field station (see p. 471) [62].
208
A group consisting of Wait, H. Herbert Howe, and A. Glenn Jean was formed to carry out theoretical studies on
VLF propagation.
209
The several lines of investigation included: the development of various theoretical models for better
understanding of propagation, using geometric-optical and waveguide-mode methods for the models; calculation of
propagation paths for pulsed transmissions; attenuation of ground wave and sky wave with distance; propagation of
sferics; VLF antenna studies, and others.

210
In an "Introduction to the VLF Papers" published in the June 1957 issue of the Proc. IRE (13 were selected from
the 45 papers presented at the 1957 VLF Symposium at Boulder), Wait said:

The propagationat VLF was understood surprisingly well as long ago as 1911. At this time, the
famous empirical formula of Austin-Cohen was proposed. This formula does have some
theoretical justification, although it is now known
that it is only applicable for frequencies near
25 kc. Despite the fact that VLF waves
propagate to great distances with small attenuation, their
use has been neglected for many years. Recently, however, with the pressing need for long range
navigation systems, world-wide communication systems, and tracking of atmospheric storms and
hurricanes, the desirable transmission properties of VLF are again being utilized.

In one of the papers, Wait and Anabeth C. Murphy calculated the field strength of a VLF transmitter by
211

geometrical optics, considering reflection from the ionosphere with a sharp lower boundary. They found that curves
of theoretical field strength as a function of distance compared favorably with experimental data taken by another
investigator for daytime paths over the Pacific Ocean at 16.6, 18.6, and 19.8 kHz.
In another paper Wait considered the space between the Earth and the ionosphere as a waveguide with
sharply bounded walls (a somewhat similar mode-theory approach was given by K. G. Budden in 1951, and again at

474
5. The Boulder Laboratories hosts VLF, ELF, and ULF symposiums
Considering the date of the January 1957 VLF Symposium as a time base, published
papers proliferated for a number of years thereafter from the low-frequency (below 300 kHz)
projects within the CRPL. Most numerous of the papers were those published individually
by Douglass D. Crombie, J. Ralph Johler, Kenneth A. Norton, and James R. Wait, and
occasionally with coauthors. Interspersed among periods of preparation and publication of
these many papers were three additional symposiums, all hosted by the CRPL at Boulder,
the last being held in 1964. Many of the presentations by these authors at the several
symposiums were published in various journals.
The first of the four symposiums was held January 23-25, 1957, with Wait as chairman
212
of the Steering and Coordinating Committee, assisted by many CRPL staff members. The
symposium was limited to the VLF range, the contemporary-important range of frequencies
from 3 to 300 kHz. Three hundred physicists and radio engineers were in attendance. The
3-day meeting was sponsored jointly by the Boulder Laboratories and the IRE Professional
Group on Antennas and Propagation. 213
The second symposium, labeled Conference on Propagation of ELF Electromagnetic
214
Waves, was held on January 26, I960. This time the meeting was limited to the frequency
range below 3 kHz, and was sponsored by the CRPL only. Wait and Arthur D. Watt
moderated the two sessions.
The third symposium was a 3-day meeting held August 12-14, 1963, and once again was
215
called a VLF Symposium after a lapse of 6 years from the first. Again, the symposium was
sponsored by the CRPL. Like the first symposium in 1957, 300 were in attendance. It was on
the occasion of this meeting that the new NBS standard frequency and time transmitting
stations near Ft. Collins were officially opened for service (see ch. VIII, p. 280).
The fourth symposium, called the Symposium on Ultra Low Frequency Electromagnetic
216
Fields was held during August 17-20, 1964. The 4-day meeting had a six-way

the 1957 Symposium). Again, Wait found that calculation of field strength at great distances agreed with
experimental values stated in his geometrical-optics paper (Wait and Murphy), but with the consideration of the
effect of a finite conductivity of the ground.
In the third paper Wait presented a waveguide-model treatment of the dependence of attenuation of VLF radio
waves upon frequency, indicating compatibility with experimental data between 1 and 30 kHz.*
'This paper was based largely on remarks by Wait during the discussion periods at the 1957 Symposium.
212
The first of the four symposiums held in Boulder, the 1957 VLF Symposium, has been noted previously in this
chapter, and is noted in chapter XVIII. Anaccount of the symposium was published in the May 1957 issue of the
Technical News Bulletin. A publication record, in four volumes, of the 45 papers and the panel discussions was
made available by NBS.
213
It was at the 1957 Symposium that W. D. George, acting chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory, presented a

"Proposal for Standard Frequency Broadcast at Very Low Frequency." This proposal followed the suggestions of
investigators during the previous several years that it was feasible to obtain worldwide coverage from a single
10
transmitter that would yield received signals with a very high precision (of the order of one part in 10 from the )

transmitted standard frequency. George's proposal was "to establish and continuously operate, night and day, one
high-power (20 kW radiated) 10-kc standard-frequency station to serve the whole world." Two years later, in the
July-August 1959 issue of the NBS Journal of Research, Arthur D. Watt and Robert W. Plush of the Radio
Propagation Engineering Division presented their analysis of requirements for a VLF transmitter such as
suggested by George and others.* They concluded that a minimum of radiated power from 10 to 100 kW in the
vicinity of 20 kHz would be required for worldwide coverage.
The result was that, 6 years later, the NBS had two stations near Ft. Collins, Colo.,
somewhat more than
operating at 20 kHz and at 60 kHz, that furnished standard frequencies to much of the world. Several years later
the CRPL was able to show from a 5-year study that it was possible to attain precision of the order of one part in
10
10 for received standard-frequency signals from VLF stations controlled by atomic frequency standards.

'Arthur D. Watt was a staff member of the CRPL for a number of years, contributing extensively to the study of
VLF propagation and engineering. In 1962 he became chief scientist of DECO Electronics, Boulder, Colo., and in
1967 published a lengthy and noteworthy treatise, entitled V.L.F. Radio Engineering. This volume was one of four
authored by NBS staff members and published by Pergamon Press on a series of subjects in Electromagnetic Waves
(see ch. X, ref. [56], ch. XI, ref. [10], and ref. [16]).

214
The conference was reported in the May 1960 issue of the Technical News Bulletin. Wait reported on the
Conference in the Correspondence of the September 1960 issue of the Proc. IRE.
215
The symposium was reported by Crombie in the October 25, 1963, issue of Science.
216
The symposium was reported by the two guest editors of the August 1965 issue of Radio Science.

475
 217
cosponsorship. Three of the four sessions were given over to tutorial-type papers. The
papers were primarily on electromagnetic signals by natural causes in the frequency range
between 30 Hz and 0.0001 Hz. Again, as in previous symposiums, approximately 300 were in
attendance.

6. A proliferation of low-frequency papers

The proliferation of papers relating to low frequencies, mentioned earlier, resulted in

more than 80 papers, published or in preparation, by 1965 when propagation projects were
separated from NBS and became associated with ESSA. Because of the sheer immensity of
218
the number of papers, these cannot be treated or even listed individually in this account.
Only the earliest (of a line of research), the more significant, and general interest papers are
noted. During the period to 1965 much of the support for the many low-frequency programs
came from the Cambridge Research Laboratories of the U.S. Air Force and from the
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).

7. Field strength vs. distance — Contributions by the CRPL

Wait followed his 1957 Symposium paper on "The Mode Theory of VLF Ionospheric
Propagation for Finite Ground Conductivity" (see footnote 211) with a "working formula"
that yielded field-strength values in terms of distance. He expressed these values graphically
219
as transmission-loss vs. distance curves [67].
About a year after publishing transmission-loss curves for a VLF range of 10 to 20 kHz,
Wait (with Nancy F. Carter) published field strength calculations that were applicable to an
ELF range of 50 to 1600 Hz. 220
In the January 1953 issue of the Proc. IRE Norton called attention to advantages of the
use of the concept of "transmission loss" in studies of radiowave propagation. This he
followed in 1959 with NBS Technical Note 12 as a sequel to the previous paper, using the
title "Transmission Loss in Radio Propagation: II" for the second report. Although the

subject area covered frequencies from 10 kHz to 100,000 MHz, Norton set aside one section
of his report to the VLF region. Using a method described earlier by Wait (references [65]
and [66]), Norton calculated transmission-loss curves for distances out to 40,000 km at
frequencies ranging between 8 and 22 kHz.
An added publication to the growing numbers on the relation of field strength and
phase to distance (transmitter to receiver) was NBS Technical Note 60, issued June 1, 1960,

217
Cosponsors of the 1964 Symposium were: NBS, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the American
Geophysical Union, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, and the
International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy.
papers published through 1960 were listed by Wait in NBS Technical Note 58, entitled "A
2,8
Most of the CRPL
Survey and Bibliography of Recent Research in the Propagation of VLF Radio Waves;" also by Wilhelm Nupen in
NBS Technical Note 84, entitled "Bibliography of Ionospheric Propagation of Radio Waves (1923-1960)," and
included annotations. All of the publications by the CRPL on radio-wave propagation for the period from 1954
through 1964 (and for several years thereafter as ESSA papers) were included in several Publications Listing(s) for
limited circulation.
219
Wait chose a theoretical model of the ionosphere as a sharply bounded homogeneous ionized medium. His
"working formula" and reception of signals in the frequency range of 10 to 20 kHz were from short vertical
antennas. Conductivities of land and sea water were considered.
2211
NBS Technical Note 52, by Wait and Nancy F. Carter, was a numerical supplement to
This 1960 publication,
Wait's paper entitled,"Mode Theory and the Propagation of ELF Radio Waves" [68]. Wait considered the radio
energy being transmitted as a waveguide mode with the bounding surfaces being the Earth and the lower edge of
the ionospheric E region. Because of the excessively long wavelengths at ELF, near-field effects must be considered
at short transmitting distances.
The Technical Note presented formulas for calculation of attenuation and phase constants, accompanied by
graphical curves to indicate the magnitude and phase of the electric and magnetic fields out to 2000 km, based on a
90-km height for the bounding surface of the ionosphere.
In the January 1962 issue of the Proc. IRE, Wait followed several of his previous papers with a more simple
formula for expressing the relation of average field strength with distance in the VLF range.

476
with the title "Amplitude and Phase of the Low- and Very-Low-Radiofrequency Ground
Wave." 221
As a contribution to the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, in the
January 1963 issue, Wait (with Lillie C. Walters) published a set of curves for ground waves
222
over mixed land and sea paths, for frequencies of 20, 100, and 1000 kHz.

8. An experimental study at LF
Because of great variations in ground conductivity in arctic regions, the attenuation of
low-frequency radio waves is subject to marked changes on many propagation paths. During
the summer of 1957 the Radio Propagation Engineering Division carried out a series of
experiments at low frequencies in the Labrador to Greenland area to determine the
magnitude of variation in change of field intensities (or attenuation) over arctic regions
223
[69].

9. Experimental studies at VLF and ELF

Two avenues of experimental study of low-frequency propagation are open, one, by
using CW signals from VLF transmitters located at various points over the Earth. These
stations are usually powerful sources of VLF radiation. The other source of available signals
comes from a natural cause, that of lightning discharges, received as "atmospherics" or
"sferics." Differing from manmade signals, their exact location is not well known at long
distances. Although their energy occupies a large bandwidth, they are most useful as ELF
signals in the range below 3 kHz where CW transmitters do not exist.
224

a) Attenuation rates
Use of lightning discharges for study of low-frequency propagation began in the mid
At the 1957 VLF Symposium at Boulder, William L. Taylor of the Upper Atmosphere
1950's.
Research Section described a method of receiving and of analyzing the frequency spectrum
of sferics. Thereafter, for several years, Taylor, with others, published several papers on the
use of atmospheric waveforms for study of VLF propagation, particularly that of
225
attenuation rates [70].

In 1956 J. R. Johler, W. J. Kellar, and L. C. Walters published NBS Circular 573 wherein they presented various
221

formulas for the numerical evaluation of amplitude arid phase of low frequency ground waves as a function of
distance. Information on phase was of particular importance for newly developed LF radio-navigation systems.
Graphical curves were furnished for distances out to 10,000 miles at frequencies in the range of 20 to 1000 kHz.
With the availability of additional theoretical investigations and of electronic computers, J. R. Johler, L. C.
Walters, and C. M. Lilley increased the scope of their initial work and in 1960 brought out NBS Technical Note 60.
The graphs and tables indicated amplitude and phase in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1000 kHz, for
distances out to 5000 miles.
222
Two values of conductivities for land were given, and one for sea water. Most of the curves showed the well-
known "recovery effect" which occurs beyond the coast line for propagation from land toward the sea.
223
Field strength measurements were made by airplane flights over several 1400-mile paths extending from Goose
Bay, Labrador to Thule, Greenland. Attenuation of signals was much greater over land and ice areas than over
open sea, and there was much greater loss of signal strength than would be indicated by simple inverse-distance
reduction. Also, there was much variation in signal strength in the vicinity of coastlines, an effect studied by Wait
in a series of theoretical papers.
224
The spectra of signals from lightning discharges usually have a peak region between 5 and 20 kHz. This fairly
broad spectra narrows to 3 to 5 kHz at distances greater than several thousand kilometers.
225
During the summer of 1958 the amplitudes of atmospheric waveforms in the bandwidth of 3 to 30 kHz were
observed simultaneously up to distances of 10,000 km from Boulder, Colo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Palo Alto, Calif.;
and Maui, Hawaii. Daytime attenuation was found to be about 7 to 9 dB per 1000 km at 6 kHz, and decreased to
about 1 to 3 dB per 1000 km above 10 kHz. Also, that the difference in attenuation rate of west-to-east propagation
relative to east-to-west propagation was about 3 dB per 1000 km less for frequencies below 8 kHz and 1 dB per 1000
km at frequencies above 10 kHz.
The difference in attenuation rate between west-to-east and east-to-west directions had been observed in 1957
by Douglass D. Crombie in New Zealand (Crombie joined the CRPL in 1962). In 1958 and again in 1961 Crombie
published theoretical papers that gave explanation to the nonreciprocal relation in the direction of propagation of
VLF radio waves perpendicular to the magnetic meridian (parallel to magnetic equator), a condition to be found at
all magnetic latitudes except at a magnetic pole.

477
 Arthur D. Watt's (Radio Communication and Systems Division) study of ELF electric
fieldsfrom thunderstorms led to a further study of the attenuation rate of ELF radio waves,
226
that by A. Glenn Jean and others of the CRPL [71].

b) PHASE CHARACTERISTICS
The four atmospheric recording stations used for studying attenuation rates at VLF
also served in a study of phase characteristics in the propagation of radio waves at VLF.
Jean, Taylor, and Wait found that the relative phase velocity at 4 kHz for long distances is
about 3 percent greater than the velocity of light, and decreases to about 1 percent at 8 kHz
[72]. This dispersion in phase velocity agreed closely with that predicted by the mode theory
of propagation.

C) A STUDY IN VLF FADING

The rather common phenomenon of fading of radio signals received at long distances is
characterized in the VLF band by fairly pronounced fading at sunrise and to a lesser extent
at sunset. During 1962 Crombie of the LF and VLF Research Section studied the fading
characteristics over two long-distance paths and arrived at a new and different explanation
for sunrise —
and sunset fading that the variations in amplitude and phase are due to
multimode propagation in the nighttime region of the transmission path [73]. 227

10. Theoretical studies in the 1960's

Associated with the publications prepared by the CRPL staff relating to the
determination of amplitude and phase of the field of a radiation source as a function of
distance and frequency, were many other theoretical papers that would serve to explain low-
frequency propagation and that would be useful in the solution of engineering problems.
Many of these papers can be categorized into several groups that depict their nature. No
doubt, many, or even most, of the situations that involved long-distance transmission were
best treated by the waveguide-mode theory and by 1965 many papers had been published by
the CRPL staff in this area. Wait's (with coauthors) contributions in this area were fruitful.
Wait also included papers that treated the ionosphere as a nonhomogeneous ionized medium
of stratified layers.
Another, and often useful, treatment was that by geometric-optical theory, with the
consideration of reflection from a sharp boundary of the ionosphere. Here the application of
magneto-ionic theory (superposition of the Earth's magnetic field on the ionic motion)
offered explanation of nonreciprocity of east-west and west-east propagation. Various papers
by Crombie, Johler, and Wait, along with coauthors, came within this area.
Because of the usefulness of theory to a better understanding of radio-navigation
systems operating with low-frequency pulsed transmissions, several papers were published
on the transient characteristics of such transmissions.

11. Writing for the sake of "general interest"

Beginning in 1958, several survey and tutorial-type publications, relating to low-
frequency propagation were written by CRPL staff members, including a book by Wait.
These publications gave evidence of the familiarity with, and depth of understanding of, low-
228
frequency propagation at NBS.

226
During the spring of 1960 simultaneous recordings of atmospheric waveforms were made of thunderstorms on
great-circle routesbetween Boulder, Colo.; Fairbanks, Alaska; and Maui, Hawaii. Propagation attenuation rates
were calculated from the waveform spectra and found to be about 1 dB per 1000 km at 75 Hz and increasing to 3 dB
per 1000 km at 200 Hz for east-to-west propagation.
227
Observations of fading were made at Boulder of 19.8-kHz signals from Hawaii, and at Frankfurt, Germany (by
the Battelle Institute) of 18.0-kHz signals from the Canal Zone. From his studies Crombie was able to formulate a
model that satisfactorily explained the fading phenomenon in its various aspects.
228
Among the several papers presented by CRPL staff members at the International Conference on Electromagnetic
Wave Propagation at the 1958 Brussels International Exhibition was a lengthy survey paper by Norton, entitled
"Low and Medium Frequency Radio Propagation." In 1960 all of the conference papers were published in book
form, including the five CRPL papers by Norton, Wait (three as author or coauthor), Alyce M. Conda, and Bradford
R. Bean.

478
 The "sounds" of radio waves at very low
frequencies

1. Early observations of the "sounds" of radio waves

CRPL after World War II there came an increasing
Following the organization of the
interest in the propagation of radio waves below 1000 kHz, both within NBS and elsewhere.
By 1950 several projects at the lower frequencies were in progress within the Ionospheric
Research Section (see sec: From 300 kHz Down, Down, Down). In the study of propagation
at LF (low frequency, 30-300 kHz) and VLF (very low frequency, 3-30 kHz), quantitative data
were needed for radio-navigation systems, communication systems, worldtime signals, radio
noise studies, and studies of the reflection properties of the ionosphere and surface of the
Earth.
By the early 1950's a new observational technique in radio science was recognized that
could, and would, offer a new means of studying radio propagation at low frequencies. This
field of observation took on the name "whistlers," but in its more general usage carried with
it such terms as "sferics" (contraction for atmospherics or the pulses of radio waves emitted
by lightning flashes) and VHF emissions. 229

(Continued)
Johler's tutorial paper "Propagation of the Low-Frequency Radio Signal" was solicited for publication in the
April 1962 issue of the Proc. IRE. In particular, Johler treated the case of the propagation of a ground-wave pulse.
His paper was based upon the use of mathematical rigor.
Johler's paper was followed within 2 months by another tutorial paper solicited by the IRE, this one by Wait,
entitled "Introduction to the Theory of VLF Propagation," published in the July 1962 issue of the Proc. IRE.
In his book, Electromagnetic Waves in Stratified Media, published by Pergamon Press, Oxford, in 1962, Wait
wrote in the Preface:

Much of the subject matter is based on the author's own investigations. Some of these have been
published previously in Technical Notes and in the Journal of Research of the National Bureau
of Standards over the period 1956-1962. . . .

The subject matter was, essentially, that of a theoretical treatment of the propagation of VLF and ELF radio
waves.
A listing of chapter titles indicates the nature of this book, which is both a reference book and a textbook. Also,
these titles indicate the nature of many of Wait's papers published during the period of 1956-1962:

Reflection of EM waves from horizontally stratified media

Reflection of EM waves from inhomogeneous media with special profiles
Approximate methods for treating reflections from inhomogeneous media
Propagation along a spherical surface
Fundamentals of mode theory of wave propagation
Characteristics of the modes for VLF propagation
Propagation in stratified magneto-plasma media
VLF propagation -theory and experiment
ELF propagation-theory and experiment
Asymptotic development for guided wave propagation
Superrefraction and the theory of tropospheric ducting*

'Although this chapter is primarily that of propagation of UHF waves in the troposphere, Wait states that the
general theory is quite similar to that of VLF waves in the ionosphere.
229
A
good reference text on whistlers and other sounds of radio waves is Whistlers and Related Ionospheric
Phenomena by Robert A. Helliwell (Stanford University Press, 1965), in which the author sketches the historical
background of whistlers and gives a technical treatment of the subject.
Whistlers on telephone lines were observed as far back as 1886, usually during magnetic storms. In 1925
Eckersley (Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co., England) described the musical nature of atmospheric disturbances
heard on some radio circuits. Much later, in 1953, Storey (Cambridge University) reported on a study of the nature
of whistlers, a study that became quite extensive.
Whistlers can be heard after the voltage they induce in an antenna is amplified and applied, without frequency
conversion or rectification, to a headphone. They glide downward from a high frequency above the audible range to
around 1000 Hz, but at times they will take on a different character such as rising in frequency. Although usually
associated with lightning discharges, even at great distances, their source can be from disturbances such as nuclear
explosions. In lightning discharges the electrical disturbance can follow magnetic lines of force to the opposite side
of the Earth, and has been observed to oscillate back and forth a number of times.
Another type of "sound" in radio waves is that known as VLF emission, and that probably has its source in the
outer ionosphere (exosphere) when under excitation of streams of ionized particles. Although the characteristics of
the sound have been classed into many types, as a group the sound is usually called the "dawn chorus." Because
the sounds are most prevalent at or near local dawn, this name is associated with bird songs of early morning or.

479
2. The CRPL studies sferics

Beginning in July 1954 the CRPL received support from the Department of the Air
Force for the recording of sferics as a study in VLF propagation. This project was an
outgrowth of the low frequency propagation project of the Ionospheric Research Section and
was located for a time in both Washington, D.C. and Boulder. Edwin F. Florman served as
the project leader. Stanford University cooperated in the project. Waveforms of sferics were
observed at Ft. Belvoir, Va. (near Washington, D.C), at Boulder, and at Palo Alto, Calif,
during the late summer of 1954. Initially, because of the difficulty of the study, little of
value resulted in the way of propagation information. But bolder plans came into being and
several projects were initiated to attack the problems, including theoretical studies of low
frequency propagation.
A new facility that would serve a variety of VLF projects during the coming years was
an antenna 3400 feet long suspended between two mountain tops bordering Four-mile
Canyon at Sunset, to the west of Boulder. 230 The antenna was 800 feet above the canyon
floor where the transmitters and receivers were housed.

3. Observing VLF emissions

The the Sunset field station had a propitious introduction to the observation
facilities of
of "hiss" as a VLF
emission on February 26, 1956. For nearly 4 days there had been a very
strong solar disturbance. When the recording equipment was turned on during the evening
of the 26th a strong hiss was noted by James M. Watts. Six days later, after the equipment
was given extensive tests, another recording of the hiss indicated an exceptionally high
signal level. Analysis of the hiss showed a center frequency around 3 kHz over a total
bandwidth to about 8 kHz but frequently of a bandwidth that varied with period of
observation. There were periods when the hiss was accompanied by gliding tones [74].
For the next several years the Sunset facility was used for the recording of VLF
emissions that became the subject of considerable analysis by Roger M. Gallet and Donald L.
Jones. Analyses of the spectrograms evolved through several methods and were first
reported in 1957.
By 1963 a rather sophisticated form of "Hiss Recorder" was developed within the Upper
Atmosphere and Space Physics Division for the continuous observation of VLF emissions.
By the use of very slow recording speeds over long periods of time, characteristics of the
emissions that had not been observed before now became apparent.
In 1963 Jones and Gallet, along with Watts and Donel N. Frazer, published an "Atlas of
whistlers and VLF emissions," as NBS Technical Note 166, that resulted mainly from
observations taken at the Sunset field station from January 1956 to June 1957. The
observations were recorded on magnetic tapes, and later were monitored aurally and
analyzed as spectrograms by means of a sound spectrograph. The many and varied types of
spectrograms composed the "Atlas." Gallet and Jones had reported on this systematic
classification of VLF emissions 6 years earlier at the May 1957 meeting of URSI in
Washington, D.C.

4. The CRPL reports to the 1957 NBS Symposium on Propagation of

VLF Radio Waves
By the end program being carried on by the CRPL on
of 1956 the fairly extensive
whistlers and related ionospheric at VLF was ready for initial reporting. And
phenomena
the opportune occasion came during the January 23-25, 1957 Symposium on Propagation of
VLF Radio Waves staged at the Boulder Laboratories (see p. 475 ).

(Continued)
sometimes, with that of spring peepers (frogs).Oftentimes the sound will be that of a more or less steady hiss, a
band of noise several kilohertz wide. More recently this entire group of sounds has been called VLF emissions.

For the reader interested in the subject, again, reference is made to Helliwell's book, especially Chapter One
(Introduction) and Chapter Two (History).
230
See footnote 206.

480
 A
method for calculating the complex ionospheric reflection coefficient at VLF using
sferic waveforms was presented by A. Glenn Jean, L. Jerome Lange, and James R. Wait. 2 ' 1

Reflection coefficients determined from observations of sferics were compared with those
calculated by using an ionospheric model. Observations of sferics were made simultaneously
by a coordinated system of two stations, one station at Boulder (Gunbarrel Hill site), the
other operated by Stanford University near Palo Alto, Calif. Success of the method depended
largely upon the type of antenna and equipment used in order to separate the vertically
232
polarized ground wave of the lightning discharge from the elliptically polarized sky waves.
Later, in 1957, the authors published their investigation in an international periodical [75].
William L. Taylor reported on his study of the spectrum analysis of sferics, both at the
Boulder and the Stanford University sites. A special system of interconnected oscilloscopes,
as well as interconnection of the two receiving sites, resulted in obtaining the desired results
(the equipment was the same as used by Jean, et al., noted above). Of particular interest was
Taylor's observation that the spectra of the sferics that precede whistlers are of a different
character than those for non-whistlers, in that they show lower frequencies and an
indication of much
greater energy in the disturbance. Taylor's work led to a paper published
233
in 1958, coauthored by Helliwell (Stanford University), Jean, and Taylor [76].
Gallet and Helliwell reported on a theory they had developed on the production of VLF
noise (dawn chorus) by traveling-wave amplification in the exosphere. In a summary of their
work they stated:

It isthe purpose of this paper to suggest a mechanism for the generation of

hiss and constant tones based on selective traveling-wave amplification of
noise energy arriving from the sun or elsewhere and to suggest its
extension to the dawn chorus. Energy for the amplification process is
provided by streams of ionized particles which come from the sun and
travel along lines of the earth's magnetic field. The mechanism of
. . .

amplification is assumed to be similar to that in ordinary traveling-wave

tubes . . .

The traveling-wave theory (if proven correct) will provide a powerful new

tool for the study of the dynamics of the outer ionosphere . . .

Later, in 1959, the authors published their theory in the NBS Journal of Research [77].
Shortly before this publication, Gallet published a tutorial-type of paper in the February
1959 issue of the Proc. IRE on VHF emissions, entitled "The very-low-frequency emissions
generated in the earth's exosphere." This was a Special Issue on the "Nature of the
—
Ionosphere an IGY Objective."
Also reporting at the symposium was Watts on the early investigation of VLF emissions
that he had conducted at the Sunset field station (described on p. 473 of this chapter).

5. Taking part in the IGY whistler program

Although the CRPL had no direct responsibility in the operation of the IGY whistlers
program, it did furnish data from Boulder observations to the World Data Center for
Whistlers at Boulder during the period of July 1957 through December 1959. These data,
reduced to the form of thousands of spectrograms, were obtained on a regular schedule at

31
In its simplest form the ionospheric reflection coefficient can be expressed as the ratio of the amplitude of a wave
reflected from the ionosphere to the amplitude which would be reflected in the absence of dissipated attenuation
within the ionosphere.
232
In analyzing the sferics waveforms, four quantities were required to characterize the incident wave. These were
—
obtained by the use of three antennas at each station one vertical antenna and two cross-loop antennas. The
azimuth angle was determined from the ground-wave portion of the sferic as observed at Boulder and at Palo Alto,
using broad-band direction-finding equipment.
233
The authors arrived at three conclusions:

1) A characteristicwaveform usually is associated with the impulse that produces a whistler, as previously
noted by Taylor.
2) Whistlers appear more frequently over sea than over land paths.
3) Time of origin of a whistler should not be calculated from the Eckersley law of dispersion.

481
the Sunset field station under Watts' supervision. During much of the period simultaneous
observations were taken at the Anchorage, Alaska field station.
Early in 1957 Donald L. Jones and Gallet had prepared a preliminary atlas on whistlers
and VLF emissions for distribution to technical groups preparing the IGY whistler program.
Later, the atlas became NBS Technical Note 166 (1963).

6. Further investigations
Other programs and refinements of earlier programs for whistlers and VLF emissions
were to follow in the wake of the investigations of the mid-1950's. The programs were
supported by several Government agencies in the interest of gaining more information on
the use of VLF communications and the study of propagation characteristics in the
frequency range of 1 to 100 kHz.
The study of sferics from lightning discharges began with simultaneous observations
from two stations. The network of stations gradually grew and by 1961 included the original
stations of Boulder and Palo Alto, Calif., plus stations in Utah, New Mexico, Maui (Hawaii),
three stations in Florida, a mobile station in Wyoming and another in Oklahoma. The
Florida stations were selected for study of sferics near sea level. Taylor served as project
leader for the various projects. Two papers by the team of Jean and Taylor were of
significance [78,79].
Although the studies of whistlers and VLF emissions yielded information on the
electron density and the nature of high-energy particles in the exosphere, much additional
information was to be learned from the more direct means by rockets and satellites. (It was
with these devices that the existence of the Van Allen radiation belts in the outer exosphere
was revealed.)

CRPL PARTICIPATION IN THE IGY PROGRAM

The general aspects
of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) program as engaged in
by the are delineated in chapter XVII (On the International Scene, see sec: NBS
CRPL
Contributes to the International Geophysical Year, pp. 674-675).

1. Probing the ionosphere by vertical sounding

The first step taken by the CRPL
implement the technical projects of U.S.
to
participation in the IGY program was was then that Harry G.
in the latter part of 1954. It
Sellery, engineer-in-charge of CRPL field operations, and James M. Watts of the Ionospheric
Research Section, prepared specifications and let bids for procurement of a number of new-
234
type Model C-4 ionosondes for the IGY program. This procurement, as well as most of the
technical projects for U.S. participation in the IGY program, were sponsored by the
National Science Foundation.
During the IGY program NBS operated or cooperated with other agencies in the
operation of 34 ionospheric vertical sounding stations in North and South America, in the
Pacific, and in the Antarctic (five stations). These stations were fitted with NBS-designed
ionosondes, including the recently designed Model C-4. This program was under the
direction of Alan H. Shapley, Robert W. Knecht, and Harry G. Sellery. Five stations in
South America were clustered closely in the vicinity of the geomagnetic equator for study of
equatorial sporadic E. Observations from these stations indicated a rather high occurrence

The First Annual Report of the Boulder Laboratories stated:

New automatic ionosphere recorders, utilizing latest electronic techniques, must be procured in
time for the mounting of the International Geophysical Year program. The equipment not only
must be superior to present equipment in order to obtain the most useful scientific data, but
must also be exceptionally reliable for a wide range of climatic conditions.

... (IGY Vertical Soundings Project) will play a key part in the United States participation
It

in the synoptic program in ionosphere physics planned for the IGY, including important phases
in the planning of ionosphere sounding stations, the procurement of specialized equipment, and
the training of technical personnel for locations ranging from the tropics to the Antarctic.

482
 —
of sporadic E during daylight hours within a narrow belt along the geomagnetic equator (see
p. 425).
Another IGY study was a true height electron density analysis of vertical ionospheric
soundings taken at seven stations near the 75° West meridian from Chimbote, Peru, to Ft.
Monmouth, N.J.
The IGY program gave the first opportunity to study the ionosphere over the Antarctic

Continent in considerable detail. Among the dozen or so ionospheric vertical incidence

stations, five were operated by the United States. The observations were analyzed by several
of the CRPL staff, including Knecht's study of data taken at the CRPL's South Pole Station
(see pp. 443-445).

2. Radio noise data on a worldwide scale

During FY 1956 the IGY radio noise program was set into action by the procurement of
additional NBS-designed Model ARN-2 atmospheric radio noise recorders (see ch. XIII, pp.
235
557-561). The NBS supervised the worldwide noise program, under the direction of
William Q. Crichlow, utilizing a network of 16 recording stations scattered over the globe.
Upon completion of the initial IGY December 1958, the CRPL supervisory
noise project in
group published NBS Technical Note 18 [80]. Continuation of the project for a number of
years resulted in a series of quarterly NBS Technical Notes, entitled "Quarterly Radio Noise
Data," the last being published in the spring of 1965.

3. Geophysical correlation of sporadic-E and F-scatter studies

Ionospheric studies associated with the IGY program offered the opportunity of a
further study of sporadic E on a larger geographical scale. Coupled with this opportunity
was another, that of a further study of the newly discovered ionospheric phenomenon in the
Western Pacific, soon to be called the "Far East Anomaly." Under the direction of Ernest K.
Smith, the several studies involving oblique-incidence techniques were supported by the IGY
program. Geographically, these studies were staged with communication networks on
islands in the Western Pacific, in the Caribbean area, and in continental United States (see
sec: Studies of the Ionospheric Regions, pp. 424-425; and sec: Geographical Nonuniformities
236
of the Ionosphere, pp. 446-448 ).

4. VHF forward scatter experiments near the geomagnetic equator

And in the Antarctic

Still another opportunity came from the IGY program, that of ionospheric forward
scatter experiments in the vicinity of the geomagnetic equator. The various projects in these
studies were made under the leadership of Robert S. Cohen and Kenneth L. Bowles. Two
transequatorial paths of different lengths were operated across the geomagnetic equator in
Western South America for these studies. In addition to the forward-scatter experiments
there came the opportunity to study scatter-F phenomena in the vicinity of the geomagnetic
equator (see sec: Studies of the Ionospheric Regions, pp. 425-426; and sec: Geographical
Nonuniformities of the Ionosphere, pp. 443-448).
Another VHF forward-scatter project followed in the wake of the overall IGY program,
237
a project in the Antarctic during the IQSY of 1964-1965. This was a cooperative project
between the National Bureau of Standards and Bartol Research Foundation of the Franklin
Institute. Observation of ionospheric forward scatter over four paths in the Antarctic was

Recordings were taken on Model ARN-2 recorders at an effective bandwidth of 150 to 300 Hz over the frequency
235

range of 13 kHz to 20 MHz.

Radio noise from atmospherics and manmade noise is the basic limitation to radio reception. Radio reception
in tropical and semi-tropical regions is often handicapped by atmospherics.

Literature references to these studies are noted in the sections cited above. A somewhat detailed report on the
236

correlation of the sporadic-E and F-scatter studies was prepared as an NBS Technical Note by James W. Finney and
E. K. Smith [81].

237
Two terms have been associated with the acronym IQSY, namely: (a) International Geophysical Year of the
Quiet Sun, (b) International Years of the Quiet Sun.

483
used as a technique to achieve a better understanding of the effect of high-energy particles
in the lower region of the ionosphere. This projectwas directed by Dana K. Bailey of NBS
and M. A. Pomerantz of the Bartol Research Foundation (see sec: Geographical
Nonuniformities of the Ionosphere, pp. 444-445 ).

5. Observing airglow
The CRPL's airglow studies, begun in 1954, had the opportunity to expand on a
worldwide scale with the coming of the IGY program. Franklin E. Roach was selected as
vice-chairman of the IGY Technical Panel on Aurora and Airglow. The two airglow stations
operated by the CRPL at Fritz Peak (near Boulder) and at Rapid City, S.D., were among the
28 stations scattered around the world engaged in the total IGY airglow program (see sec:
Observing the Night Sky, p. 468).
The Boulder Laboratories, one of the IGY World Data Centers, became the subcenter
for the data from airglow stations of the Western Hemisphere, New Zealand, and Australia
(see ch. XVII).

6. Observing Sputnik I

In October 1957 the flight of Sputnik I became a dramatic part of theIGY program. The
CRPL's early observations of the satellite are related in the section: Probing the Ionosphere
from Above (see pp. 499-500).

7. The IGY World Warning Agency

The IGY was selected to coincide with a period of maximum activity of the solar
atmosphere — maximum —
sunspot period and this activity became the source of constant
observation. The CRPL was assigned responsibility of alerting IGY scientists the world over
to periods of unusual Sun activity. This service was maintained by the IGY World Warning
Agency operated from the North Atlantic Radio Warning Service station located at Fort
238
Belvoir, Va. (see pp. 453-455 ).

8. International Geophysical Calendars

Developing from the IGY program came a worldwide coordination of geophysical

observation programs and data exchange that became the International World Day Service
(IWDS), established by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). By 1959 the
CRPL was requested to prepare the International Geophysical Calendar, thus continuing
the processing of the regular world days and world meteorological intervals of the IGY
Calendar Record. Later, this Calendar Record became the International Geophysical
239
Calendar.

9. The CRPL contributes to IGY publications

The day-to-day coordination of IGY observations was administered by the IGY World
Days and Communications Program. In this IGY operation Shapley served as the CSAGI
(Comite Special de l'Annee Geophysique Internationale) Reporter. An early product by
Shapley was the preparation and 1956 issuance of the IGY Instruction Manual, Part I:

238
During the IGY (18 months) there were Special World Intervals (SWI) declared, totaling 45 days of unusual solar
activity, and usually followed by magnetic disturbances. Only four of the SWI's were not followed by magnetic
disturbances.
239
When initiated, the purpose of the International Geophysical Calendar was to designate (in calendar format for
each year):

some special days and intervals for special attention for geophysical experiments and analysis.
The Calendar serves to encourage world-wide coordination of observation or analysis of those
geophysical phenomena which vary significantly during the course of a year.

These Calendars were prepared by Alan H. Shapley and J. Virginia Lincoln in consultation with various
agencies such as URSI. Shapley served as chairman of the IWDS
(later IUWDS) Steering Committee. The
Calendars were published in a number of scientific journals and continue to be published to the present time.

484
World Days and Communications. Later, for the International Years of the Quiet Sun (1964-
1965), Shapley prepared the IQSY Manual for World Days Program.
The September 1957 issue of the Technical News Bulletin gave a five-page account of
"NBS Participation in the International Geophysical Year," stating in the opening sentence,
that:

The National Bureau is playing an active, many-faceted role

of Standards
in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58. From observation stations
widely scattered over the globe, the Bureau is collecting and analyzing data
on many phases of upper atmospheric physics and radio propagation. . . .

The February 1959 issue of the Proc. IRE was given entirely to the publication of 26
papers on the ionosphere and the IGY program. Included among the authors were five
CRPL staff members: Roger M. Gallet, C. Gordon Little, Franklin E. Roach, Alan H.
Shapley, and Dana K. Bailey (at the time with Page Communications Engineers).
Several months after the close of the initial IGY program, David M. Gates of the Radio
Propagation Physics Division prepared a summary report of the Bureau's participation in
the IGY program, with preliminary results as deduced from the observational data [82].
Thereafter, there was no large-scale compilation made of the entire IGY program as
conducted by NBS. Over a period of a number of years the results of the Bureau's
240
participation in the IGY program appeared in a variety of scientific publications.
As a part of the URSI National Committee (U.S.) Report to the XIV General Assembly,
published in the May 1964 issue of Radio Science, Robert W. Knecht described the objectives
of the U.S. IQSY program, the 10 U.S. synoptic programs, and the 9 U.S. programs of special
experiments. Implementation of these programs began with the CRPL and continued into
the operations of ESSA.

NBS PIONEERS IN RADIO COMMUNICATION BY IONOSPHERIC

FORWARD SCATTER
1. Some evidence of ionospheric scatter

In his two publications of 1929 and 1932, T. L. Eckersley (England) postulated on the
scattering of radio waves in the E some of the effects that he had
region to account for
observed in taking direction-finder bearings. Other observations at relatively short waves
(frequency range of 6 to 22 MHz) indicated the frequency dependence of the scattering effect
upon various types of signals. From his observations Eckersley developed a theory of
ionospheric scattering.
In 1933 Ratcliffe and Pawsey (England) published a paper suggesting that a major cause
of fading of received radio signals could be that by the interference of waves scattered in the
ionosphere. Although scattering of short waves by the ionosphere was apparent, it appears
that no one over a period of several decades considered the possibility of taking into account
the scattering effect as Nature's means of serving as a communication medium over
comparatively long distances. In fact, at VHF (30 to 300 MHz) it was not believed possible to
communicate much beyond a line-of-sight distance. However, in a paper published in 1932,
Marconi had expressed the belief that it would be possible to transmit with short waves
much beyond the optical line of sight.

m One cannot but be surprised at the magnitude of publications output of the IGY program and the succeeding IGC
and IQSY programs. As a sample of the publication "explosion" in the area of geophysics that resulted much from
the international programs, is that revealed by the extent of bound volumes of the J. of Geophysical Research in the
Boulder Laboratories Library of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The 26 years of publications in 26 volumes from 1932 through 1958 (to close of IGY) occupy one shelf-width;
whereas, the 18 years of publications in 58 large volumes from 1959 to 1977 occupy a total of five shelf-widths.

485
 lOUTER SPaGEl

In conventional transmission, short waves (in range of 25 to 60 MHz) are propagated beyond the visible horizon by

reflectionfrom the upper layers or F region of the ionosphere. In propagation by ionospheric forward scatter the
energy of radio waves is scattered by turbulence in the lower portion of and below, the E layer, providing for
reception of signals much beyond the line of sight.
This diagram, taken from the January 1956 issue of the NBS Technical News Bulletin, used the term
"turbulence," whereas use of the term ''scattering" of radio waves by small irregularities in the ionization of the
lower ionosphere is more correct and has had wider usage.

2. The initial experiment by NBS

During the evening of January NBS personnel discovered that it was possible
23, 1951,
to receive a VHF signal MHz
over a distance of 1243 km (773 miles), on this occasion
at 49.8
from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to the Sterling field station (just outside of Washington, D.C.).
Although there had been credence of its possibility, heretofore no one had designed an
experiment that would utilize ionospheric forward scatter as a means of communication. A
241
series of events led up to this successful type of transmission.
In 1950 a classified project, known as Troy, was established at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology by the Department of State for a study of technical communication
problems being encountered by the Voice of America. NBS was requested to participate in
this project and Dana K. Bailey of the Upper Atmosphere Research Section was selected as
the representative. One of the technical problems was that of devising a medium-distance
(1000 miles) communication system of very high reliability under all conditions of
transmission conditions, and one that would be effectively immune to jamming. Early in
November, at one of the weekly technical conferences in Boston, the matter of such a
communication system was discussed. On this occasion Bailey made the suggestion that a
system using the scatter mechanism of the E layer was a distinct possibility in meeting the
242
need of the Department of State.
241
Many of the events leading up to and following this discovery were related to the author (WFS) by Dana K.
Bailey in a recorded interview on December 8, 1977, at Boulder, Colo. Bailey had taken a major role in the
ionospheric forward scatter project from 1950 to 1955 while a staff member of the Upper Atmosphere Research
Section and as a consultant in the CRPL. However, much of this account is documented by published and
unpublished papers.
242
Back in Newbern Smith (then, assistant chief of the IRPL) had informally discussed the
1944 Bailey and
possibility of acommunication system that would make use of the scatter mechanism of the lower ionosphere.
Seven years later, in 1951, their contemplated system became a reality.

486
 Chart tracing of VHF signals
observed for the first time by ionospheric forward scatter. On the evening of January
were transmitted from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and received at the NBS Sterling field station over a
23, 1951, signals
1243-km path. After preliminary adjustment of the equipment, a signal trace was received at 2250 (10:50 p.m.) and,
then upon further adjustment, signals were received continuously from 2255 until mid morning of the following
day (January 24). The reading speed was at 1 ft per hour, the tape moving from right to left. The initial trace is

approximately 3 1/2 divisions to the right of "3," then follows the more continuous tracing beginning about 1
division to the right of "3." At "J" and continuing for 1 division is an indication of the noise level, which was
substantially less than the signal level. The signal tracings are on an arbitrary scale. However, subsequent
observations showed signal levels ranging from 10 to 25 decibels above 1 microvolt.

In December (1950) a Troy Project team, under the direction of E. M. Purcell of Harvard
University considered Bailey's suggestion worthy of a try and set a crash program into
243
action. Fortunately the Collins Radio Co. at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had a transmitter
suitable for the crash program that was being readied for delivery to the Navy. With
permission, the company was allowed to retain the 50-kW transmitter for a half-year period
and modify it to the extent of being suitable for the forward-scatter experiment. With the
transmitter at Cedar Rapids, the NBS Sterling field site was selected as the receiving
station, being 773 miles (1243 km) from Cedar Rapids, a desirable distance for conducting
244
the experiment. NBS personnel directed the project. 245

243
Members of this team included:

E. M. Purcell, Harvard University

D. K. Bailey, NBS
L. V. Berkner, Carnegie Institution of Washington
H. G. Booker, Cornell University
A. G. Hill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
J. R. Pierce, Bell Telephone Laboratories
W. W. Salisbury, Collins Radio Co.
J. B. Wiesner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
244
At a frequency of 49.8 MHz the transmitter delivered approximately 23 kW to the antenna. In the initial
experiment only continuous-wave emission was used (a number of modulation methods would be tried during the
next 5 years). Identical horizontal rhombic antennas were used for transmitting and receiving, with legs of 500-foot
length and mounted about 41 feet above the ground. In order to "capture" the maximum scattering volume in the
E layer, the main lobe axis was adjusted for radiation and reception at a 7-degree elevation angle for the distance of
1243 km.
In advance of the initial experiment, the Troy
team had speculated, from theoretical considerations, on the
power that might be received at the Sterling station. They developed a transmission equation, based
level of signal
upon a paper by Booker and Gordon published earlier in 1950, and deduced from it that the received power would
12
probably be about 2x10 watt, a quite favorable level above the expected noise. In the early experiments the
power ranged from about 4xl0" 15 to 2xl0' 13 watt, considerably below the expected value but still a usable
level
signal above the noise level (10 to 25 dB above 1 microvolt and approximately the same 10 to 25 dB above the noise

level).

Modifications to a high-quality, commercial-type receiver provided for a bandwidth of 3 kHz and a noise figure
of 3 to 6 dB. The signals were recorded automatically, using an averaging circuit with a time constant of 12 seconds
in order to smooth the rapidly fluctuating fading of signals, thus facilitating the reduction and analysis of data.
245
NBS
personnel participating in the initial experiment included: Bailey; Ross Bateman, chief of the Ionospheric
Research Section and in charge of the Sterling field station; G. Franklin Montgomery and Peter G. Sulzer who
assembled and operated the receiving equipment.

487
 "

3. Learning about ionospheric forward scatter as a means of radio

communication
a) Observations at the Sterling field station
The initial success on the first evening (January 23, 1951) of transmission by
ionospheric forward scatter evolved into a year's observation of signals received at
the
Sterling station from Cedar Rapids. Under study during that period were the
effects of
season, time of day, geomagnetic disturbances, and meteor activity on the transmitted
246
signals. In the meantime, studies of geographical position, length of path, variation with
frequency, and antenna and modulation studies, were planned and set into action. During
the year of observation at the Sterling station the CRPL learned, primarily, that the
mechanism of ionospheric forward scatter could be relied upon as a mode of radio
communication heretofore not exploited.

246
A number of characteristics of ionospheric forward scatter came
during the first year of observations: (1)
to light
The received signals exhibit a broad maximum near midday. A minimum
reached from 8 to 10 p.m. local time at is
path midpoint and thereafter the signals increase slowly during the remainder of the night. (2) In general, signals
were weakest in late winter and strongest in June and again in mid winter daytime. However, there was
considerable variation, dependent upon the hour of the day when the maximum and minimum signals were
observed. (3) There was much variation of the signal due to rapid fading characteristics, enhancement by reflection
from meteor ionization trails (accompanied by Doppler-caused whistlers), and by sporadic-E reflection. (4) Most
30
interesting, however, was the enhancement of signals during periods of severe magnetic disturbances and
during
high-frequency radio fadeouts (sudden ionospheric disturbances or SID's)— matters of importance for consideration
of communication reliability, especially in high latitudes.

CEDAR RAPIDS TO STERLING

49.8 Mc/s — JANUARY 1951 COMPARED WITH JANUARY 1952
, ,

MEDIANS OF HOURLY MEDIAN VALUES

OF RECEIVED OPEN-CIRCUIT ANTENNA VOLTAGE (600/1 ANTENNA)
I 1 1
"
1
"
i
1 !
~
1 1 1 i i

28

24 < *k
f~

i r

-t "x
—
\ \ v

Q \ v

• JANUARY, 1951 — Recording period: Lost six days of the month

O JANUARY, 1952 — Lost six doys of doto
JANUARY, 1952 — Medions of the full months doto
4
1 1 ! !

REFER EN CE POWER INPUT TO FINAL AMPLIFIER — 40 KW NATIOr* AL BUf*EAU OF STANDAR DS

00
ESTINM TED ANTENNA POWER

02 04 06 08
KW

10
i

12
1

14
1

16
\
18
n 20
,

22
I

00
LOCAL TIME AT PATH MIDPOINT

Signal level at Sterling field station of transmission by ionospheric forward scatter from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The
curves indicate dependable signal strength (approximately 10 to 25 decibels above noise level) during two successive
January periods. Noticeable is the strongest signal strength during early afternoon (local time at path midpoint)
and a minimum between 8 and 10 p.m. Data taken throughout the year indicated various seasonal characteristics.

488
b) Some distance experiments
Added to the team working at the Sterling station were James M. Watts and Victor C.
Pineo. Watts, on another assignment to Bermuda, in the summer of 1951, had facilities to
observe the signals from Cedar Rapids, at a distance of 2601 km (a distance more than twice
that of Sterling). Watts used a specially designed five-element Yagi for his antenna. Most of
the time no 49.8-MHz signals were received from Cedar Rapids. Signals received were
attributed to sporadic-E propagation.
Pineo conducted a series of observations in Florida during February and March of 1952,
at three locations ranging from 1725 to 2088 km distance from Cedar Rapids. Pineo used two
Yagi antennas, one at 40-foot height, the other at 100-feet. In general, signal levels
decreased with distance from Cedar Rapids, and increased with height of antenna. Unlike
the Bermuda observations, the Florida locations were within the distance range of the
forward-scatter signals.

c) Another try at long distance

Three years after the Cedar Rapids-to-Bermuda experiment over a path distance of 2601
km which resulted in no signals being received by ionospheric forward scatter, another try
was made for long distance reception, this time at 2271 km over an all-water route. On the
selected path from St. Johns, Newfoundland to Terceira Island in the Azores advantage was
taken of high-elevation sites for both the transmitter and the receiver. 247 Beginning in
October 1954, observations were made at 36.0 MHz for 1 year at the Terceira Island
receiving site with acceptable signal strength. Compared to the Cedar Rapids-Sterling
signals there was almost complete absence of diurnal and seasonal maxima.

d) Variation of experimental conditions

During the year's observations over the Cedar Rapids-Sterling path a number of
operating conditions were varied in order to gain a better understanding of forward-scatter
transmission. A frequency of 418 MHz was tried with the result that only strong meteor
bursts were observed. Use of a frequency of 107.8 MHz resulted in signals that were
relatively weak compared with those received simultaneously at 49.8 kHz, but measurable.
Various antennas were tried at the Sterling receiving station, including a five-element
Yagi and several helical antennas. No particular advantage was found in using any of these
antennas over that of a rhombic antenna. 248
These experiments led to the study of large corner-reflector antennas which soon were
to replace the rhombic antennas for certain practical applications. These antennas had a
gain of nearly 20 decibels relative to half-wave dipoles, occupied much less space than
rhombic antennas, and had other desirable features. They could be constructed with wire
reflecting surfaces to reduce cost and wind resistance. The antenna studies were conducted
by Herman V. Cottony of the Ionospheric Research Section and were continued at Boulder
(see ch. XIII).
During the first year of experimentation, and extending for several more years, various
types of modulation were tried, each with its advantages and disadvantages.

e) Studies of ionospheric forward scatter at high latitudes

Soon to be realized by the NBS team, as a result of the Troy Project, was the fact that
magnetic disturbances and sudden ionospheric disturbances (SID's) had no deleterious effect
on the Cedar Rapids-Sterling transmissions. Even more surprising, the disturbances actually
enhanced the transmissions on many occasions. Thus, there appeared at hand, a newly
discovered means of reliable radio transmission across the auroral zone and in the arctic
region where auroral storms and polar blackouts were a serious problem to arctic

247
A pair of Yagi antennas stacked vertically was used at each site. The antenna at St. Johns was 880 feet above sea
level, at Terceira Island 2240 feet. The geometry of the antenna heights and lobe patterns, the path distance, and
the curvature of the Earth, indicated that lower levels of the scattering region at about 70 km were not effective in
—
the reception of signals only the region above about 85 km being effectively used.
248
A study of gain of rhombic antennas made over the Fargo-Churchill path (see 3.e) gave some unexpected and not
completely understood results. The gain varied between 9 and 19 dB, both for the transmitting and the receiving
—
antenna, depending upon the received signal strength strong signals yielding high values of gain.

489
communications. With this potentiality in view, steps were quickly taken to install
experimental communication circuits in the higher latitudes of North America.
Two transmission paths were selected; one with the transmitter at Fargo, N.D., and the
receiving station at Churchill, Manitoba (western shore of Hudson Bay); the second with the
transmitter near Anchorage, Alaska, and the receiving station at Barrow, Alaska. 249

249
The Fargo-Churchill path
of 824 miles (1326 km) terminated with the receiving station (Churchill) in the zone of
maximum auroral occurrence. This station was operated by the NBS. The 49.7-MHz transmitter at Fargo was
operated under contract with NBS. Identical rhombic antennas were used for both transmitting and receiving. This
path was operated from late August 1951 through March 1953.
The Anchorage-Barrow path of 718 miles (1156 km) crossed the zone of maximum auroral occurrence near the
half-way point of the path somewhat to the northwest of Fairbanks. The receiving station at Barrow, operated by
NBS, and its location at 71.3° North, allowed for typical observations associated with the Arctic. The 49.9-MHz
transmitter near Anchorage (Elmendorf Air Force Base) was operated under contract with NBS. For this path too,
rhombic antennas were used. This operation was carried on from late August 1951 through June 1953.

Experimental paths used by NBS in the study of radio transmission by ionospheric forward scatter. Two paths
crossed the zone of maximum auroral occurrence, another path (Fargo to Churchill) terminated at the zone. These
two paths were used in special studies of ionospheric forward scatter at high latitudes. Signals were observed for
the first time on January 23, 1951, at Sterling, Va., over a 1243-km path from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Much onthe nature of ionospheric forward scatter was learned from observations taken
over these two paths. Both paths being nearly equivalent to the Cedar Rapids-Sterling path,
any effects due to differing lengths of the three paths were essentially eliminated. Based
upon equivalent systems parameters, in general, the signal strength at Churchill was 5 to 10
dB greater than that at Sterling, while the signal strength at Barrow lay between the two
other levels. There was a variety of small-scale differences of signal characteristics among
the three paths as dependent upon time of day and year and upon disturbed conditions of
the ionosphere. In general, it was concluded by June 1952 (NBS Report 8A111, now
declassified) that at frequencies near 50 MHz, VHF signals propagated by ionospheric
forward scatter are most intense when HF propagation conditions (by reflection from F
layers) are poorest as during magnetic disturbances, and especially in the Arctic. In

490
contrast, however, when HF propagation is good, VHF signals may be weaker than usual
250 251
but usable.

4. NBS leads the way toward a successful ionospheric forward scatter

communication system
With the increased optimism expressed by the NBS team on ionospheric forward scatter
as Nature's provision of a mechanism for a communication system in high latitudes, the
U.S. Signal Corps first, and then the U.S. Air Force, expressed much interest in such a
project.
During 1951 the U.S. Air Force requested and gave support to establish such a program.
The objective was that of a highly dependable communication system to supplement or be
used in place of HF or LF systems. The first phase was an experimental one-way
transmission path from Goose Bay, Labrador to S0ndre Str0mfjord in southwestern
Greenland, across the mouth of Davis Strait. 252,253 The over- water path was 999 miles (1608
km) distance, with the 48-MHz transmitter at Goose Bay and the receiving station in
Greenland. Operation as an experimental communication system began on April 1, 1952.
This was the only link ever built which employed vertical polarization.
Again, optimism mounted as the one-way experimental path proved successful. Then
came the big step, that of a two-way communication system from the United States to the
Air Force Base at Thule, Greenland. In May 1952, after 2 months of evaluating the

250
By mid-1952 the NBS team of Bailey, Bateman, and Kirby* had stated in NBS Report 8A111 that:

In view of the present state of affairs in the point-to-point radio communications field it seems
likely that the propagation mechanism under consideration can be used particularly effectively
for communications in the Arctic, and elsewhere where its characteristics offer special
advantages. For certain arctic situations ... it is considered likely that circuit reliability for
frequency-shift radioteletype will be superior to that obtainable with existing HF and LF systems
of comparable cost.

Richard C. Kirby had joined the NBS team in July 1951.

251
In addition to the usually observed rapid-rate (several cycles per second) fading of forward scatter signals, there
was observed in the auroral region a type of fading with a very rapid rate of several hundred cycles per second. It
was particularly in evidence at the Barrow receiving station. This characteristic of the signal was labeled "sputter"
because of the audible effect when listening to even a CW signal. Upon study, the effect was attributed to rapid
motion of scattering centers in the E layer accompanying auroral activity. *

*It was a coincidental event that on January day ionospheric forward scatter signals were first
23, 1951, the
received by NBS of Geophysical Research received a paper, submitted for
at the Sterling station, the editor of the J.

publication, which gave evidence somewhat unknowingly that, indeed, there could be transmission of radio waves
by scatter by the ionosphere. The paper by R. K. Moore of Cornell University, entitled "A V.H.F. Propagation
Phenomenon Associated with Aurora," was published in the March 1951 issue.
Beginning in the 1930's, amateurs had reported unusual propagation at VHF during periods of aurora displays
(including daytime reception at periods associated with nighttime displays). This phenomenon was given the name
"auroral propagation." One of the characteristics usually reported was the very rapid fading rate, so much so that
voice communication would be unintelligible. To quote from Moore's paper:

Until more exact data on the fading rate encountered in "auroral propagation" are available,
there is little point in attempting to ascribe this phenomenon
to some particular cause. Data at
hand now by some means in the ionosphere,
indicate, however, that the signals are scattered
rather than being reflected. If the fading is due to a doppler phenomenon, and if one is to believe
the reports of the fading rate, the velocities involved must be considerably higher than those
which have been reported for ionospheric winds and turbulence.

Viewed comprehensive paper by Bailey, Bateman, and Kirby in 1955

in retrospect after the publication of a
(see reference [87]), one an understanding of the "auroral propagation." Based upon their own observations
is led to
and those of others, the authors state that this mode of reception, characterized by fast rates of fading that cause
"sputtering" effects, is caused by reflection from ionized regions of the aurora and is not the result of forward
scatter by ever-present irregularities of ionization in the lower ionosphere.
252
The decision between the U.S. Air Force and with this experimental circuit was made on August
NBS to proceed
17, 1951. A contract was negotiated on October and work began a month later on November 6, 1951. By
5, 1951,
March 5, 1952, signals were received at the S0ndre Str0mfjord station and on January 26, 1953, four-channel
multiplex teletype tests were under way on this experimental path. During the experimental period many tests
were conducted, particularly on the characteristics of the antenna systems.
253
Often the name S0ndre Str0mfjord was contracted to Sondrestrom.

491
experimental system, the decision was made to proceed with the longer three-link system
because of pressing operational requirements for reliable communication between the
United States and the Thule Air Force Base. For this project NBS contracted with the U.S.
Air Force to take the responsibility for setting up such a system. NBS took a dual role in the
254
project, that of further research and of carrying out its contractual obligations.
Engineering design and installation of the system was subcontracted by NBS to the firm of
E. C. Page Consulting Radio Engineers, Washington, D.C., the firm that had designed and
255
installed the experimental link. By this time the venture became known as Project
Bittersweet.
The system was designed for operation in the frequency range of 30 to 40 MHz. From
the research and experimental tests there was evidence that use of lower frequencies (below
48 MHz) would result in greater signal strength, greater signal-to-noise ratio, and fewer
problems from spurious meteoric signals. After much study, the decision was reached to
utilize horizontal polarization throughout the system.
The system, which began operation in December 1953, had the capacity of four-channel
multiplex radio teletype, with two-way communication. Later, this was increased to 16-
channel operation. During the first year, traffic utilization was achieved 91 percent of the
time, a bit short of the expected 95 percent. None of the infrequent outages could be
attributed to propagation conditions.

254
This large-scale contract of several million dollars with the U.S. Air Force was one of the largest ever engaged in
by the National Bureau of Standards.
of stations, known as the USAF North Atlantic VHF ionospheric scatter system, was
255
The completed chain
initiallycomposed of three links: Loring AFB (near Limestone in northern Maine) to Goose Bay, Labrador; Goose
Bay to S0ndre Str0mfjord, Greenland; and S0ndre Str0mfjord to the Thule AFB, Greenland. Later, the U.S.
terminal was moved to Westover AFB, north of Springfield, Mass., in order to gain the advantage of a more
optimum communication distance with Goose Bay.
An extension was later added to the system in two links, the first from S0ndre Str0mfjord to Keflavik, Iceland,
the second from Keflavik to Kingston Wood north of London, England. A still later system was established by the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) connecting France with Turkey via Italy.
By 1957 a chain of seven links was established by the U.S. Army by island hopping from Hawaii to the
Philippines and Okinawa, the distance from the West Coast to the Hawaiian Islands being too great to span by
ionospheric forward scatter.

492
 LOCATIONS OF TERMINALS AND PATHS FOR THE PRELIMINARY
EXPERIMENT AND COMPLETE PROTOTYPE SYS T EM

A communication system by ionospheric forward scatter. An experimental circuit between Goose Bay, Labrador and
Sondrestrom, Greenland was successfully operated, beginning April 1, 1952. By December 1953 a complete system of
three links was in operation from Maine to Thule AFB in northwest Greenland.

5. The unexpected occurs — On February 23, 1956

Recordings of transmissions over experimental paths, beginning in January 1951, and,
later traffic over the established communication system, met with the hoped for and
expected success of reliability, often with indications of enhancement of signals during
periods of SID's and other geophysical effects. Then, on February 23, 1956, occurred an
—
uncommon event that of a very intense solar flare on the western limb of the Sun,
accompanied by a very large ground-level cosmic ray increase. The flare and its effects were
observed worldwide, and were of great magnitude. For several days for periods of several
hours during daylight, no signals were received over links passing through S0ndre
Str0mfjord. Other paths also recorded loss of signals but to a lesser degree. Heretofore,
nothing like this had occurred over the U.S.-to-Thule system. This surprising and completely
unexpected event indicated that the newly developed communication system was, indeed,
subject to one of Nature's pranks, though seemingly of rare occurrence. Bailey studied this

493
Signal level (decibels from 1 microvolt) for radio transmission by ionospheric forward scatter over the Air Force
communication system (U.S.A. to Thule, Greenland) during and after the great solar flare of February 23, 1956.
During daylight on the day of the flare there was such great absorption of energy over the S0ndre Str0mfjord-to-
Goose Bay path that the signal level fell far below the receiver noise. During daylight on each successive day the
signal level, as well as the level of cosmic noise, gradually increased and reached normal by the fourth day
(February 27) after the flare occurred.
Note: Local noon at the midpoint of each path is indicated for each day by a small vertical arrow.

event in much depth and published two papers on the phenomenon [83,84]. 256 Bailey
theorized and explained the communication "blackouts" as resulting from very high
absorption at heights below the scattering region at high geomagnetic latitudes caused by
heavy ions thrown off from the Sun during the solar flare. In his later paper (1959), Bailey
accounted for the blackout in communication after the 1956 flare as being caused by
collisional ionization of the lower ionosphere when bombarded by streams of solar particles
(mostly protons) with near cosmic-ray energies. Events of this type have since 1956 come to
be known as PCA (Polar-Cap Absorption) events, or SPE's (solar-proton events).

6. A new discovery, but problems of publication

Within 20 days after NBS personnel had observed ionospheric forward scatter signals
during the evening of January 23, 1951 at the Sterling field station, Bailey had produced a

2;,b
During the flare and several hours thereafter, all of the communication paths lay in the dark hemisphere. Bailey
learned primarily from U.S. Air Force records, that an enhancement of signals developed for several hours with
approaching dawn. Then, beginning with the sunlight on the ionosphere, and extending in time until evening
darkness, the signal strength rapidly decreased until lost in receiver noise. The loss of signals was accompanied by
a decrease in cosmic noise (normally about 5 to 10 dB above receiver noise). Bailey estimated that on the first day
the signal strength decreased by as much as 48 dB — far into the receiver noise. With the coming of darkness the
signal strength of the cosmic noise returned to near normal levels, but the scatter signal exhibited strong
enhancement. This diurnal pattern repeated itself with decreasing amplitude for three successive days.

494
printed report but with Secret classification, so their discovery had to remain
257
unannounced.
In the April 15, 1952, issue of The Physical Review appeared the first public-
announcement of the new discovery via publication [85]. The paper had received very
date (September 28, 1951) as an NBS Report."
'
limited circulation at an earlier
Significantly, although the team of authors made known their discovery, no divulgence of
the importance to military communications was given.
Later in 1952 there appeared in the October issue of the Technical News Bulletin a
somewhat popularized account of the paper published by the team of authors in the earlier
issue of The Physical Review [86]. Thus, the discovery was announced to a more diversified
audience.
On June 30, 1952, the NBS released a classified (Confidential) report, NBS Report
8A111, authored by Bailey, Bateman, and R. C. Kirby. This extensive report, together with
nine appendices, brought up to date (at mid-1952) a coverage of the research experiments
being carried out by the NBS team leading toward development of a communication system
260
utilizing ionospheric forward scatter.
It was not until October 1955 that a comprehensive and definitive paper by the NBS
team appeared on the subject of ionospheric forward scatter, on this occasion as one of many
261
papers in a special issue on scatter propagation in the Proc. IRE [87]. This special issue
was to serve the definite purpose of placing emphasis on information for the design of
systems employing the new scatter propagation techniques. 262 However, the NBS team was
not without problems in the publication of its paper a matter of publishing some of the —
2o7
The Secret document, Report CRPL-S1, was entitled "Preliminary Results on a New Method of Achieving Long-
Distance Radio Communication." In part, the abstract read:

. . . These experiments were suggested by certain views as to the possibility of scatter of the
radio waves by irregularities in the ionospheric E-layer. . . .

The probable importance of the new results for application to the improvement of North
Atlantic and other communications, notably Arctic, is pointed out as indicating the urgency of
carrying on further experiments.
2o8
NBS
Report 1172 was entitled, "A New Kind of Radio Propagation at Very High Frequencies Observable over
Long Distances," and was listed with eight authors, some of whom had been on the Troy Project team. The authors
and their affiliations were:
D. K. Bailey, National Bureau of Standards
R. Bateman, National Bureau of Standards
L. V. Berkner, Carnegie Institution of Washington
H. G. Booker, Cornell University
G. F. Montgomery, National Bureau of Standards
E.M. Purcell, Harvard University
W. W. Salisbury, Collins Radio Company
J. B. Wiesner, Research Laboratory of Electronics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
209
In February 1952 Dana K. Bailey received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service
"for unusual and outstanding contributions to science, particularly in the field of radio wave propagation."
260
Covered in the report, entitled "Regular VHF Ionospheric Propagation Observable Over Long Distances," were
more than a year of observations on the Cedar Rapids-Sterling path, and a half year each of observations on the
Fargo-Churchill path and the Anchorage-Barrow path. Also extensively covered were experiments carried out at
the Sterling field station on the performance characteristics in many variations of the parameters of design
features and operating techniques of a communication system.
261
Bateman, and Kirby received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service
In 1956 Bailey,
as a groupaward "for major contributions to the advancement of the science of radio propagation and long distance
radio communications during the extensive elucidation of the defining features of a new kind of propagation."
262
The selected editors, Kenneth A. Norton (NBS) and Jerome B. Wiesner (MIT and Troy Project) stated, in the
opening paragraph on introducing the special issue, that:

we have attempted to present an over-all picture of the present

In selecting papers for this issue,
theoreticaland experimental state of the techniques of scatter propagation. Particular emphasis
has been laid on information that will facilitate system design employing these new propagation
techniques. Recent experiments have demonstrated that it is possible to achieve very reliable
"beyond-the-horizon" (scatter) radio communication in both the VHF and UHF regions of the
spectrum. There has been, therefore, extensive re-examination of existing data, as well as
increasing propagation research, primarily to provide necessary information for the design of
scatter communication systems.

495
 —

material that had been classified Confidential for several years. The problem and its
263
"solution" can best be related by the footnote given below.
A companion paper intended to complement the published IRE paper was issued
August 1, 1955, as NBS Report 1R103, entitled "A New Communication System of High
Reliability Using Ionospheric Scattering at VHF," and was at the time classified
264
Confidential. This paper was largely a treatment of the engineering aspects of the
communication system from the U.S. to the Thule Air Force Base.
By 1955 the NBS team of Bailey, Bateman, and Kirby had a well developed
understanding of the scattering and other processes that occur in the lower ionosphere and
they were permitted to reveal much of this advanced knowledge in their IRE paper of
October 1955. By this time they had learned that the scattering process takes place almost
entirely within the D region and is centered most effectively for communication by forward
scatter in the region around a height of 85 km. On occasion sporadic-E propagation
dominated the transmissions. The authors attributed ionization in the scattering region to
solar photon radiation, corpuscular radiation (of solar origin), and meteors. Detailed
coverage of their lengthy paper is much beyond the scope of this writing, but a short
260
summary is added in the following footnote to that given above.

263
On page 1231 of the October 1955 issue of the Proc. IRE appeared the unusual "Message" on the page following
the lengthy paper by the NBS team of Bailey, Bateman, and Kirby.

A Message to the Readers

The authors regret that certain basic results of interest and importance are omitted from the
above paper as a consequence of revisions and deletions and the withdrawal of a companion
paper imposed by policy decisions of the U.S. Government. It is the authors' considered opinion
that publication of the paper in its present form is not desirable and it was their expressed
—
request that the paper be withdrawn. D. K. Bailey, R. Bateman

The Editor shares the authors' disappointment regarding the withdrawals and deletions of
materials from this issue.

The foregoing paper was published in its present revised form upon authorization of the Director
of the National Bureau of Standards and over the objections of the authors to the revisions. The
Editor took this unusual step because of his firm conviction that withdrawal of this important
paper from this issue would be a disservice to the IRE, to the profession, and to the authors
themselves. The Editor. *

Of the total 34 papers on scatter propagation published in this issue, 11 were authored by NBS staff members.

*The result of this difference in viewpoint on publication of NBS work on the ionospheric forward scatter project in
the Proc. IRE was the resignation of Bailey and Bateman from NBS in October 1955. Both Bateman and Bailey
joined Page Communications Engineers, Inc.; however, Bailey returned to NBS in 1959.
264
This paper was authored by Bateman, Bailey, and J. A. Waldschmitt (Page Communications Engineers, Inc.,
Washington, D.C.). In the Foreword the authors stated, in part:

The report which follows is a technical and historical summary of the first long-distance
communication system (Project Bittersweet) using ionospheric scattering at VHF, established on
a trial basis by the United States Air Force. Prepared jointly by the National Bureau of
Standards and Page Communications Engineers, Inc., this report was originally intended and
submitted for publication in the October 1955 number ("Scatter Propagation" issue) of the
Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers. On request of the Department of Defense the
report was withdrawn from unclassified publication. The account is published in its present form
on behalf of the sponsoring service. . . .

265
The authors introduced their subject with a short account of the then existing theories on scattering. Their 4 1/2
years of observations revealed many new and interesting features of the ionosphere, and its effects on the VHF
signals. Thus they investigated the strength and nature of received signals as functions of the time of day, season,
geographical position of the transmission path, length of path, frequency, scattering angle, and level of solar
activity. Many of their studies related to the role of antennas on the behavior of received signals. The performance
of various types of antennas was observed in relation to: radiation patterns, elevation angle, antenna gain, siting,
polarization, and a space diversity system for receiving. Various considerations of system design were covered,
including: useful range of frequencies, bandwidths, channel separations, and modulation techniques.* Also
discussed were the effects of: sporadic-E propagation, meteors, sudden ionospheric disturbances (SID's), polar
blackouts, auroral sputter, and the limited effects of tropospheric propagation.

'Several years later the Radio Communication and Systems Division conducted rather extensive studies of
frequency dependence and modulation techniques in the design of ionospheric forward scatter communication
systems (see ch. XIII, p. 572).

496
 "

Within a few weeks after publication of the lengthy IRE paper, Kirby presented a long
paper at the November 1955 Symposium on Communications by Scatter Techniques,
entitled, "VHF Propagation by Ionospheric Scattering —
A Survey of Experimental
2b6
Results. Again, there were classification restrictions on what could be stated.

266
This symposium was sponsored by the IRE Professional Group on Antennas, Propagation and Communication
Systems, together with the George Washington University (where the symposium was held). Kirby's paper was
published in the IRE Professional Group's Transactions [88].
At the same symposium H. V. Cottony of the Ionospheric Research Section presented a paper, entitled "High-
Gain Antennas for VHF Scatter Propagation," which was published later by the IRE [89]. Because of classified
material, Cottony could reveal only certain aspects of the antenna studies on this occasion.

SCREEN -•10 COPPER WIRE

SPACED 9 INCHES, SPRI NG - LOADED

Line drawing of horizontally polarized, collinear, 60-degree, corner-reflector antenna used for the Maine to Thule
AFB communication system. The 60-degree opening of the two reflecting surfaces had an aperture dimension of 3
by 5 wavelengths. The antenna was energized by radiation from a horizontal string of half-wave dipoles at the
midpoint between the two reflecting surfaces.

497
 Two
other publications resulted from the early period of study of ionospheric forward
scatter by the NBS, one by Victor C. Pineo, the other by George R. Sugar both of the
267
Ionospheric Research Section [90,91].
In 1960 a further paper was published in 5 CRPL personnel participated, along
which
with 10 others, as a report by the Joint Technical Advisory Committee on "Radio
Transmission by Ionospheric and Tropospheric Scatter." 268 A considerable portion of the
report was based upon published accounts of work performed by a number of CRPL staff
members.

7. Forward-scatter observations along the geomagnetic equator and in the

Antarctic

The IGY program brought an interest for further study of ionospheric forward scatter,
selecting a project for observations in the vicinity of the geomagnetic equator in South
America. Planning for the project began in 1955 under the guidance of Bowles of the
Ionospheric Research Section, later to be directed by Robert S. Cohen. 269

8. Denouement?
Today, communication by ionospheric forward scatter is almost completely replaced
with communication systems incorporating radio transmission by aid of satellites. Forward-
scatter circuits serve only as backup in case of outages with satellite systems. Yet the
forward-scatter systems served a timely need during the 1950's. Moreover, research with
forward-scatter techniques led to the revelation of much new knowledge of the ionosphere.

Probing the ionosphere from above

1. Early probing of the upper ionosphere

Until the development of techniques for probing the upper ionosphere, the nature of the
region above F 2 layer was a matter of reckoning from observations of the lower ionospheric
region above the F 2 layer was a matter of reckoning from observations of the lower
2 0
Peacetime use of technology growing out of World War II brought on
'

ionospheric region.
the means to probe the upper ionosphere with rockets bearing advanced electronic gear, also
271,272
with radar, and then, with the satellites that brought on the space age. Of primary
interest to th e investigators was the determination of electron-density profiles.
267
During November 1952 and January 1953 Pineo conducted a series of oblique-incidence measurements over an
810-km path from the Sterling station to a receiving location near Bluffton, S.C. The purpose was to determine the
height at which ionospheric scattering of VHF radio waves occurs in order to gain a better knowledge of the
scattering processes and to gather information for the engineering design of a communication system. With a
pulsed transmitter operating at 49.8 MHz at the Sterling station, measurements were made at the receiving
location of the difference in time of arrival between the tropospheric and sky-wave components of the signal pulses.
Measurements indicated an approximate height of 86 km for nighttime transmissions and 70 km for midday
transmissions, each region of scatter being within the D region.
Sugar's paper was one of the many papers included in the special October 1955 issue of the Proc. IRE on
scatter propagation. His paper was a study of some of the short-time fading characteristics of signals received over
the Cedar Rapids-Sterling transmission path. Five years later, Sugar (with Kenneth W. Sullivan) published a paper
as NBS Technical Note 79, that covered 7 years of observations at various periods over the Cedar Rapids-Sterling,
Fargo-Churchill, and the Anchorage-Barrow transmission paths. The purpose was to publish basic signal-strength
data for ready availability to investigators for further study of ionospheric forward scatter propagation.
268
The Joint Technical Advisory Committee (JTAC) was formed in 1948 by the IRE and Electronic Industries
Association to give expert advice to the FCC on
frequency allocation and utilization matters. The above paper was
published in the January 1960 issue of the Proc. IRE, At the time, the five CRPL members of JTAC were: D. K.
Bailey, H. V. Cottony, R. C. Kirby, K. A. Norton, and R. J. Slutz.
269
See section"CRPL Participation in the IGY Program," p. 482; section "Studies of the Ionospheric Regions," p.
420; and section "Geographical Nonuniformities of the Ionosphere," p. 439.
270
The line of demarcation (not a sharp boundary) between the lower side and the upper side ("topside") of the
Earth's ionosphere is usually associated with the height of maximum electron density in the F region. The

boundary is typically 300 km above the Earth's surface.

271
In a Secret document, dated 1 January 1945 (4 months before V-E Day), the IRPL was informed by an excerpt
from an Intelligence Report that it was believed that the Germans were using rockets to study solar ultraviolet

498
2. CRPL observes Sputniks

a) Observing the Earth s first artificial satellite— Sputnik I

With the unexpected and successful orbital flight of the Russian satellite, Sputnik I,

after launching on October came world excitement that introduced the Space
4, 1957, there
273 275
Age. The excitement experience included the CRPL. On January 31, 1958, the United
States successfully boosted its first satellite (Explorer I) into Earth orbit, culminating in the
discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding the Earth.

radiation at heights up to 100 km. Although ionosphere sounding was not mentioned, the possibility of a study of
* *
radio control of rockets was noted. *

After reading reports in the open literature about the heights to which V-2 rockets could travel, and
apparently after seeing the 1 January document, an IRPL engineer, Richard Silberstein, prepared a classified
document which described a kind of rocket-ionosonde technique. This document, dated 28 February 1945, bore the
title: A Proposal For The Use of Rockets For The Study of The Ionosphere. The proposal was prepared for

dissemination to agencies that would have an interest in such projects. Silberstein's proposal suggested taking air
samples at designated heights and using on board radio equipment to reemit ground-transmitted signals that would
reveal various properties of the ionosphere during passage of the rocket.

*The Secret document on the subject of Rockets, Ionosphere and Stratosphere Research was furnished to the

Countermeasures Committee and the Wave Propagation Committee of the Joint Communications Board.
"Documents in Rockets folder of NN365-90, Box 14, at the National Archives.

272
In 1946 the Naval Research Laboratory began using rockets for upper atmosphere research, including ionosphere
measurements. Other groups in the United States soon joined in with the use of rockets. Two methods of radio
observation with rockets evolved, (1) that of frequency dispersion using two tracking systems operating on different
frequencies, and (2) the Faraday rotation method. On September 20, 1956, the Ionosphere Research Laboratory of
Pennsylvania State University made electron-density measurements up to an altitude of 800 km. On February 21,
1958, a Russian measurement was made to about 550 km. Many other rocket flights for electron-density
measurements followed.
Concurrently with rocket studies, others were able to measure the total electron density of the ionosphere by
utilizing radio echoes from the Moon, with the advantage that observations could be extended over lengthy periods
of time compared with the short periods of rocket flights.
273
Within 24 hours after learning that Sputnik I (sputnik, Russian for satellite) was in orbit and was transmitting
radio signals at two frequencies, 20 and 40 the Radio Propagation Physics Division went into action and was
MHz,
observing the orbital flight and recording the "beeping" tones. Fortunately a "listening post" was in operation at
the Table Mountain field site for observing radio energy emitted by the star Cygnus-A (see below). With some
alterations, it was fairly simple to tune in on the 20- and 40-MHz signals coming from the Russian satellite. Several
CRPL staff members had listened to the beeping tones of the satellite on shortwave receivers before the special
Table Mountain equipment could be modified for reception of the signals.
A project had been initiated in May 1956, under the leadership of Robert S. Lawrence, known as Ionospheric
—
Radio Astronomy Radio Star Scintillations. Over a period of nearly 10 years the project was assigned to one of
several sections and divisions, finally to become a section named for the project. In general, the objective of the
project was "to observe and study the effects of the ionosphere upon extraterrestrial waves which pass through it."
Emission from the star Cygnus-A was used as the source of extraterrestrial radio waves. This study of several years
resulted in a paper published in the summer of 1961 [92]. Among the many results obtained was that of observing
slow angular variations in the apparent position of the source, which was attributed to large lens-like irregularities
(of the order of 200 km) in the ionosphere. The authors explained that this irregular structure of the ionosphere,
commonly observed in the daytime, would result from a variation of a few percent in the electron content per unit
vertical column from the mean value.
274
Two other groups entered into the excitement of observing Sputnik I by radio observation. One group
CRPL
measured the the 20- and the 40-MHz transmitters and found the radiated power to be about 1
field intensity of
watt (later confirmed by Soviet scientists). The other group used a phase-difference measuring technique that was
developed several years earlier for studying atmospheric turbulence in the troposphere. This technique yielded
information on various characteristics of the ionosphere and proved to be useful in future projects that involved
satellites as radiation sources.

^Concurrently with the CRPL, James W. Warwick of the High Altitude Observatory (University of Colo.) also
observed the radio signals from Sputnik I. The Observatory was equipped with a radio interferometer, located
north of Boulder, that was suitable for receiving the 20-MHz signal from Sputnik I. From his observations, Warwick
was able to determine the satellite's orbital characteristics. Periodic fading effects of the signal, caused by satellite
spin, were also an item of study by Warwick.

499
On October 9, 1957, Robert Lawrence (right) of the CRPL informs Gordon Allott, U.S. Senator from Colorado, on the
use of a radio telescope for observing Sputnik I. The 40-ft paraboloid reflecting antenna was one of two placed 475
meters apart to form a Ryle radio interferometer. After the launching of Sputnik I on October 4, alterations were
quickly made on the equipment to receive the 20- and 40-MHz signals radiated by the Russian satellite. The
interferometer was being used to study the perturbations imposed upon radio waves penetrating the ionosphere by
observing the emission from radio stars, and particularly from Cygnus A.

Seventeen days after Sputnik was put into orbital flight, Bowles of the CRPL was
I

successful in his experiment at the Long Branch (111.) field station in the first recording of
incoherent scattering by free electrons in the upper ionosphere, leading to a new method of
determining electron-density profiles (see pp. 436-437).

b) Observing Sputnik III and NASA satellites

Sputnikwas launched November 3, 1957, a month after the first artificial satellite.
II

On May Sputnik III was launched by the Russians and this satellite, with its 40-
15, 1958,
and 20-MHz signals, became the means for extensive studies of the ionosphere by the CRPL
and other groups. 276

21h
By the spring of 1958 the CRPL had completed the construction of facilities for conducting interferometer,
Doppler, and polarization measurements of satellite signals to determine ionosphere electron content per unit
column up to the height of a satellite. Observations on Sputnik III, by using a Faraday-rotation fading technique,
yielded electron density information and indicated a technique for observing irregularities in the ionosphere [93].
Observed spatial dimensions of the irregularities ranged from 100 to 500 km.
Sixteen months (September 1958 to December 1959), of Faraday-rotation observations of Sputnik III (20-MHz
signal) by the CRPL and Stanford University during the peak of the solar cycle indicated that at locations near 40°
latitude there are large diurnal and seasonal variations in the total electron content of the ionosphere. Seven years
later, for a 2-year period in 1965 and 1966 near the sunspot minimum, R. Gregg Merrill and Lawrence of the CRPL
made further observations of electron content in the Boulder area. For this they used the 40- and 41-MHz signals
from NASA Explorer 22 (also known as S-66, Polar Beacon Ionosphere Satellite), and applying an analysis of the
differential Faraday-rotation of the signals, computed the total columnar electron density. In comparison with
measurements made 7 years earlier, they found that the vertical columnar electron content during diurnal cycles
in the minimum of the solar cycle was about one-fifth the content of those in the maximum of the solar cycle.

500
 3 4 5 6 7
2
I0 I0 I0 I0 I0 I0

ELECTRON DENSITY (cm -3 )

Vertical profile of electron density in the typical ionosphere. From the D region the electron density increases with
height in a series of layers (E, the nighttime sporadic E, F, , and F, reaching a maximum near 300 km. Beginning
),

"
with rockets, and in the late 1950s with satellites, the ionosphere above maximum electron density, or "topside.
has been explored from above in contrast to the sounding of the lower ionosphere with earthbound ionosondes.

The orbital passes of Sputnik III in the Boulder area offered a variety of data for the
study of variations in large-scale irregularities of the ionosphere. Eighteen months of
observations by Ralph G. Merrill, Robert S. Lawrence, and Nathaniel J. Roper resulted in a
publication in 1963 [94]. Their study included the flight of another satellite, Cosmos I, plus a
variation of observational technique that yielded information on the vertical profiles of
277
ionospheric irregularities.

3. Electron-density data for the Space Age

Associated both with the IGY program that began on July 1, 1957, and the Space Age
that can be said to have started 3 months later with the launching of Sputnik I on October
4, 1957, was a CRPL program that would prove its worth in the solution of practical

In their observations of Sputnik III, Merrill, Lawrence, and Roper used the Faraday-rotation technique in
277

observing the plane of linear polarization of the 20-MHz signal.

Relatively few observations were made of the short-lived Cosmos I Satellite (also designated 1962, 0,), that was
launched on March 16, 1962, with a perigee of 135 miles and an apogee of 609 miles. Vertical profiles of
irregularities in the ionosphere were obtained from data taken at three stations which were so located that their
alignment was parallel to the plane of the satellite's path on some of its passes in the Boulder area. Analysis of
data from the two satellites showed that ionospheric irregularities ranged from 50 to 400 km in spatial extent
(averaging 300 km), occurred mostly at night, and showed seasonal variations. Also, it was found possible to show
graphically the vertical profiles of the irregularities, with contours showing percent deviations of electron density
from the mean value.

501
 278
problems. The total program was the group of electron-density data studies of the
ionosphere first begun in 1957 by the Sun-Earth Relationship Section and later continued by
the Vertical Soundings Research Section. The studies were supported by a variety of
sponsorships.
An early product of the program was a model of the region above the peak density of
the F 2 layer, described by John W. Wright in a January 1960 publication [95]. Although
sounding of the upper atmosphere with satellites was but a few years away, Wright's model
of extrapolated profiles above the F region out to 1000 km served as an interim measure for
279,280
useful knowledge of the upper ionosphere.
Another product of the electron-density data program in the late 1950's was that of
further development of Budden's (Cambridge University) method of determining true height
of the profiles from vertical soundings of the ionosphere. This was accomplished by the
application of high-speed digital calculations. The original objective of the project was to
determine true height electron-density profiles in preparation of the reduction of satellite
observations by the CRPL and others. The method became very useful in supplying
information to Government agencies and others for rocket probe, missile guidance, and the
tracking of objects in space flight.

4. CRPL joins a NASA satellite program

In March 1959 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) requested
the NBS
to study the scientific merit and engineering feasibility of conducting satellite
experiments to sound the upper ionosphere. The study was made by Robert W. Knecht,
Thomas E. Van Zandt, and James M. Watts, of the Radio Propagation Physics Division, and
by June the group made its recommendations to NASA on the engineering approach to the
281
problem and what scientific information could be expected.

27M
The need for such a project was well expressed in NBS Report 6076, Fifth Summary Report of Boulder
Laboratories for Year Ending June 30, 1959, which stated:

The application is a relatively new field,

of electron density data directly to practical problems
due partly comparatively recent development of rapid computing facilities, but primarily
to the
to the greatly increased demand for such data in the fields of missile, satellite, and space probe
technology. Accurate radio guidance and tracking of rockets and satellites in or above the
ionosphere requires a detailed understanding of the height profile of electron density. Except at
the very highest frequencies, communication with deep space may also require taking rather
precise account of the earth's ionosphere. Numerous agencies of the federal government and its
contractors have received electron density data for calibration of missile and satellite tracking
stations; other agencies have requested larger amounts of similar data for use in their specialized
programs.

It seems clear that all aspects of upper atmosphere and radio propagation research and

engineering will benefit in coming years from the availability of ionospheric electron density
data. The particular importance of NBS projects in this field is a result of the developed capacity
for supplying such data promptly and in necessary quantity for application to the needs of
scientific and defense agencies.
279
The model selected by Wright was a series of profiles of plasma frequencies extending to the F region, calculated
from ground-based soundings of NBS-associated field stations in the vicinity of the 75° West meridian and
extending from 40° North to 10° South latitude. Extrapolations of the profiles were made to 1000 km.
Several years later Wright was able to improve upon the accuracy of the model by adopting some correction
factors developed by A. K. Paul of Ionosphere Institute of Breisach, Germany.
280
In 1961 Wright received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for important
contributions in improving methods of computing the height profile of electron density in the ionosphere."

An international cooperative program was established under the sponsorship and general guidance of NASA for
281

a study of the upper ionosphere with satellite-borne sounders, and was known as International Satellites for
Ionospheric Studies (ISIS). Participating with NASA were: NBS (in 1965, ESSA), the Defence Research
Telecommunications Establishment (Ottawa, Canada), and the Radio and Space Research Station of the United
Kingdom (Slough, England).
The first meeting of the Working Group for the Topside Sounder Project was held January 19, 1960, at NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center with Shapley, Van Zandt, and Watts of the CRPL attending, along with NASA and
Canadian representation. Also in attendance were representatives of the Airborne Instruments Laboratory of Long
Island, N.Y., the company that was selected to construct radio instrumentation for rocket sounders, and later to

502
a) Testing the Topside sounding system with rockets
The Topside Sounder contract (see footnote 281) with NASA (the project to become
known as TOPSI — for Topside Sounder, Ionosphere) was carefully planned for
experimentation, first with rockets, to test a small-size ionosonde for radio reflections of the
ionosphere from above. Since 1928 the NBS had been observing the lower ionosphere with
ground-based equipment. Now, NBS would go topside. The first rocket was launched June
282
24, 1961, from Wallops Island, Va., to an altitude of 1060 km. The launch was at a time of
"quiet" condition of the ionosphere.

b) CRPL observes the upper ionosphere with the Canadian Alouette I

Topside Sounder satellite

The total NASA investigation of the upper ionosphere involved a number of satellite
and rocket programs, each with its specialized type of satellite or rocket, and each with its
283
specialized sounding system. The CRPL became associated with the observational program
of the Canadian-operated Alouette I Satellite, and directed the program with the Fixed-
Frequency Topside Sounder (Explorer XX). 284
The Canadian Alouette I Topside Sounder Satellite was launched September 29, 1962,
from the Pacific Missile Range, Point Arguella, Calif., on a nearly circular orbit. 280 Knecht
and Van Zandt first reported on their observations of the upper ionosphere with Alouette I
286
in the February 16, 1963, issue of Nature [96]. From 2 weeks of observations taken by the
NASA telemetry station at Blossom Point, Md., Knecht and Van Zandt interpreted the
ionograms to indicate the presence of spread F almost always at magnetic dip greater than
75° and rarely present below 70°. 28 Also, the spread F was equally prevalent during the mid-
'

morning and the evening periods. Later, in 1964, Wynne Calvert and Charles W. Schmid of
the CRPL published a more extensive account of spread-F observations by Alouette I
satellite [97]. Other publications by the CRPL gave further coverage of observations by
Alouette I. Alouette I passed over the Boulder area once a week at a height of about 1000
km.

construct Explorer XX Topside Sounder for operation by NBS. Later, the group became known as the ISIS Working
Group.

Note: Information on this meeting of the Working Group was furnished by Edward R. Schiffmacher (NOAA),
first
who preserved much and the CRPL satellite program when he was
of the records taken of the Sputnik flights
associated with the Radio Propagation Physics Division.
282
The rocket contained two pulsed, fixed-frequency transmitters operating at 4.07 and 5.97 MHz and radiating
about 3 watts from a 32-foot dipole. The objective of the experiment was to test the sounding system being planned
for the satellite-borne, fixed-frequency topside sounder to be launched several years later. The sounding
observations were telemetered to several ground stations. Film records indicated a satisfactory sounding system. A
second rocket was launched on October 13, 1961, under conditions of a "disturbed" ionosphere. These flights were of
approximately 13 minutes duration in the ionosphere. The second rocket flight indicated that spread-F conditions
noted in bottomside measurements actually extend into the upper ionosphere to an altitude of at least 1000 km.

the NASA satellites were: the Ionosphere Direct Measurement Satellite Explorer VIII, the Ariel
283
Among
Satellite, the Beacon Satellite, plus a variety of rockets.
284
The name "Alouette" is the French word for a bird — the lark.
280
The Alouette was designed with a swept-frequency sounder (similar to the usual ionosonde) to observe
satellite
radio reflections from the topside of the F region of peak density over a frequency range of 0.5-11.5 MHz. Soundings
were made at a nearly uniform satellite height of 1000 km over an horizontal distance of about 125 km (one
frequency sweep). The end result was an ionogram much like that taken by a ground-based ionosonde of the lower
side of the ionosphere.
286
The Canadian and English research stations each reported in this issue of Nature. The Defence Research
Telecommunications Establishment of Canada had published a brief report on some early Alouette I soundings in a
Letter to the Editor in the November 1962 issue of the Canadian Journal of Physics.
287
is that of an echo pulse of long duration reflected from
Indication of the presence of "spread F" by an ionogram
the F2 layer. described in terms of the appearance of an ionogram rather than that of the physical nature
Thus it is

of the ionosphere. It is considered to be caused by scattering of a signal from irregularities embedded in the
ionosphere, both in depth and spreading out from the perpendicular to the F 2 layer (spreading from the zenith
when viewed from a ground-based ionosonde).

503
 Alouette II was launched in November 1965. During the previous month NBS had
transferred the satellite observational program to the Environmental Sciences Services
Administration (ESSA) at Boulder.

C) CRPL DIRECTS THE PROGRAM FOR EXPLORER XX

After long planning by the CRPL and careful design and construction by the Airborne
Instruments Laboratory of Long Island, N.Y., the NBS-directed Fixed-Frequency Topside
Sounder, Explorer XX (initially named Ionosphere Explorer I Satellite), was successfully
launched on August 25, 1964, at the Pacific Missile Range, Point Arguello, Calif., in an
approximately circular polar orbit at an altitude ranging from 866 to 1010 km. 288 The
satellite encircled the Earth every 104 minutes in the range of 80 degrees North to 80
degrees South.
The "home-based" data collecting station for Explorer XX or TOPSI was located at the
Gunbarrel Hill field site to the northeast of Boulder. A steerable frame was erected and
mounted with eight yagi antennas for reception, plus a helix antenna for transmission of
radio commands to the satellite. The station was manned by a number of operators from the
Ionosphere Research and Propagation Division.

28K
Unlike Alouette I, the sounding system of Explorer XX was designed to indicate almost instantly the vertical
electron-density distribution beneath the satellite, thus revealing the depth structure of the ionosphere from
topside within a horizontal distance of less than 1 km. This was accomplished with the six pulse-modulated sounder
frequencies: 7.22, 5.47, 3.72, 2.85, 2.00, and 1.50 MHz (in the order of sounding sequence). Peak pulse power output of
the transmitter ranged from 8 to 45 watts. The three sounding dipole antennas were two of 62 feet and one of 122
feet in overall length.
The had no information storage capability and the data were received only when the telemetry
satellite
transmitter of 136 MHz was within range of the 13 ground telemetry stations scattered over the Earth. Explorer
XX weighed 97 pounds, had a diameter of 26 inches, and its length of 32 inches terminated in two conical sections.
At the apex of one of the cones was a spherically-shaped plasma probe for obtaining direct measurement of electron
density. The sounder power supply consisted of 2400 P/N solar cells and 23 nickel-cadmium storage cells.
Explorer XX was designed and then orbited under a handful of names, starting with Ionosphere Explorer I;
also, Ionosphere Explorer A (before launch), S-48 (a NASA designation), Fixed-Frequency Topside Sounder Satellite,
TOPSI, 1964 51 A (after launch), and Explorer XX (after launch).

The NBS-directed Fixed- Frequency Topside Sounder that became known as Explorer XX after launching at the
Pacific Missile Range, Point Arguello. Calif, on August 25, 1964. Shown here, are the base segments of the long
sounding antennas; at bottom is the turnstile telemetery antenna for transmitting information to ground-based
stations. At the upper apex is the spherically-shaped plasma probe for obtaining direct measurement of electron
density of the ionosphere. With a mid-section diameter of 26 in, the overall weight was 97 lb. Data collected by the
satellite were received by radio at the NBS "home base" located on Gunbarrel Hill northeast of Boulder.

504
The sun has set behind the foothills to the west of Boulder when this photograph was taken late in the summer of
196^. The steerable antenna was used for tracking Explorer XX (TOPSI sounder) from Gunbarrel Hill. The dual-
purpose assembly received signals from the satellite with eight cross-polarized Yagi antennas and transmitted
radio commands by the single helix antenna.

Less than 2 months after launch of Explorer XX, Calvert, Knecht, and Van Zandt
published a description of, and the CRPL's early observations with, the satellite, selecting
the periodical Science for their early report [98]. These observations were made at Boulder
and at South Point, Hawaii. There was evidence of penetration of signals through several
ionosphere layers and even to the ground. As observed earlier with Alouette I, there was
considerable evidence of plasma resonances (plasma frequency equal to sounder frequency)
2WI
being excited in the electron gaseous medium by the sounder transmitter of Explorer XX.
Ionograms processed from the magnetic tape telemetry recordings showed many unusual
patterns of resonances that were the result of modulations and interference patterns caused
290
by spin and roll of the satellite in the Earth's magnetic field.
There was much evidence of spread F in the Explorer XX observations, as was found
with the Alouette I satellite, also, evidence of direct-ducted echoes or ducted spread-F
291
echoes.

289
Previously, in September 1961, Knecht, Van Zandt, and S. Russell, in their first report on sounding the upper
atmosphere with a rocket (see ref. [99]), stated, that as a first-time observation:

Enlarged views of the topside "exit" phenomena are shown in Figure 3. On both frequencies
unusual effects of "splashes" (which may be a kind of plasma resonance effect) are observed as
the sounder emerges from the topside of the ionosphere and passes through levels corresponding
to the three reflection levels. . . .

290
By the mid-1960's itwas well recognized among investigators of the upper ionosphere that the region offered a
nearly ideal medium for study of plasma phenomena— there are virtually no boundaries to the medium and it is
essentially uniform over large distances.
291
Previously, in March on sounding the upper atmosphere with the rocket launch of October
1962, in their report
13, 1961, Knecht and Russell noted the evidence of direct-ducted echoes. Their observations indicated that
S.
ducting occurred along magnetic-field-aligned irregularities as the rocket sounder emerged from the topside of the
ionosphere until it reached the apogee of flight. They suggested that the same type of ducting occurs on the bottom-
side of the ionosphere, causing spread F.

505
 LATITUDE
46°N 44° 42° 40°N

KILOMETERS
I

0
II2°W III

LONGITUDE

From a 1961 rocket launch, CRPL personnel had observed a plasma resonance phenomenon in the upper ionosphere
caused by the radiated signals. Later satellite observation showed further evidence of plasma resonance in the
ionosphere (see pp. 504-506 of text for explanation). This recording, taken from Explorer XX observations of
September 1, 1964, shows several of the effects associated with plasma resonance that occurred while sounding
down into the upper ionosphere when the satellite was passing through the region north of Salt Lake City, Utah.
This sample, made during radiation of the ionosphere by the sounder transmitter at 2.0 MHz, shows the effect of
interference patterns and out-ofphase modulation on the recorded ionosphere echoes at a plasma resonance of
twice the gyrofrequency, 2fH .

Upon further study of ionograms processed from the data generated by Explorer XX in
its and Van Zandt gathered information for a 1966 publication on
orbiting journey, Calvert
plasma resonances that first had been observed in the rocket launch of June 24, 1961 (see p.
503 and accompanying footnote) [100]. Plasma resonances on rocket and Alouette records
were of only a tenth of a second in excitation, whereas on Explorer XX records the
resonances ranged from 15 seconds to several minutes in excitation. These longer
resonances introduced Calvert and Van Zandt to some newly observed phenomena of the
upper ionosphere. Characteristics of nearly all of these lengthy resonances was a pattern of
interference-like fringes that are modulated in spacing and intensity by the spin of a
satellite in relation to the Earth's magnetic field. Also, it was found possible to derive the
292
gradient of electron concentration along the orbit of the satellite.
Many personnel of the Ionosphere Research and Propagation Division and, later, the
Aeronomy Division, took part in the Explorer XX program. On February 14, 1965, a group
was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, with the
citation: "The success of CRPL Topside Sounder Group in using rockets and satellites to
explore the inaccessible upper side of the ionosphere has resulted in outstanding
293
contributions to upper atmosphere physics and plasma physics."

292
Two years after the launching of Explorer XX, Calvert published a somewhat popular article in the October 14,
1966, issue of Science, entitled "Ionospheric Topside Sounding." The article was a review of the NASA international
satellite program upper ionosphere, pointing out the newly acquired knowledge of the "topside."
for the
In 1964 contributed a long chapter, entitled "The Structure and Physics of the Upper
Van Zandt and Knecht
Atmosphere," to Space Physics, a book published by John Wiley and Sons. However, it did not benefit from the
knowledge that was gained with Explorer XX beginning in August 1964.
293
The group award included: Wynne Calvert, the project leader for the Topside Sounder satellite program, and
nine colleagues, Earl E. Ferguson, Georganna B. Goe, Richard B. Green, Robert W. Knecht, Robert S. Lawrence,
Leray LaBaume, Alan H. Shapley, Thomas E. Van Zandt, and James M. Watts.

506
d) TheOGO's
By 1963 the CRPL joined in a cooperative program, sponsored by NASA, that involved
satellites tobecome known as Orbiting Geophysical Observatories (OGO). The OGO's were
filled with pay loads to conduct a large number of diversified geophysical experiments,
among which was the CRPL measurement of electron density over an extensive range into
the exosphere. The CRPL experiments were initiated by the Ionosphere Radio Astronomy
294
Section under the leadership of Lawrence and were continued by ESSA after 1965.

294
The two OGO satellites used by the CRPL were known in the design stage as S-49 and S-50 Orbiting Geophysical
Observatories, and after launching were designated as OGO 1 and OGO 3, respectively. For the electron-density
experiments they were fitted with a radio-beacon transmitter operating at 40.01 MHz, with a phase-coherent ninth
harmonic of 360.09 MHz for determination of Faraday rotation of the two linearly polarized waves. The OGO 1
satellite was launched on September 4, 1964, from Cape Kennedy, with a very eccentric orbit, initially with a
perigee of 175 km and an apogee of 92,875 km. The period of orbit was 64 hours. The OGO 3 satellite was launched
on June 6, 1966.
In May 1967 the OGO 1 satellite was used to observe the response of ionospheric and exospheric electron
contents to a partial solar eclipse.

References
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May 1959, pp. 801-811.

[39] A. G. T. N. Gautier, "Theory of lunar effects and midday decrease in F 2 ion-density at Huancayo,
McNish and
Peru," Geophys. Res., Vol. 54, No. 2, June 1949, pp. 181-185.
J.

[40] A. H. Brady and D. D. Crombie, "Studying the lunar tidal variations in the D region of the ionosphere by
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42.
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pp. 521-533.
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Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 2, Mar.-Apr. 1961, pp. 115-127.
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Res., Vol. 67, No. 12, Nov. 1962, pp. 4909-13.
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47, Apr. 1963, pp. 62-63.

No. 4,

[45] Jack C. Brown, "Round-the-world signals at very low frequency," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 54, No. 4, Dec. 1949,
pp. 367-372.
[46] J. W. Wright, Ionosonde Observations of Artificially Produced Electron Clouds: Firefly 1960, Nat. Bur. Stand.
Note 135, Apr. 1, 1962, 108 pages.
(U.S.), Tech.

[47] J. W. Wright, "Ionosonde studies of some chemical releases in the ionosphere," Radio Science, Vol. 68D, No. 2,
Feb. 1964, pp. 189-204.
[48] G. R. Ochs, D. T. Farley, Jr., K. L. Bowles, and P. Bandyopadhay, "Observations of synchrotron radio noise at
the magnetic equator following the high-altitude nuclear explosion of July 9, 1962," J. Geophys. Res., Vol.
68,No. 3, Feb. 1963, pp. 701-711.
[49] A. G. Jean, C. E. Hornback, R. H. Doherty, J. R. Winkleman, and R. T. Moore, "Techniques for detection of
high-altitude nuclear explosions," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 53, No. 12, Dec. 1965, pp. 2088-98.
[50] Ross Bateman, A. G. McNish, and Victor C. Pineo, "Radar observations during meteor shower 9 October
1946," Science, Vol. 104, 18 Oct. 1946, pp. 434-435.
[51] V. C. Pineo and T. N. Gautier, "The wave-frequency dependence of the duration of radar-type echoes from
meteor trails," Science, Vol. 114, 2 Nov. 1951, pp. 460-462.
[52] G. F. Montgomery and G. R. Sugar, "The utility of meteor bursts for intermittent radio communication,"
Proc. IRE, Vol. 14, No. 12, Dec. 1957, pp. 1684-93.
[53] R. J. Carpenter and G. R. Ochs, "The NBS meteor-burst communication system," IRE Trans. Communication
Systems, Vol. CS-7, No. 4, Dec. 1959, pp. 263-271.

508
[54] George R. Sugar, "Radio propagation by reflection from meteor trails," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 52, No. 2, Feb. 1964,
pp. 116-136.
[55] J. Feinstein, "High-order approximations in ionospheric wave-propagation," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 55, No. 2.

June 1950, pp. 161-170.

[56] D. M. Hunten, F. E. Roach, and J. W. Chamberlain, "A photomatic unit for the airglow and aurora," J.

Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 8, 1956, pp. 345-346.

[57] F. E. Roach, E. Tandberg-Hanssen, and L. R. Megill, "The characteristic size of airglow cells," and
"Movements of airglow cells," J. Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 13, Dec. 1958, pp. 113-121, 122-
130.
Note: Tandberg-Hanssen, High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, Colo.
[58] "Auroral arc in mid-latitudes," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 46, No. 3, Mar. 1962, pp. 42-46.
[59] See: Reference Data for Radio Engineers (fourth edition), International Telephone and Telegraph Corp.,
Stratford Press, Inc., New York, 1956, pp. 710-713, nomograms by Mrs. M. Lindeman Phillips, CRPL, Nat.
Bur. Stand.
[60] K. A. Norton, "The calculation of ground-wave field intensity over a finitely conducting spherical earth,"
Proc. IRE, Vol. 29, No. 12, Dec. 1941, pp. 623-639.
[61] "A low-frequency ionosphere recorder," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 37, No. 4, Apr. 1953,

pp. 60-62.
[62] Joseph Feinstein, "Wave propagation in an anisotropic inhomogeneous medium," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 58,
No. 2, June 1953, pp. 223-230.
[63] J. R. Wait and H. H. Howe, "The waveguide mode theory of VLF ionospheric propagation," Proc. IRE

(correspondence), Vol. 54, No. 1, Jan. 1957, p. 95.

[64] J. R. Wait and A. Murphy, "The geometrical optics of VLF sky wave propagation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 45, No. 6,
June 1957, pp. 754-759.
[65] J. R. Wait, "The mode theory of VLF ionospheric propagation for finite ground conductivity," Proc. IRE. Vol.
No. 6, June 1957, pp. 760-767.
45,
[66] J. R. Wait, "The attenuation vs frequency characteristics of VLF radio waves," Proc. IRE, Vol. 45, No. 6, June
1957, pp. 768-771.
[67] James R. Wait, "Transmission loss curves for propagation at very low radio frequencies," IRE Trans.
Communications Systems, Vol. CS-6, Dec. 1958, pp. 58-61.
[68] James R. Wait, "Mode theory and the propagation of ELF radio waves," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol.
64D, No. July-Aug. 1960, pp. 387-404.
4,

[69] A. D. Watt, E. L. Maxwell, and E. H. Whelan, "Low-frequency propagation paths in arctic areas," J. Res. Nat.
Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 1, July-Aug. 1959, pp. 99-112.
[70] W. L. Taylor, "Daytime attenuation rates in the very low frequency band using atmospherics," J. Res. Nat.
Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 64D, No. 4, July-Aug. 1960, pp. 349-355.
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J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1961, pp. 475-479.
[72] A. Glenn Jean, William L. Taylor, and James R. Wait, "VLF phase characteristics deduced from atmospheric
wave forms," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 65, No. 3, Mar. 1960, pp. 907-912.
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pp. 32-33.
[74] J. M. Watts, "An observation of audio-frequency electromagnetic noise during a period of solar disturbance,"
J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 62, No. 2, June 1957, pp. 199-206.

[75] A. Glenn Jean, Jr., L. Jerome Lange, and James R. Wait, "Ionospheric reflection coefficients at VLF from
sferics measurements," Geofisica Pura E Applicato (Milano), Vol. 38, 1957, pp. 147-153.
[76] R. A. Helliwell, A. G. Jean, and W. L. Taylor, "Some properties of lightning impulses which produce
whistlers," Proc. IRE, Vol. 46, No. 10, Oct. 1958, pp. 1760-62.
[77] R. M. Gallet and R. A. Helliwell, "Origin of very-low-frequency emissions," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
Vol. 63D, No. 1, July-Aug. 1959, pp. 21-27.
[78] W. Taylor and A. G. Jean, "Very-low-frequency radiation spectra of lightning discharges," J. Res. Nat. Bur.
L.
Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 3, Sept.-Oct. 1959, pp. 199-204.
[79] A. Glenn Jean, William L. Taylor, and James R. Wait, "VLF phase characteristics deduced from atmospheric
wave forms," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 65, No. 3, Mar. 1960, pp. 907-912.
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Geophysical Year July 1, 1957-December 31, 1958, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 18, July 27, 1959, 235
pages.
[81] J. W. Finney and Report on the IGY Oblique-Incidence Sporadic-E and F-Scatter Program,
E. K. Smith, Jr.,
Nat. Bur. Stand. Note 48, Mar. 1960, 94 pages.
(U.S.), Tech.

[82] David M. Gates, "Preliminary results of the National Bureau of Standards radio ionospheric observations
during the International Geophysical Year," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 1, July-Aug.
1959, pp. 1-14.
[83] D. K. Bailey, "Disturbances in the lower ionosphere observed at VHF following the solar flare of 23 February
1956 with particular reference to auroral-zone absorption," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 62, No. 3, Sept. 1957, pp.
431-463.
[84] D. K. Bailey, "Abnormal ionization in the lower ionosphere associated with cosmic-ray flux enhancements,"
Proc. IRE, Vol. 47, No. 2, Feb. 1959, pp. 255-266.
[85] D. K. Bailey, R. Bateman, L. V. Berkner, H. G. Booker, G. F. Montgomery, E. M. Purcell, W. W. Salisbury,
and J. B. Wiesner, "A new kind of radio propagation at very high frequencies observable over long
distances," Phys. Rev., Vol. 86, No. 2, Apr. 15, 1952, pp. 141-145.

509
[86] "A new kind of propagation at very high frequencies," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 36, No.
10, Oct. 1952, pp. 148-149.

[87] D. K. Bailey, R. Bateman, and R. C. Kirby, "Radio transmission at VHF by scattering and other processes in
the lower atmosphere," Proc. IRE, Vol. 43, No. 10, Oct. 1955, pp. 1181-1230.
[88] R. C. Kirby, "VHF —
propagation by ionospheric scattering a survey of experimental results," IRE Trans.
Communication Systems, Vol. CS-4, No. 1, Mar. 1956, pp. 17-27.

[89] H. V. Cottony, "High-gain antennas for VHF scatter propagation," IRE Trans. Communication Systems, Vol.
CS-4, No. 1, Mar. 1956, pp. 56-63.
[90] V. C. Pineo, "Oblique-incidence measurements of the heights which ionospheric scattering of VHF radio
waves occurs," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 61, No. 2, June 1956, pp. 165-169.
[91] G. R. Sugar, "Some fading characteristics of regular VHF ionospheric propagation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 43, No.
10, Oct. 1955, pp. 1432-36.
[92] R. S. Lawrence, J. L. Jespersen, and R. C. Lamb, "Amplitude and angular scintillations of the radio source
Cygnus-A observed at Boulder, Colorado," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 4, July-Aug. 1961,
pp. 333-350.
[93] C. Gordon Little and Robert S. Lawrence, "The use of polarization fading of satellite signals to study the
electron count and irregularities in the ionosphere," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 64D, No. 4, July-
Aug. 1960, pp. 335-346.
[94] R. G. Merrill, R. S. Lawrence, N. J. Roper, "Synoptic variations and vertical profiles of large-scale ionospheric
irregularities," J. Geophys. Res.. Vol. 68, No. 19, Oct. 1963, pp. 5453-59.
[95] J. W. Wright, "A model of the F region above k max F2," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 65, No. 1, Jan. 1960, pp. 185-191.
[96] R. W. Knecht and T. E. Van Zandt, "Some early results from the ionospheric top-side sounder satellite,"
Nature, Vol. 197, Feb. 16, 1963, pp. 641-644.
[97] Wynne Calvert and Charles W. Schmid, "Spread-F observations by the Alouette topside sounder satellite," J.

Geophys. Res., Vol. 69, No. 9, May 1, 1964, pp. 1839-52.

[98] Calvert, R. W. Knecht, and T. E. Van Zandt, "Ionosphere Explorer I Satellite: first observations from the
W.
Fixed-Frequency Topside Sounder," Science, Vol. 146, Oct. 16, 1964, pp. 391-395.
[99] R. W. Knecht, T. E Van Zandt, and S. Russell, "First pulsed radio soundings of the topside of the
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510
 Chapter XII

RADIO WAVES IN THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE

Introduction
Transmission of radio waves at frequencies beginning at about 60 MHz and extending
upwards into the microwave region and beyond, is essentially through the lower
atmosphere. This portion of the Earth's atmosphere was aptly described by Thomas J.
Carroll of the Bureau's Central Radio Propagation Laboratory in an unpublished lecture of
1
July 1946 as

. the troposphere, the name given by meteorologists to the lowest 7

. .

miles or so of the earth's atmospheric envelope, the region in which clouds

form and convection occurs.

Stephen S. Atwood of the University of Michigan gave a more extensive description in a

summary paper in the Proc. IRE:

The term Tropospheric Propagation refers to the effects of the earth's lower
atmosphere on the field strengths of radio waves, with particular attention
being given to the VHF, UHF, and SHF frequencies, and also to various
atmospheric conditions that produce nonstandard types of refraction. 2

The wide range and the large number of telecommunication

of frequencies transmitted
services in these frequency ranges make
tropospheric propagation an important field of
study. Early theories of tropospheric propagation envisioned a path no longer than that of
—
light waves in other words, to the optical horizon (line-of-sight), or slightly beyond when
radio waves are bent downward around the Earth's surface by atmospheric refraction. This
gave rise to a hypothetical value of 4/3 the radius of a smooth Earth in equations for
estimating the received field strength of signals at varying distances from the transmitter.
As early as 1931-32, Marconi found that propagation at a wavelength of 60 cm was at least
five times the optical distance, in contradiction to this theory.' This phenomenon has been
the subject of much research, both theoretical and experimental, through the years.
The first extensive quantitative propagation measurements over land and sea were
reported in 1902 by Captain Henry B. Jackson of the British Royal Navy (later Admiral Sir
and First Sea Lord of the Admiralty) (Proceedings, Royal Society of London, Vol. 70, July 8,
1902, pp. 254-272). Observations were made from Naval vessels in the Mediterranean
between 1895 and 1902. These observations formed the basis of his pioneering study of the
effects on transmission of radio waves (approximately 1400 kHz, much below the frequency
range considered in this chapter) by atmospheric conditions, such as barometric pressure,
winds, and dust or salt particles in the atmosphere; by topography, such as obstacles of
different land formations; and by atmospheric radio noise.
At NBS, Diamond and Dunmore used ultra high frequency (UHF) equipment for the
blind landing system in the early 30's (ch. VI) and Dunmore later experimented with UHF
circuits and antennas. However, they did not study the propagation characteristics to any
extent.

'Lecture for the Interdepartmental Lecture Program in Electronics, July 11, 1946. Manuscript in Radio File
(modified Dewey classification R 112.2a).
2
Quoted from a paper by Stephen S. Atwood, "Radiowave propagation between World Wars I and II," Proc. IRE.
Vol. 50, No. 5, May 1962, p. 691.
:!

Chapter I, year 1931, p. 16.

511
 Requirements radar and communications in World War II quickly extended into
for
these Following the war, commercial communication systems, aircraft
frequencies.
communications, FM (frequency modulation) radio, television (TV), microwave relay links,
and other uses created a mushrooming demand for frequency assignments in this range.
A great need arose for basic information on the behavior of radio waves in the
troposphere and several institutions initiated research on tropospheric propagation. The
Bureau's Central Radio Propagation Laboratory was among the early entrants into this
field. When CRPL was organized on May 1, 1946, the organizational structure provided for
two sections dealing with "microwave research." One of these, Basic Microwave Research,
was activated in the summer of 1946, with its functions defined as "research on radio
propagation at VHF and microwave frequencies with particular emphasis on the effects of
the lower atmosphere." The second, Experimental Microwave Research, was activated a
year later. The two were consolidated on February 1, 1949, and the new section was named
Tropospheric Propagation Research. Activities in this area expanded rapidly and continued
at NBS until CRPL was transferred to the Environmental Science Services Administration
(ESSA) in 1965 (ch. XX), and are still being conducted in the Institute for
Telecommunication Sciences of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration.
Even before the organization of CRPL, interest was being shown at NBS in tropospheric
propagation, as evidenced by the Monthly Reports of the Radio Section. For example, some
excerpts from the Report of November 1945 read that a survey of the status of work in
tropospheric propagation continued; that emphasis was being placed on methods and
experimental equipment for obtaining the distribution refractive index with height and
interpretation of data so obtained; and that visits were made to the Weather Bureau for
information on radio meteorology. This is the first reference in the Monthly Reports to
tropospheric propagation, probably because prior to that time the projects were classified
and therefore not included. Notations of various studies continued in these Reports until
CRPL was organized in May 1946.
In the early years of CRPL, a number of theoretical papers were written by members of
the staff, giving formulas and equations for predicting the strength of signals at varying
distances from the transmitter. Such information was needed by the Federal
Communications Commission, the Air Navigation Development Board, the military services,
and others to aid in assigning frequencies so that transmitting stations would be spaced far
enough apart to provide minimum interference.

RESEARCH ON TROPOSPHERIC PROPAGATION GETS UNDERWAY

1. Early projects
The first completed project in tropospheric propagation was the compilation and
publication of a "Survey of Meteorological Instruments Used in Tropospheric Propagation
4
Investigations" by Morris Schulkin and Dwight L. Randall (Report CRPL-2-1, July 21, 1947).
Significantly, the Preface of this survey states:

The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of

Standards is inaugurating a program of tropospheric propagation research.
In order to evaluate the data with regard to weather, it is necessary to
obtain detailed meteorological information,

and the Introduction adds that its purpose was to

survey instruments in use at the present (March 1947) and those under
development which measure meteorological elements affecting microwave
propagation in the lowest 5,000 feet of the atmosphere. Measurements of
these elements are necessary to compute the refractive index and the liquid
water attenuation of the air for microwave radio propagation.

A
The principal instruments and methods surveyed were for measuring temperature, pressure (altitude), humidity,
wind, and liquid water.

512
 In March1947, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) Wave Propagation
Group Columbia University transferred its library of reports on tropospheric radio
at
propagation to CRPL. This group had previously compiled bibliographies of these reports
(the latest in 1945) and an early mission of CRPL was to bring the bibliography up to date.
Schulkin compiled a "Bibliography of Reports on Tropospheric Propagation" (Report CRPL-
2-3, July 23, 1948), in which some changes were made in subject classifications to represent
advances in the area of tropospheric research. The most significant was the addition of two
—
new major classifications "Radar siting and calibration" and "Cosmic and solar radio
noise." The latter was particularly appropriate because CRPL had recently inaugurated
cosmic radio noise studies, although no CRPL reports on this subject had yet been issued.
In the same year, Jack W. Herbstreit and Kenneth A. Norton contributed chapters to
the book Advances in Electronics, Vol. 1 (Academic Press Inc., New York, 1948) on subjects
related to tropospheric propagation. Herbstreit wrote on "Cosmic radio noise" and Norton
on "Propagation in the FM broadcast band." (See ch. XIV, footnote 6.)
Herbstreit gave a summary review of cosmic noise research up to that time, including
results of NBS research. He described the methods used, details of antennas and receivers,
and discussed observations made on 25 MHz and 110 MHz, commenting that the intensity of
the incident radiation decreased with frequency, at least in the 25- to 110-MHz range.
Norton presented a state-of-the-art review of the propagation factors related to
transmission in the FM broadcast band, which had recently been moved by the Federal
Communications Commission from below 50 MHz to the range of 88 to 108 MHz. Among
these factors were the effects of radio noise on broadcast reception, the effects of antenna
height and terrain, the effects of irregularities in the terrain, and the systematic effects of
terrain and of tropospheric ducts. He also covered tropospheric waves resulting from
reflection of atmospheric boundary layers and the combined effects of ducts and of random
tropospheric waves. Finally he discussed the calculated service and interference ranges of
FM broadcast stations, the efficient allocation of facilities to FM broadcast stations, and the
optimum frequency for an FM broadcast service.
In May 1947, CRPL called a Conference on Radio Propagation which was a successor to
several types of meetings that had been held during the war; among these was a series of
semiannual conferences on tropospheric propagation held under the auspices of the
National Defense Research Committee (NDRC). Two sessions pertained specifically to topics
in tropospheric propagation: "Cosmic radio noise" and "Propagation at VHF and higher
radio frequencies." The Conference was marked by informal discussions and exchange of
views, rather than by presentation of formal papers, in order to determine the most
desirable lines that should be followed in the future by government, university, and
industrial laboratories.
Almost from the beginning of CRPL, theoretical and experimental research was started
for making observations and obtaining data on the behavior of radio waves at very high
frequency (VHF), ultra high frequency (UHF), and microwave frequencies. Climate,
meteorological conditions in the troposphere, and terrain irregularities were known to play
important roles and early investigations were concentrated in these areas.
Results of such programs come slowly because long periods of time are required to
obtain data which reflect diurnal, seasonal, and climatic variations. For example, it was
considered desirable to make observations over a variety of transmission paths for periods of
a year or longer to determine seasonal factors, effects of atmospheric variables, and year-to-
year variations. This was confirmed in practice, as indicated in CRPL Annual Reports for
the years 1951 and 1952 when it was stated that "some knowledge of the repeatability of
propagation phenomena from year to year in a particular geographical location was
obtained," and "several paths studied for periods of two years or more show up variations in
the year-to-year repeatability."

2. Valuable meteorological and climatological data come from the U.S.

Weather Bureau and other agencies
The on natural conditions which affect
earliest research efforts utilized available data
tropospheric propagation. Among these was a pioneering study by Schulkin of variations of
atmospheric refraction of radio rays with height and meteorological conditions [1]. He

513
devised a practical method for computing refraction through an atmosphere of known
refractive index, utilizing U.S. Weather Bureau records.
The Weather Bureau had recently published radiosonde data of temperature, pressure,
and relative humidity for the North American network of stations from Alaska to the
Caribbean. Schulkin used these data for computing ray bending due to atmospheric
refraction at locations representative of a range of climatological conditions and selected
Fairbanks, Alaska, in April; Washington, D.C., in October; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, in
July for detailed study. Fairbanks and San Juan were selected because they showed
extremes of ray bending (with Fairbanks a minimum and San Juan a maximum), while
Washington showed average.
He found
that the refraction approximations in use at the time (based on a 4/3 Earth's
radius) were not adequate
for all seasons, geographical locations, or very high altitudes, the
actual air refraction in the lower atmosphere deviating considerably from theoretical
calculations.
A little later, a pilot study was made by Randall to investigate the relationship of
surface refractive index to radio field strength [2].° An FM
station in Richmond, Va., at a
frequency of 96.3 MHz, was continuously recorded for a three-week period in the summer of
1947. The propagation distance was 97 miles (121 km) and a terrain profile of the path
(drawn with a 4/3 Earth's radius) showed that the receiver was beyond the radio horizon, or
in the diffraction zone. Variations in the radio field strength were therefore considered to be
b
the result of changes in the meteorological conditions over the path. This pilot study
confirmed that there seemed to be a relation between air-mass-type surface refractivity and
signal strength.
Subsequent studies and investigations have expanded from these earlier studies into a
new field of radio meteorology covered in a later section of this chapter (pp. 17-25).

3. Suppression of microwaves by zonal screens

In line-of-sight microwave transmission, destructive interference between the direct and
ground-reflected rays may A
method for reducing interference from the ground-
occur.
was developed by Howard E. Bussey [3]. It makes use
reflected ray, based on optical theory,
of a blocking screen set on the ground at the "reflection point" in the path in such a way
that the reflected ray at the receiver will in theory disappear almost entirely, and in
7,8
practice to an extent which depends mostly on the smoothness of the ground plane.
The experiments confirmed the theory and indicated that trouble with a strong
reflected wave can be eliminated by erecting small screens in the path or, when possible, by
taking advantage of an obstacle already present.

4. Survey of research in tropospheric propagation, 1948-1956

At about the time that CRPL moved to Boulder (1954), a survey of research in
tropospheric propagation for the period 1948 to 1954 with which CRPL was directly
concerned was prepared as an NBS Report (an internal report not circulated outside NBS).
It was first prepared as a bibliography, then expanded to include abstracts of each listed
publication, and ultimately included, as "supplements," condensations or reprints of some

0
Also, see Chapter XIII, pp. 579-583.

Weather data consisted of the Daily Weather Maps and the Hourly Airway Weather Teletype Reports from
Richmond and Washington. The atmospheric refractive index was computed from temperature, pressure, and
water-vapor (from dew-point observations) data given in the Airway Weather Reports.
'
In the experiments, Bussey used a variety of shapes and placements of the screens. One of the wave suppressors
was an opaque on the ground at a point along the transmission path where the reflected ray
quarter-circle, erected
from the transmitter strikes the ground. Another was composed of two triangular screens whose edges were 7.3, 6.6,
and 5.4 feet (2.5, 2.0, and 1.6 m), placed in a suitable position along the path.
For the study, a 4500-MHz transmitter was placed 800 ft (244 m) from the receiver and 14.3 feet (4.4 m) above
the ground; the antennas at each end were 4- by 6-in (10.16- by 15.24-cm) horns. The receiver could be elevated up
and down a 50-foot (15.2-m) tower.
x
Bussey filed for a patent on Nov. 28, 1951. Patent No. 2,763,001 was issued on Sept. 11, 1956, entitled "Reflected-
ray eliminators."

514
papers not otherwise available and selected portions of longer articles (many of these
"supplements" were subsequently published as journal articles or in the NBS series
publications). The research contained in the report was sponsored in part by the U.S. Army
Signal Corps and the Air Navigation Development Board (ANDB).
This compilation, extended to 1956, was published as NBS Technical Note 26, dated
Sept. 1959, by J. W. Herbstreit and P. L. Rice [4]. The technical note contained 313 abstracts,
including 174 progress reports by sub-contractors; gave a short description of the then
current projects, facilities, and compilations of data; and presented 22 "supplements" (as
described in the preceding paragraph). It was in effect a digest of tropospheric propagation
research from the beginning of CRPL to the establishment of the Boulder Laboratories.

TRANSMISSION LOSS

1. Definitions

a) Transmission loss
The concept of transmission loss in describing the characteristics of tropospheric radio
propagation was introduced by Kenneth A. Norton, Chief of the CRPL Frequency
Utilization Research Section, in an internal unpublished report of the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory in October 1952 and published in the January 1953 issue of the
9
Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers [5]. He defined the transmission loss of a
radio system as the dimensionless ratio of the total power radiated from a transmitting
antenna to the resulting radio frequency signal power which would be available from an
equivalent loss-free receiving antenna. Transmission loss is usually expressed in decibels,
which is 10 times the logarithm to the base 10 of this ratio.

b) Basic transmission loss

In order to separate the effects of the transmitting and receiving antenna gains from
the effects of the propagation, a basic transmission loss (sometimes called path loss) was
defined as the loss expected between fictitious loss-free isotropic transmitting and receiving
antennas at the same location as the actual transmitting and receiving antennas.

c) System loss
In a later report (1959) Norton defined system loss of a radio circuit consisting of a
transmitting antenna, receiving antenna, and the intervening propagation medium as the
dimensionless ratio of the radio frequency power input to the terminals of the transmitting
antenna, to the resultant radio frequency signal power available at the terminals of the
receiving antenna [6]. System loss is also usually expressed in decibels.

d) Hourly median transmission loss

The study of long-term variations in transmission loss considers the hourly mean value
as the basic unit. The hourly mean value measure of the field or power
constitutes a
exceeded for 50 percent of each hour of recording. Such values are determined from
commercial recorder charts and time-totalizer records at receiving sites.

2. Formulas and graphs

Norton derived formulas for computing transmission loss, basic transmission loss, and
system transmission loss from chart and time-totalizer records.

3. Extensive transmission loss data summarized and published

A summary of VHF and UHF tropospheric transmission loss data, prepared by Dorothy
A. Williamson, Vivian L. Fuller, Anita G. Longley, and Philip L. Rice, was published as NBS
"Kenneth A. Norton, Chief of the CRPL Radio Propagation Engineering Division, Boulder Laboratories, was
awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service on Feb. 14, 1962. He was recognized

for outstanding contributions and leadership in the field of radio propagation research.

515
Technical Note 43 [7]. In the report cumulative distributions of hourly basic transmission
losswere presented for 135 beyond-line-of-sight radio paths in the United States.
In order to obtain information regarding factors that affect transmission loss, a long-
term program of measurements was conducted by CRPL with the assistance of the Federal
Communications Commission, several universities, and other agencies. Whenever possible,
transmission loss was recorded over particular paths for at least a year to determine
seasonal and diurnal variations. A number of paths were studied for much longer periods of
time to determine variability from year to year.
This long-term program yielded a large amount of data, including nearly a million
hourly median values of transmission loss. In order to allow for seasonal trends, the year
was divided into a summer period (May through October) and a winter period (November
through April). The number of hourly medians and the basic transmission loss exceeded 1,
10, 50, 90, and 99 percent of all hours recorded during the winter months and summer
months were computed and tabulated for each path.
Graphs were prepared showing the cumulative distributions of winter and summer
hourly median values of basic transmission loss (predicted and observed) with time for 103 of
the paths studied. They were divided into groups: paths with two or more complete years of
recording; paths with more than one season of recording; and paths with only one season of
recording. In addition, two curves were included for predicting long-term variability for
winter and summer; readings from these curves were the basis for predictions appearing in
the cumulative distributions.

4. Transmission loss predictions

Transmission loss predictions for tropospheric communication circuits were published
as an NBS Technical Note (in two volumes) by Rice, Longley, Norton, and Albrecht P. Barsis
in 1965 [8]. (This technical note is one of a series of nine, each of which is based on a chapter
of the U.S. Air Force Manual of Standards for Tropospheric Communication Circuits
Handbook, "Tropospheric Performance Standards for the U.S. Air Force," a classified
document (FY 1961) prepared for the U.S. Air Force by the CRPL Radio Propagation
10
Engineering Division.)
Volume I presents a detailed and comprehensive compilation of the many aspects of
tropospheric propagation studied by the staff of the CRPL Radio Propagation Engineering
Division that affect transmission loss. These are covered in 10 chapters, most of which
include several subdivisions.
Volume II consists of five annexes, each of which includes several subdivisions. For
most computations both a graphical method and formulas suitable for a digital computer
are presented.

The nine Technical Notes, with authors, titles, and dates issued, are:

TN.95, R. S. Kirby, P. L. Rice, and L. J. Maloney, Characteristics of Point-to-Point Tropospheric Propagation

and Siting Considerations, Oct. 1961.

TN96„ E. J. Dutton, On the Climatology of Ground-based Radio Ducts and Associated Fading Regions, June
1961.

TN97, E. J. Dutton and G. D. Thayer, Techniques for Computing Refraction of Radio Waves in the
Troposphere, Oct. 1961.

TN98, B. R. Bean, J. D. Horn, and L. P. Riggs, Synoptic Radio Meteorology, Oct. 1962.

TN99, R. E. McGavin, A Survey of the Techniques for Measuring the Radio Refractive Index, May 1962.

TN100, E. F. Florman and J. J. Tary, Required Signal-to-Noise Ratios, RF Signal Power, and Bandwidth for
Multichannel Radio Communications Systems, Jan. 1962.

TN101, P. L. Rice, A. G. Longley, K. A. Norton, and A. P. Barsis, Transmission Loss Predictions for
—
Tropospheric Communication Circuits Volumes I & II, Mar. 1965.

TN10J, A. P. Barsis, K. A. Norton, P. L. Rice, and P. H. Elder, Performance Predictions for Single Tropospheric
Communication Links in Tandem, Aug. 1961.

TN103, A. F. Barghausen, F. O. Guiraud, R. E. McGavin, S. Murahata and R. W. Wilber, Equipment

Characteristics and Their Relation to System Performance for Tropospheric Communication Circuits, Jan. 1963.
Several of these Technical Notes were used to supplement lectures on these subjects included in the NBS
Courses in Radio Propagation, given in the summers of 1961 and 1962 (ch. XVIII).

516
 Angular distance
A parameter described by the term "angular distance" was introduced by Norton at the
West Coast Annual Meeting of the Institute of Radio Engineers at San Francisco, Calif., in
August, 1953 [9]. Angular distance, designated by the Greek letter 9, was defined as the
angle between the horizon rays in the great circle plane from the transmitting and receiving
antennas as determined for a radio standard atmosphere, i.e., with an effective radius of the
earth 4/3 of its actual value. Expressed more directly, over a smooth spherical earth the
angular distance is equal to the distance between the radio horizons of the transmitting and
receiving antennas divided by the effective radius of the earth. The actual radius of the
earth was taken as 3960 miles (6373 km), so that for determining angular distance, the
effective radius (4/3 actual value) was 5280 miles (8417 km). Angular distance is expressed
in milliradians.
The angular distance, 6, is positive for receiving antennas below the horizon ray from
the transmitting antenna (line-of-sight, or within the horizon), is equal to zero for receiving
antennas on the horizon ray, and is negative for receiving antennas above the horizon ray
(beyond the horizon).
In 1959, Bradford R. Bean and Gordon D. Thayer reported that an exponential decrease
with height appeared to be more representative of the true structure of the atmosphere and
yielded more reliable estimates of refraction effects than the linear decrease assumed by the
effective Earth's radius theory. They also developed a model of atmospheric radio
refractivity, designated as the "CRPL Exponential Atmosphere," which was applicable for
long-range transmission paths, forward-scatter predictions, or radar tracking at high
altitudes (see sec. 3c, p. 521).

Radio meteorology
1. Introduction

Meteorological research is basic to all tropospheric propagation studies, and its

importance has been noted earlier in this chapter (p. 512). Radio meteorology was centered
in the Tropospheric Propagation Research Section of CRPL until the organization of the
Boulder Laboratories. A section, Radio Meteorology, was then formed in the CRPL Radio
Propagation Engineering Division of the Boulder Laboratories. A comprehensive report,
entitled Radio Meteorology (423 pp.), was published as NBS Monograph 92, by Bean and
Evan J. Dutton [10].

2. The radio refractive index

a) Its importance
The significance of the refractive index of the atmosphere in the study of tropospheric
propagation was emphasized in the First Annual Report of CRPL (1947) which stated that:

index of refraction values are basic to the study of atmospheric refraction of

radio waves in the troposphere. They are usually calculated from the
measured values of temperature, pressure, and humidity, . . .

The index of refraction is expressed by an equation which relates these values and
experimentally determined constants. Ernest K. Smith, Jr., and Stanley Weintraub made a
study of the constants and, on the basis of their work and the work of others making use of
improved techniques in microwave measurements, concluded that the values of the
constants should be revised. Through consideration of these various experiments they
arrived at an equation considered good to 0.5 percent in the refractive index of air for
frequencies up to 30,000 MHz and normally encountered ranges of temperature, pressure,

517
 11
and humidity [ll]. This equation and its terminology have become standards for use in
radio refractive index studies and are referred to frequently in this chapter.

b) Devices for simplifying solution of the equation for radio refractive index
Computation with such a complex equation can be quite cumbersome and time-
consuming, especially when a large number of observations such as might be made over an
extended period of time need to be reduced. Several devices were designed in CRPL for
1 "
simplifying the operation.
One, developed by Weintraub, utilized two slide rules for computing refractive index
from temperature, pressure, and humidity data [12]. The method attained good precision
with relative ease of calculation.
Another was an analogue computer devised by Walter E. Johnson, with dials for
introducing the variables of the equation, and giving a direct reading of the refractive index
[13]. Average operational time for a computation was reduced to approximately 10 seconds.
The comment was made in NBS Technical Note 26 (Sept. 1959), Abstract No. 130, that the
computer was in use at CRPL and had superseded other methods of calculating the radio
refractive index.

c) The microwave refractometer

One of the most useful and far-reaching instruments to come from CRPL was the
13
recording microwave refractometer [14]. It was developed originally by George Birnbaum
of the Microwave Standards Section for measuring dielectric constants of gases, liquids, and
solids, in turn, as part of the program in microwave spectroscopy. However, it was soon
adapted for direct measurement of the refractive index of the atmosphere.
Initial experiments for observing fluctuations in atmospheric refractive index were
conducted by Birnbaum and associates in late 1950 with the refractometer mounted on the
roof of an NBS building in Washington, D.C. [15]. Birnbaum, Bussey, and Richard R. Larson
next made observations in August 1951 with refractometers and meteorological equipment
installed on two levels of a 420-foot (128-m) tower at the Brookhaven National Laboratory,
Long Island, N.Y. [16]. (See sec. d, below.) Later, Bussey and Birnbaum used the
refractometer as an airborne instrument (with modifications for mounting on the aircraft)
in a flight over Chesapeake Bay [17]. Observations were made at heights up to 10,000 feet
(3048 m) and, when flying through cumulus clouds, they noticed increases of refractive index
on entering the clouds and intense fluctuations within the clouds.
After the Cheyenne Mountain experiment in Colorado became operational in the Tro-
pospheric Propagation Research Section (see pp. 525-533), a need arose for refractometers to
measure radio refractive index at the receiving locations. A contract was awarded to the
Denver Research Institute for two instruments to be used on a 500-foot (152-m) meteorological
tower which was constructed at Haswell, Colo., in 1952-53. 14

" The Smith-Weintraub equation is

N=(n-l)10 (i
= ^-(p + 4810
in which

N = refractivity of air
n = refractive index of air
T = absolute temperature = °C + 273
p = partial pressure of water vapor in millibars
e = total air pressure in millibars.

1J
The devices given here are also described in chapter XIII, p. 588, under the heading "a) Computation of the
refractive index of the atmosphere."

" This instrument is described in chapter X (p. 389, footnote 89), but the description bears repeating here:

a sweep frequency generator provides resonant responses in two similar cavities, one the
reference cavity, the other the test cavity. A frequency difference between the two cavities when
a gas was introduced into the test cavity provided a measurement of the dielectric constant of
the gas.
14
Haswell was 96 miles (154 km), and at ground level just beyond radio line-of-sight, from the summit transmitter
on Cheyenne Mountain; the top of the 500-foot (152-m) tower was within the radio line-of-sight.

518
 8

In the meantime, research continued in efforts to build an improved instrument,

supported in part by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army Electronic Proving Ground at
Fort Huachuca, Ariz. In 1956 Moody C. Thompson, Jr., and Maurice J. Vetter designed c
modified Birnbaum refractometer for operation in a small aircraft whose flight
1S
characteristics such as maneuverability and lower air speeds were often desirable [18].
Space, weight, and power requirements were prime considerations, but improved instrument
performance was also obtained.
Among problems connected with microwave refractometers were slight variations in
volume of the metallic cavities caused by thermal change of dimensions. These in turn
produced variations in resonance frequencies which affected the measured values of
refractive index. Experiments with ceramic cavities coated with an electrically conducting
material resulted in cavities having expansion coefficients very close to zero over limited
temperature ranges. Hence the resonance frequencies could be held constant despite
16
temperature variations [19].
Vetter and Thompson later developed a refractometer which they termed "absolute"
and in which considerable improvement in calibration stability and simplicity of operation
were obtained over earlier instruments [20]. 17,
In 1962, the first of a new generation of microwave refractometers was constructed by
CRPL. 19 The essentially different feature of this instrument was that it eliminated the
20,21
second cavity, making use of a single cavity for the measurements.
Further improvements in microwave refractometers were made after CRPL was
transferred from NBS to the Environmental Science Services Administration in 1965, but
they can only be mentioned here as the program was no longer an NBS project (see ch. XX).

d) Refractive index inhomogeneities

An extensive series of observations was obtained by Birnbaum, Bussey, and Larson with
two refractometers and meteorological equipment installed on various levels of a 125-m (410-
foot) tower of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, N.Y. [21]. One of the
refractometers was equipped with a multiple-cavity unit for the study of correlation between
two positions in the horizontal direction.
The amplitudes of the refractive index variations were correlated with various
meteorological conditions. From the experimentally determined cross-correlation coefficient,
and assuming that its variation with distance is given by the exponential form (the so-called
Taylor exponent), scales (mean eddy size) in the neighborhood of 60 m (197 feet) were
obtained. This result seemed to agree generally with values reported from aircraft
observations and stellar scintillations.
A detailed investigation of the errors arising from ventilation of the cavity and its
exposure to the atmosphere indicated that these (cavities) had been made sufficiently small

15
Designed specifically for the L-20 "Beaver," a light, single-engine plane then used by the U.S. Army.
" Moody Thompson, Jr., Frank E. Freathy, and Donald M. Waters
C. filed for a patent on Dec. 15, 1958. Patent
2,981,908 was issued Apr. 25, 1961, entitled "Cavity resonator."
11
The term "absolute" was used because the measurement is made by comparing the refractive index of the sample
with the refractive index of a vacuum, which by definition is unity. The comparison is made in terms of frequency,
and the calibration is made through the use of frequency standards. A precisely calibrated reference cavity is made
to track the frequency changes of the sampling cavity by means of a tuning probe and servo-mechanism.
18
The probe was the subject of a patent for which Maurice J. Vetter filed on May 10, 1962. Patent 3,158,825 was
issued on Nov. 24, 1964, entitled "Movable resonant cavity tuning probe in dielectric sleeve having nonuniform
outer surface."
19
This was built for Bell Laboratories, the first microwave refractometer built for a non-government laboratory
(another first for the CRPL microwave refractometer program).

20
This was accomplished by placing a sample of gas in a multi-mode resonant cavity operating simultaneously in a
fundamental and a harmonic mode, and then measuring the difference between the output signals obtained at each
of the two modes.
21
Moody C. Thompson, Jr., and Maurice J. Vetter filed for a patent on May 13, 1965. Patent 3,400,330 was issued
Sept. 30, 1968, entitled "Refractometer that measures the difference in refractive indices of a gas at two
frequencies." The application was filed shortly before CRPL was transferred to the Environmental Science Services
Administration, and it was several years later that the patent was issued.

519
so that the refractometer accurately measured variations in atmospheric refractive index.
With simultaneous measurement of temperature, fast variations of water vapor density
could be determined.

3. Atmospheric bending of radio waves

a) Atmospheric ducts
An atmospheric duct is defined as occurring when a radio ray originating at the Earth's
surface is sufficiently refracted during its upward passage through the atmosphere that it

either bent back toward the Earth's surface or travels in a path parallel to the Earth's
is

surface. It was noted by early research workers in tropospheric propagation that the
seasonal cycle of VHF radio field strengths recorded far beyond the normal radio horizon
was highly coordinated with the refractive index. Further examination by Bradford R. Bean
of CRPL, and by scientists in Japan, showed that the correlation was about 0.9 when both
variables were taken on a monthly mean basis, but decreased rapidly for shorter mean
22
periods [22].
As noted index of air (n) is a function of atmospheric
earlier, the radio refractive
pressure, temperature, and humidity, and may
be expressed more conveniently by the term,
refractivity (N), according to the Smith-Weintraub equation (see p. 517 and footnote 11).
Bean noted a systematic dependence of refractivity upon station elevation and concluded
that it would be necessary to consider a method of expressing refractivity in terms of an
equivalent sea-level value, in order to understand more clearly the actual climatic
differences of the various parts of the world. Three of the normal meteorological elements
used to specify climate are thereby combined into one parameter, not an easy task when
23
hundreds of observations must be analyzed [23].
Using weather records from the National Weather Records Center in Asheville, N.C.,
he carried out a systematic study of the variability of the radio refractive index during
different seasons of the year and in differing climatic regions. For this purpose, 3 to 5 years
of radiosonde data typical of a tropical, temperate, and arctic climate were analyzed. The
tropical location was Swan Island, West Indies (a tropical maritime climate); the temperate
location, Washington, D.C.; and the arctic location, Fairbanks, Alaska. The data from four
months of each year, February, May, August, and November, were examined by means of a
digital computer for the occurrence of ducts.
Annual maximums of radio refractive index were observed in the winter for the arctic
and in the summer for the tropics. The maximum observed incidence of ducts was
determined as 13 percent in the tropics, 10 percent in the arctic, and 5 percent in the
temperate zone. The arctic ducts arise from ground-based temperature inversions with the
ground temperature less than -25 °C while the tropical ducts are observed to occur with
slight temperature and humidity time lapse when the surface temperature is 30 °C and
greater. In the temperate climate, the ducts are associated with the common radiation
inversion and accompanying humidity lapse.
The maximum thickness of observed limiting layers such as to trap radio waves with
is

frequencies greater than about 500 MHz at all locations for at least 50 percent of the
observed ducts.

22
Bradford R. Bean was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service on Feb. 14,

1963. Bean was recognized

for outstanding contributions and leadership in the field of radio wave refraction.
23
Prompted by reports in the literature of possible errors in the value of refractivity arising from lag of the sensing
elements of radiosondes, Bean and Dutton made a study of the time lag of the temperature and humidity sensors
on the computed values of refractivity [23]. Their study indicated that a correction to the humidity reading alone is
insufficient; a correction to the temperature reading is also necessary. This latter correction yields a twofold
correction to the value of refractivity due to the actual error in temperature and a correction to vapor pressure
resulting from the more correct estimate of the true saturation vapor pressure (which is a function of temperature).
They pointed out that ignoring sensor time lag tends to underestimate ducting incident; correcting only for
humidity sensor lag tends to overestimate ducting incidence. Thus they concluded that if studies of refractive index
profile are to include sensor lag correction, allowance should be made for both temperature and humidity lags,
regardless of climate.

520
b) Radio Refractive Index Data Center

Because of a rapid increase in the amount of research effort on the utilization of

standard weather observations for radio propagation studies, a meeting of government
agencies engaged in radioclimatology was held at the NBS Boulder Laboratories on January
15, 1958 [24]. The data obtained from such research are basic to any radio meteorological or
radioclimatological study.
Agenda for the meeting included: Non-overlapping geographic coverage in
climatological calculations; uniform calculations of basic parameters and presentation of
data; and free exchange of data between groups, or the establishment of a central data pool.
was decided that an immediate listing should be made of past data that were then
It
available for general use, and that the most workable method was for each group to submit
a listing of their data to the Radio Meteorology Section of the CRPL Radio Propagation
Engineering Division. CRPL then would compile the individual lists and issue a report on all
available data. Future data would be recorded in the same fashion. Since the National
Weather Records Center (NWRC) did not keep the punched cards with the calculated values
of refractivity beyond 6 months, it was agreed to request that all such cards be sent to
CRPL.
It was further recommended that minimum calculations necessary to define the

climatology of a station would be 5 years of daily observations during the months of

February, May, August, and November.
This meeting marked the beginning of the Radio Refractive Index Data Center at NBS.
By 1961, the Center had recorded and referenced data on more than 7,000,000 punched
cards. These data were being received from more than 300 stations in the United States and
in South Africa, Antarctica, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Germany, Greenland, Japan, Korea,
Morocco, Newfoundland, the Panama Canal Zone, Tripoli, and from weather ships stationed
in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans [25].
The goal of the Center was to collect sufficient data to survey and plot radio refractive
index profiles for the atmosphere of the entire Earth.
The ready accessibility of this information from a central source simplified the
computations required, for example, in evaluating missile tracking (p. 545) and guidance
systems, in establishing error corrections for height-finding radars, in predicting
transmission loss in tropospheric propagation studies (see p. 516), and in estimating radio-
wave field strengths for many types of radio propagation.

Note: As a useful working tool the Radio Refractive Index Data Center essentially has
ceased to exist. Information of this nature can be obtained from other sources.

C) CRPL EXPONENTIAL REFERENCE ATMOSPHERE

Studies of atmospheric refraction of radio waves have shown that an exponential
decrease of refractive index with height is more representative of the true structure and
yields more reliable estimates of refraction effects than the linear decrease assumed by the
effective Earth's radius theory.
As a result, various exponential models of atmospheric radio refractivity were
introduced to replace the standard 4/3 Earth treatment for applications involving long-
range transmission paths, forward scatter predictions, or radar tracking at high altitudes.
One of these models, developed at CRPL and called "CRPL Exponential Reference
Atmosphere," was adopted for use by the National Bureau of Standards in predictions of
refractionphenomena [26].
Bean and Gordon D. Thayer found that the rate of exponential decrease with height
may be specified by surface conditions alone. As a result, surface value of refractivity at the
transmitting point was specified as the basic predictor of refraction effects as used in the
exponential reference atmosphere.
Several important advantages accrue from this particular choice of model, among which
are:

(1) The profiles involved proved to be a fairly good representation of the average
refractive index structure over the first 3 km above the surface, a critical range for
refraction effects at low angles to the horizon.

521
 (2) The resulting relationship between the gradient of refractivity near the surface and
surface refractivity found to be very close to the observed average relationship (for 5-yr
is

mean profiles), being within ±3 percent over the normally encountered range of surface
refractivity. This agreement is a requirement for the successful prediction of average
refraction effects at elevation angles close to the horizontal.
(3) The resulting profiles and their associated gradients are continuous functions of

height and are in reasonably good agreement with the actual observed refractivity at all
heights at frequencies sufficiently high so that the refractivity is not influenced by the
ionization in the ionosphere.

d ) Refraction of radio waves at low angles within various air masses

The refractive-index structure and bending of radio rays within air masses of non-
exponential refractive-index-height structure were treated by Bean, James D. Horn, and
Lowell P. Riggs in terms of the value expected in an average atmosphere of exponential
form [27]. They demonstrated that refraction differences within air masses arise from
departures of refractive-index structure from the normal exponential decrease with height.
The effect upon radio-ray refraction of these departures from the normal exponential
refractive-index structure is most pronounced for small initial angles of the radio ray.
The work of Schulkin (see p. 513) and others has shown that characteristic total
bending differences in radio-ray refraction exist between various air masses. This study
extended Schulkin's conclusion by identifying abnormal bending of radio rays with
departures of refractive-index structure from average in the lowermost layers of the air
masses. Consideration of departure of both ray bending and refractive-index structure from
their value in a standard exponential atmosphere results in a suitable method of cataloging
air masses in terms of either refractive-index structure or bending characteristics. In
making their analysis they made use of values derived from an examination of nearly
2,000,000 individual observations of refractivity at the Earth's surface from all parts of the
United States.

e) Refraction in an exponential atmosphere

A formula was derived by Thayer for the radio-ray-refractive angle by integration of the
approximate differential equation for the case where the refractivity decreases
exponentially with height above the surface of a smooth, spherical Earth [28].
The solution represented a relatively accurate and concise formulation for the ray
bending in an exponential atmosphere. It has the advantage of being in terms of well-
tabulated functions which can be easily programmed on digital or analogue computers.
When the accuracy of the formula was checked against published results obtained by the
CRPL Exponential Reference Atmosphere (see sec. c, p. 521), the largest errors found were
about 4 percent, and these were for a profile with a very strong refractivity gradient.

f ) Graphical determination of radio ray bending

A
simple engineering method for calculating the amount of bending undergone by a
radio ray passing through an exponential atmosphere was devised by Carol F. Pappas, Lewis
E. Vogler, and Rice [29]. The amount of bending is measured by the refraction angle and is
important in such problems as the accurate determination by radar of the range and height
of flying objects, the location of extraterrestrial radio noise sources in radio astronomy, and
the analysis of radio communication systems.
This refraction angle may be expressed in an integral form, the solution of which is
quite complicated for hand calculation. A numerical integration method has been used by
coworkers, but the method is only practical through the use of a large-scale computer.
In some cases (when the initial take-off angle is large), the refraction angle may be
calculated by a formula which is quite simple and accurate. However, in other cases (where
the initial take-off angle is small), this engineering method was developed to provide a quick
and practical means to obtain the refraction angle. The method made use of a few graphs
and a few calculations, and gave values of the refraction angle which compared quite well
with values of the CRPL Exponential Reference Atmosphere.

522
g) Correlation of monthly median transmission loss and refractive index profiles
A comparison of transmission losses at 100 MHz recorded over 21 paths with various
refractivity-gradient differences from the surface to 3 kmrevealed that the surface value of
the refractive index yields as good a correlation as any of the refractive index differences
due to the high correlation between the surface values and these differences; therefore the
more accessible surface values can be effectively substituted for the differences [30].
The radio data used in this study by Bean and Burgette A. Cahoon were the 100-MHz
monthly mean transmission losses for 21 transmission paths in the continental United
States. These data represented climatic conditions ranging from those of New England to
the central and southeastern seaboard, the Gulf States, the Great Lakes, the high plains,
and the Pacific coast. Although the study encompassed only a small portion of the United
States, several of the more important climates of the World are represented by the 21 paths.
It is considered likely that the general pattern of the mean profile of a climatic area would
repeat itself, regardless of its location on the Earth's surface.
Correlations of transmission loss recorded for one year versus that recorded in another
year for the same radio path followed the same order as those obtained from meteorological
—
data alone. The very practical result inexpensive meteorological data may be used to
predict the seasonal variation of radio fields as accurately as expensive radio-path
measurements.

4. Climatology
a) Climatic variation of absolute humidity
Bean and Cahoon prepared maps to show the variation of absolute humidity over the
United States for the values exceeded, 1, 50, and 99 percent of the time during the months of
February and August [31].
It was emphasized that the contours on these maps were derived by linear interpolation
between station points and thus were not modified to terrain variations. An example of such
a modification would be an increase in gradient to the west of the Pacific coastal mountain
ranges with a resultant decrease in gradient east of the ranges.
The characteristics of the distribution of absolute humidity were examined for nine
climatically diverse stations. These distributions were obtained from the daily observations
of absolute humidity at the local times corresponding to 0300 and 1500 G.m.t. during the
months of February, May, August, and November, 1951 and 1952. Thus, each of these
cumulated distributions represents 120 samples of absolute humidity for each month.
In addition, regression equations were derived to enable one to estimate the values of
absolute humidity exceeded 1 and 99 percent of the time at any location for which average
values are available.

b) Studies of a continental polar air mass

The synoptic variation of the atmospheric radio refractive index, evaluated from
standard weather observations, was examined during an outbreak of polar continental air
[32]. It was found that the reduced-to-sea-level value of the refractive index was quite
sensitive to the humidity and density structure of the storm under study while the station
elevation dependence of the station value tended to mask synoptic changes. The reduced-to-
sea-level value changed systematically with the approach and passage of the polar front.
The storm system showed a consistent increase of the reduced value in the warm sector of
the wave and a marked decrease behind the cold front.
Thus, if the refractivity is reduced to sea level, the refractive index is a sensitive
indicator of large-scale weather systems when considered on a daily weather-map basis.
This work was extended by considering if the air mass properties associated with a
typical winter-time outbreak of polar air were reflected in the refractive-index structure
[33].

c) Worldwide climatology
A study of the radio-refractive-index climatology on a worldwide basis was made by
Bean, Horn, and Anton M. Ozanich, Jr., with the assistance of other members of the Radio

523
Meteorology Section Data were obtained from 306 weather stations, worldwide, in order
[34].

to give reasonable geographic coverage, using the United Nations monthly publication,
"Climatic Data of the World." In general, 5 years of records were obtained for each station
24
for the period 1949 through 1958, preference being given to the year's 1954 through 1958.
Because no meteorological observing stations existed for the oceans, estimates of
temperature and humidity were made from available atlases, and pressure from average
25
winter and summer pressure charts.
The climatic data were calculated to values of refractivity from the Smith-Weintraub
26
equation, using the analog computer designed by Johnson. Surface values of refractivity
were evaluated from surface weather observations at each station, and these values were
then reduced to sea-level refractivity. It was found that comparisons could be more readily
made and with four to five times greater accuracy when sea-level values were used.
Although the study was aimed primarily toward worldwide variations, the U.S. data
better illustrated the height dependence of surface refractivity. It was noted that the coastal
areas displayed high values, while the inland areas had lower values. There were low values
corresponding to the Appalachian and Adirondack Mountains, a decrease with increasing
elevation of the Great Plains until the lowest values were observed in the Rocky Mountain
region and the high plateau area of Nevada. A corresponding gradient was observed from
the West coast eastward.
A detailed analysis of the altitude dependence of refractivity was made in terms of the
"dry" and "wet" components, and an exponential equation was derived for determining sea-
27
level values.
Mean were calculated at each of the 306 selected stations, and charts
sea-level values
were prepared each month of the year. Comparison of these monthly charts showed
for
definite trends for various terrain features such as maritime coastal areas, deserts and high
plateaus, and mountain chains. Such pronounced climatic details as Indian monsoons were
also indicated. The annual variation was indicated by differences between the maximum
and minimum monthly means, and it was noticeable how clearly climatic differences were
evidenced. For example, relatively small annual ranges were observed over the west coasts
of North America and Europe, where there is a prevailing transport of moist maritime air
inland. The largest annual ranges were observed in the Sudan of Africa and in connection
with the Indian monsoons.
The annual cycle of sea-level values of refractivity at each station was examined for the
purpose of deriving similarities of climatic pattern. As one form of climatic classification,
the annual mean value at each station was plotted versus the annual range at the station.
When this was done, several distinct groupings of data seemed evident. These groupings are
as as follows: Type I, midlatitude-coastal; type II, subtropical-savanna; type III, monsoon-
Sudan; type IV, semiarid-mountain; type V, continental-polar; and type VI, isothermal-
28
equatorial.

JJ
Only 1 year of data (IGYl was available for Russia, reported in the United Nations monthly publication,
"Climatic Data of the World."

"'Temperature was estimated from sea surface isotherms found in the "World Atlas of Sea-Surface Temperatures,"
a publication of the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office. Humidity was estimated from charts of seasonal average
depression of the wet-bulb temperature in the "Atlas of Climatic Charts of the Oceans," a publication of the U.S.
Weather Bureau.
26
See footnote 11 for the Smith-Weintraub equation and p. 518 for a description of the Johnson analog computer.

The simplified equation is

N =(DS +WS
0 ) exp. (0.1057 h)

where N„ is the sea-level value of refractivity, D s and W

s represent the surface values of the "dry" and "wet"
components, obtained from equations relating temperature, pressure, and humidity and from contour maps of these
values; and where h is the station height in kilometers.

The location, characteristics, and a typical station of each type are given here.

Type I — Midlatitude — coastal.

Near the coast or in lowlands on lakes and rivers, in latitude belts between 20° and 50°. Generally marine or
modified marine climate — Washington, D.C.
524
 It was concluded from this study that: (1) The radio refractive index varies in a

systematic fashion with climate, and different climates may be identified by the range and
mean values of the refractive index. (2) It is four or five times more accurate to estimate the
station value of the index from charts of the reduced-to-sea-level value. This improved
accuracy results from using a method that allows height dependence to be accurately taken
into account. (3) Identically equipped tropospheric communications might be expected to
vary as much as 30 decibels in monthly mean signal level in different climatic regions, and
the annual range of monthly mean field strength could be as high as 20 decibels in the
Sudan of Africa and as low as 0 to 6 decibels in the high plains of the western United States.

THE CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN EXPERIMENTS

1. Background and preliminary preparations
Operations in Colorado began with tropospheric propagation experiments from
Cheyenne Mountain, near Colorado Springs, June 1950, almost a year before the first
in
CRPL employees arrived in Boulder to begin setting up the CRPL units of the NBS Boulder
Laboratories.
The Cheyenne Mountain project was an extension of air-to-ground and air-to-air studies
which were already underway by CRPL at Washington, D.C. In August 1949, CRPL proposed
to the Radio Propagation Executive Council "a coordinated program of research at
tropospheric frequencies to determine air-to-ground and air-to-air propagation
characteristics." In the following month, the agencies interested in the program (Air Force,
Army, Navy, and CRPL) reached agreement on a course of action on various phases of the
program.
In effect, this would extend the frequency range of approximately 100 to 1000 MHz of
an existing CRPL
research program on the measurement of air-to-ground and air-to-air
propagation. The extended frequency range would be in a band 1000 to 3000 MHz. Two
closely related projects were carried out concurrently and, essentially, by the same
—
personnel Propagation Experiments at Cheyenne Mountain, 100 to 1000 MHz, sponsored
by NBS; and Propagation Experiments at Cheyenne Mountain, 1000 to 3000 MHz (and more
specifically, 960 to 1000 MHz for an air navigation and traffic control system) sponsored by
the Air Navigation Development Board (ANDB).
The Quarterly Report of CRPL for the period October-December 1949 stated that the
initial effort in the ANDB program would be to conduct a series of field-intensity studies
using a high-powered continuous-wave transmitter located on a mountain site to simulate
low-angle air-to-ground conditions.
(Continued)
Type II — Subtropical-savanna
Lowland stations between 30°N and 25°S latitude, rarely far from the oceans. Definite rainy and dry seasons,
typical of —
savanna climate Miami, Fla.

Type III — Monsoon-Sudan

Monsoon, generally between 20° and 40°N latitude; Sudan, across central Africa from 10° to 20°S latitude.
Seasonal extremes of rainfall and temperature— Jodhpur, India.

Type IV — Semiarid-mountain
In desert and high steppe regions as well as mountainous regions above 3000 ft (914.4 m). Year-round dry
climate— Denver, Colo.
Type V — Continental-Polar

In middle latitudes and polar regions. (Mediterranean climates are included because of the low range resulting
—
from characteristic dry summers.) Oslo, Norway.

Type VI — Isothermal-equatorial
Tropical stations at low elevations between 20°N and 20°S latitude, almost exclusively along seacoasts or on
islands. Monotonous rainy climates — Canton Island, South Pacific Ocean.
Note that for a given classification of refractive-index climate, diverse meteorological climates and
geographical regions may be represented.

525
 Experimental locations in the Denver-Colorado Springs area of Colorado were inspected
and a suitable location at Colorado Springs (Cheyenne Mountain) was selected [35].
Cheyenne Mountain rises abruptly from the plains to a height of approximately 2800 feet
(853 m) above the plains, approximately 6000 feet (1829 m) above sea level. The shear face of
the mountain provided a location closely approaching an airborne transmitter. Two
transmitter sites were selected on the mountain (see sec. 2. below), both of which were
available by an all-season motor road.

Antenna tower at "base site," Cheyenne Mountain. Colorado Springs is in the center background and the plains
extend to the horizon and beyond.

The program progressed rapidly and by March 1950 a lease had been negotiated for
temporary quarters to house the transmitter in the Cheyenne Mountain Lodge, located at
the summit of the mountain. An office was established in downtown Colorado Springs in
June and by December construction work had been completed except for an 80-foot (24-m)
tower at the base site (see sec. 2. below). A test of the transmitter gave detectable signals at
a distance of 150 miles (241 km) from the tower of the summit site.

526
 1&»
lb

EXPERIMENTAL TROPOSPHERIC
SCATTER CHAIN
I JNE OF SIGHT TRANS 1 1( >RIZ().\

Transmitting and receiving facilities of the Cheyenne Mountain experiments. High power VHF and UHF
transmissions originating on Cheyenne Mountain and Pikes Peak were received at monitoring stations both within
and far beyond the radio horizon to determine the effects of the terrain and the atmosphere on radio propagation.
Characteristics of VHF and UHF for air-to-ground and ground-to-ground navigation, communications, and
guidance systems were studied. Some of the earliest tropospheric forward scatter research was carried out with
these facilities.

George R. Chambers was the first member of the CRPL staff transferred from
Washington, D.C. to Colorado. Pioneering work with the Cheyenne Mountain program was
acknowledged in two early reports on the project. The first, an internal NBS report (not
circulated outside NBS) by Chambers, Herbstreit, and Norton dated July 23, 1952, cited the
contribution of James H. Chisholm, another early member of the Cheyenne Mountain
program:

Special mention should be made of the extensive contribution of J. H.

Chisholm Mr. Chisholm was responsible for most of the
to this project.
details of planning connected with the choice of transmitting and receiving
sites and the choice and design of the 1000-Mc transmitting and receiving
equipment; he was the leader of the group responsible for the procurement,
installation, and operation of the 1000-Mc system and remained with the
project through November 1951, at which time preliminary observations
had been made at 1000 Mc to distances of several hundred miles.

Chambers and Chisholm were both recognized in the second of these, a published report,
29
NBS Circular 554 (referenced above).

The early contributions to the Cheyenne Mountain project by G. R.

Chambers and J. H. Chisholm, both of whom have now left the National

29
When the Cheyenne Mountain projects became operational, Kenneth O. Hornberg was assigned the position of
engineer-in-charge. Professional personnel associated with the projects over a period of several years and who later
had extensive service with CRPL in Boulder included: Alfred F. Barghausen, Albrecht P. Barsis. Martin T. Decker,
Arthur J. Estin, Robert W. Hubbard, Harris B. Janes, Raymond E. McGavin, Charles J. Roubique, Moody C.
Thompson, Jr., and Paul I. Wells.
The Cheyenne Mountain projects were directed by Jack W. Herbstreit, Chief of the Tropospheric Propagation
Section.

527
 Bureau of Standards, are acknowledged. They were largely responsible for
the design, procurement, and installation of the major items of equipment
in current use.

2. Transmitter locations
Transmissions only were made from Cheyenne Mountain and from two additional
nearby sites: At Fort Carson on the plains near the base of the mountain, and at the summit
of Pikes Peak, a short unobstructed distance to the west.
The Cheyenne Mountain transmitters were placed near the summit (designated the
"summit site"), approximately 8700 feet (2652 m) above sea level, and at a point about half-
way up the mountain ("base site"), approximately 7500 feet (2286 m) above sea level. The
Fort Carson transmitter was 6200 feet (1890 m) and the summit of Pikes Peak is 14,110 feet
(4300 m) above sea level. The Pikes Peak installation was available only during the summer
months when the road was open; all the others could be used year-round.
Transmissions were made in the 100- and 200-MHz ranges (VHF) from both summit and
base sites, and at 1046 MHz (UHF) from the summit. Later experiments included a number
of additional frequencies for specialized investigations.

Transmitting antennas on tower at "summit site, " Cheyenne Mountain.

528
Lowersection of antenna tower at "summit site, " Cheyenne Mountain. Also, visible are antennas installed later fc
additional research projects.
3. Receiving locations
Receiving facilities were installed at six fixed and semi-mobile sites in the plains of
eastern Colorado, western Kansas, and in Arkansas. These sites were chosen along a radial
of about 105 degrees east of true north from the transmitters. The 105-degree direction
roughly intersects the Arkansas River Valley in eastern Colorado and western Kansas. This
alignment was chosen to permit similar orientation of all transmitting antennas to produce
maximum usable power at all receiving sites.
Four fixed receiving sites were at Kendrick (49.3 miles, 79 km from the summit
transmitter/, Karval (70.2 miles, 113 km), Haswell (96.6 miles, 155 km), all in Colorado, and
Garden City, Kans. (226.5 miles, 364 km). Continuous recordings of these stations were made
on frequencies of 100 and 192.8 MHz beginning in early March 1952. Semi-mobile
installations were at Anthony, Kans. (393.5 miles, 633 km) and Fayetteville, Ark. (617.7
miles, 994 km). Short-term recordings were obtained at these distant stations in February
1952. The 1046-MHz transmission was recorded at the four fixed sites beginning late in
March 1952.

The receiving tower at Haswell, Colo., .96.6 miles (155 km) from Cheyenne Mountain. Provision was made for
mounting antennas and meteorological instruments at various levels on the 500-foot tower. The base of the tower is
beyond the horizon from the summit transmitter on Cheyenne Mountain; the top is within-the-horizon.

530
A typical "fixed" receiving site in the chain extending eastward from the Cheyenne Mountain transmitters.
and Karval, Colo., and at Garden City. Kans.
Installations were located at Kendrick, Haswell,

Kendrick and Karval are within the radio horizon of the summit, Haswell is just
beyond. Garden City, Anthony, and Fayetteville are well beyond the radio horizon and
considered out of the refraction region and in the scattering region (see p. 552) for reception.
One of the principal objectives of the Cheyenne Mountain experiments was an
investigation of radio fields produced near and far beyond the radio horizon. The four fixed
receiver-recording sites were chosen to provide propagation measurements over paths that
were: (1) radio optical, (2) near the radio horizon, (3) just beyond the horizon, and (4) far
beyond the horizon.
Because the nature of UHF propagation beyond the horizon was not well understood, a
mobile receiver-recording system was designed and constructed for additional investigations
of field strengths well beyond the horizon. This unit was placed at fixed points for several
days at a time and progressively moved to more distant locations as indicated by the
reception of recordable signals.
The receiver location at Kendrick, Colo., was typical of the four fixed sites where the
terrain was essentially bare rolling hills departing from a smooth spherical earth by only a
few hundred feet. Even such small irregularities, however, were of major importance in the
propagation of 1000-MHz (UHF) signals for which the wavelength is only about 1 foot (30
cm). The distant portions of the path through Kansas become progressively much smoother,
but finally become rougher at a distance of approximately 600 miles in the Boston
Mountains of northwestern Arkansas. The terrain slopes from a ground elevation of
approximately 6000 feet (1829 m) above sea level at the base of Cheyenne Mountain to
approximately 1500 feet (457 m) above sea level in western Arkansas.

531
Mobile receiving equipment was used for additional measurements at locations other than the "fixed sites" in
eastern Colorado and western Kansas.

4. Facilities and equipment

a) General
The objectives of the Cheyenne Mountain program required a carefully monitored
transmission and receiver-recording system, which was divided into three equipment classes:
(1) Transmission, (2) reception, and (3) data recording.

b) Transmission
Transmitting facilities at the Cheyenne Mountain fixed sites included four commercial
FM transmitters for the VHF range and one UHF transmitter. The UHF transmitter
operated on a frequency of 1046.4748 MHz, one commercial (VHF) transmitter operated on a
frequency of 100 MHz, and one somewhat modified commercial transmitter (VHF) operated
on 192.8 MHz. All were installed and operated at the summit site. The base site housed
similar VHF transmitters operated on 92 and 210.4 MHz. After several years of operation,
because of an increased number of commmercial television stations in the area, the
transmitters in the 200-MHz range were modified to operate at 230 MHz at the base site and
236 MHz at the summit site.

1) UHF transmitter— 1046 MHz

The 1046-MHz UHF transmitter was designed and specially built for the National
Bureau of Standards. It was designed to meet the rigid specifications of the narrow-band, cw
radio propagation system for Cheyenne Mountain. This transmitter met the essential
requirements of radiating a high-power, essentially monochromatic, stable, continuously

532
monitored radio-frequency signal at 1046.4748 MHz. It was unique in having the highest
continuous power output of any 1000-MHz transmitter in the country. The transmission
system consisted of four major components: (1) Crystal driver unit, (2) 4 kW-klystron power-
amplifier, (3) direct-current power supplies, and (4) the antenna systems.

2) VHF transmitters

The 92-MHz transmitter at the base site and the 100-MHz transmitter at the summit
sitewere conventional commercial 3-kW FM-broadcast transmitters with provision for the
use of a high-stability crystal-controlled frequency source and primary voltage regulation.
The 192.8-MHz transmitter at the summit site and the 210.4-MHz transmitter at the
base site were adaptations of conventional commercial FM transmitter driver circuits with
the addition of a final power amplifier and frequency doubler.
The antennas were corner-reflector types and had directivity patterns such that only a
small amount of the radiated energy would strike the mountain behind and below them.
In addition to the VHF transmitters described above, a 1-kW commercial-type FM
transmitter was installed in a van-type truck. This semi-mobile transmitting system was
used at the Fort Carson and Pikes Peak sites. Its power-output, voltage-regulating, and
frequency-control systems were essentially the same as for the fixed installations.

c) Reception
The fixed receiving stations received and recorded all five frequencies
four
continuously. The Anthony and Fayetteville sites were semi- permanent and recorded for
desired periods on two or more frequencies. The permanent sites utilized dipole receiving
antennas; the more distant sites used rhombic or parabolic reflector-type antennas to obtain
higher gain.

1 ) UHF receivers

The 1046-MHz receivers were designed and constructed with major considerations for
narrow-band characteristics, extreme frequency stability, and high-gain stability.

2) VHF receivers

The VHF receivers were constructed particularly for this program. Special features
were utilized to improve gain and to obtain a very narrow recording channel bandwidth.
3) Special receiving equipment

In order to observe and record rapid and within-the-hour signal variations at the
receiving sites within the optical horizon, a combination of a special gain-stable receiver and
a differential-voltage recorder was employed.

d) Recording devices
The data recording equipment used with all receivers consisted of a clock-driven chart
recorder and a 10-channel time-totalizing recorder. The time-totalizer recorder, driven from
the voltage output of each receiver, consisted of 10 channels, each of which included a direct-
current amplifier and a bistable multiplier that actuated a fast acting relay. The relay in
turn operated a motor which drove a revolution counter. The multivibrators were adjusted
to operate relays at various levels of input voltages from the dc amplifiers. Thus, the
revolution counter indicated the total time that the signal exceeded a preset level. Hourly
readings of the counters were made with an automatically actuated 35-mm camera.

Terrain effects
The objective of this program was stated in the Second Annual Report of the Boulder
Laboratories (1956) as:

to determine by experimental and theoretical studies the effects that an

irregular, finitely conducting ground boundary has on radio propagation
and to provide methods for predicting these effects in terms of radio
propagation theory.

533
1. Reflection coefficient at grazing angles

An
experimental determination of the reflection coefficient over irregular terrain was
made by Raymond E. McGavin and Leo J. Maloney [36]. This study consisted of a series of
aircraft flights over transmission paths of the Cheyenne Mountain system in eastern
Colorado and western Kansas. Three paths were investigated: One originated at the
Cheyenne Mountain transmitting site, passed through Haswell, Colo., and continued beyond;
" !

another from Pikes Peak through Haswell; and a third from Fort Carson through Haswell.
The mean ground elevation of these paths varied from 6200 feet (1890 m) relative to mean
sea level near Cheyenne Mountain to 4200 feet (1280 m) in western Kansas. The object of the
flights was to investigate the distribution of received field strengths along these paths at an
operating frequency of 1046 MHz, using horizontal polarization.
The reflected signal received over rough terrain is considered to be made up of two
components, one that is a specular component and the other a Rayleigh-distributed
component." When one terminal is low, the Rayleigh component is considered to be small
with respect to the specular component but increases in relative magnitude as the height of
the lower terminal increases. A terminal height is reached where the specular component is
no longer significant, and the reflected energy is essentially Rayleigh distributed.
A terminal height is quickly reached above which the mean value of the reflected
energy is relatively constant, of a low value, and independent of the grazing angle (defined
as the angle between the incident wave and the tangent to an approximately smooth surface
at the point of reflection when it is less than 5°).

2. VHF measurements in the Rocky Mountain area

Radio propagation at VHF many variations and
over irregular terrain is subject to
measurements was made over
uncertainties. In order to evaluate terrain effects, a series of
various irregular-terrain paths in the Colorado Rocky Mountain region north of Denver by
Robert S. Kirby, Harold T. Dougherty, and Paul L. McQuate [37].
The area due north of Denver, Colo., affords an excellent opportunity to study the effect
of irregular terrain. This is an area where the Rocky Mountains rise abruptly out of the
:!
"
The flights were made in a B-17 aircraft supplied by the Wright Air Development Center of the Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.
Seven flights were made: Two over the Pikes Peak path, at 7000 feet (2134 m) and 10,000 feet (3048 m); three
over the Cheyenne Mountain path, at 7000, 10,000, and 15,000 feet (4572 m); and two over the Fort Carson path, at
10,000 and 15,000 feet.

:fl
The Rayleigh distribution is a normal distribution of two uncorrelated variates with the same variances
(statistical).
plains, providing propagation paths over terrain which, in the space of a few miles, ran<
from relatively smooth open country, free from trees and other obstructions, to rough and
wooded mountains. Using three Denver VHF broadcasting stations as sources of signals,
mobile field-strength measurements were made over four routes running generally east and
west.
Two Lookout Mountain just west of Denver and an FM
television stations located on
station to the east were used. The locations were 26 miles apart. The "aural broadcasts" of
the TV stations were 59.75 MHz and 191.75 MHz, and the elevations were 7420 and 7615 feet
(2262 and 2321 m) above sea level, respectively. The FM station operated at 95.7 MHz and its
elevation was 5660 feet (1725 m).
The recording routes, approximately 20, 35, 46, and 62 miles (32, 46, 74 and 100 km)
north of the transmitters, extended roughly between meridians running through the most
easterly and most westerly transmitters. Each route was characterized by mountainous
terrain at the west and relatively smooth terrain at the east end.
Analysis of the data showed the effect of frequency and terrain on the correlation of
sector median values of transmission loss. When the paths of transmission are the same,
even though the frequencies are widely separated, the values of transmission loss are closely
correlated. When the paths diverge in direction, even though the frequency separation is not
great, the correlation is much less. It appears from this study that correlation in VHF
propagation is —
primarily a function of the terrain particularly in the vicinity of the lower
of two terminal antennas — and is not particularly frequency selective, at least as regards
small sector medians.

3. Pikes Peak in obstacle-gain experiments

a) The obstacle
Pikes Peak, Colo., was used as an obstacle in two separate obstacle-gain experiments. In
one, the transmission was from Lookout Mountain (near Denver) to a number of receiving
locations approximately 100 miles (161 km) to the south where observations were made with
a mobile receiver. One transmission path was directly over Pikes Peak. In the second
experiment, a fixed transmitter was located south of Pikes Peak, at the hamlet of Beulah,
and the transmission path was across Pikes Peak to the Table Mountain receiving site of the
Boulder Laboratories (north of Boulder).

b ) From the north

In a series of experiments signals were transmitted from Lookout Mountain (west of
Denver) and measured at a number of locations approximately 100 miles (161 km) to the
south. These locations were along a line running east and west in the Arkansas River
Valley. They included a transmission path directly over the summit of Pikes Peak (14,110
feet, 4298 m) [38].
Observations were made by Kirby, Dougherty, and McQuate with a mobile receiver at
selected fixed locations where the signal traveled directly over the summit of the peak, and
to the east and west of this point. Interestingly enough, early measurements showed that
the lowest transmission loss was not observed at the point selected as being directly in line
with Pikes Peak. Investigation revealed that there was a discrepancy in the maps used
which had not been corrected. When allowance was made for this discrepancy and
measurements made at the corrected location directly behind the peak (approximately 4000
feet, 1219 m, to the west), the basic transmission loss was observed to be several decibels less
(see below).
When transmission was directly over the summit of Pikes Peak, the signals were much
higher than they were on either side of the peak. Very little fading was observed in this
location and pronounced lobing was evident, indicating the presence of strong ground
reflections. Theoretical values of transmission loss calculated for a knife-edge in place of
Pikes Peak and, accounting for ground reflections, gave results which compared very closely
to the observed values both in the value of transmission loss and the position of the lobes.

535
c ) From the south: Beulah-Pikes Peak-Table Mountain path
As a continuation of the study of knife-edge-type diffraction phenomena, NBS
established a 223 km (139 miles) test path in eastern Colorado. The path extended
in a
roughly north-south direction along the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, from Beulah,
across Pikes Peak, to the NBS Table Mountain field site north of Boulder
[39]. Again, Pikes
Peak, 77 km (48 miles) north from Beulah and visible from both terminals, provided the
diffracting knife-edge-type obstacle. A path profile was drawn, based on an
equivalent
Earth's radius of 9000 km (5592 miles) which is 1.41 times the actual radius, computed from
the surface refractivity.
Frequencies of 100 MHz and 751 MHz were used. The southern and transmitting
terminal was at Beulah; the northern and receiving terminal was at the Table Mountain
field site. An additional receiving site was operated for short periods on top of
Pikes Peak,
using horizontal half-wave dipole antennas on both frequencies. These antennas were
mounted about 6 m (20 ft) above ground.

Antenna array at the CRPL Table Mountain field site north of Boulder, including a pair of 60-foot-diameter
parabolic antennas. The antennas shown here were located at one corner of the almost level surface of a mesa
(approximately 1 miley.2 miles) (Table Mountain) which formed the field site.

The purpose of the experiment was to obtain a better understanding of long-term signal
and fading characteristics. Transmission loss measurements were analyzed by Barsis and
Kirby in terms of diurnal and seasonal variations in hourly medians and in instantaneous
levels.
MHz was during a 10-month period (December to September) and on
Operation on 751
100 MHz months (August-September). Data were recorded continuously during 5-day
for 2
periods at the rate of one period each month with more frequent operation in June and
August. The site on top of Pikes Peak was operated during two 5-day periods in August.
Analysis of 751-MHz data from a long obstacle-gain path showed principally that the
distribution of hourly medians of field strength on basic transmission loss may be
approximated by the convolution of cumulative distributions for two line-of-site paths in
tandem which have the obstacle as a common terminal. These long-term fading

536
characteristics were quite different (substantially less) from the ones observed for
tropospheric scatter propagation paths over comparable distances. No significant diurnal
variation in propagation characteristics was observed on the obstacle-gain path, and the
indication is that seasonal variations are small.
Due to the limitedwidth of the obstacle, knife-edge approximation by a semi-infinite
plane, or half-cylinder, may not be entirely appropriate, although a somewhat arbitrary
assumption of curvature leads to theoretical values of transmission loss equivalent to
observed values.
The outstanding advantages of obstacle-gain paths are that the signal level is
significantly higher than expected for scatter paths of comparable length, and the amplitude
of rapid Rayleigh fading components is substantially reduced. However, the received field
strength was lower than values calculated using the idealized knife-edge theory. This was
probably due to the profile through the obstacle, which represented a rounded knife-edge,
and to reflections and contributions from other terrain features.
These and similar measurements showed that relatively high signal strengths are
consistently observed behind mountain ridges. Thus it is unlikely that mountain ranges can
always be relied upon to shield potential interference. Special consideration to these
phenomena should be given in locating radio astronomy installations or space-
communication terminals.

4. Over-water paths in the California coast region

a) San Nicolas Island— California coast
Tropospheric radio wave propagation measurements over two paths between San
Nicolas Island and the California coast near Point Mugu were made by Barsis and Fred M.
Capps and correlated with the characteristics of refractive-index profile determined at the
32
path terminals simultaneously with the radio measurements [40].
The transmitting terminal was on San Nicolas Island, approximately 60 miles (96.6 km)
off the southern California coast, with the antenna at an elevation of 866 feet (264 m) above
mean sea level. The two receiving locations were in the same general direction as seen from
the transmitter. One was on Laguna Peak, 1400 feet (426.7 m) above mean sea level, and the
other on the roof of one of the buildings of the U.S. Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point
Mugu, 60 feet (183 m) above mean sea level.
From the transmitting antenna the terrain drops rapidly to sea level within less than 2
miles (3.2 km). The face of Laguna Peak is quite steep. The San Nicolas Island-Laguna Peak
path is a within-the-horizon path, and a specular reflection point on the surface of the ocean
was assumed to exist approximately 27 miles (43.5 km) from the transmitting antenna. The
terrain in front of the lower receiving site (designated as Bldg. 50) is flat and marshy, and
the path reaches the open ocean within approximately 1 mile (1.6 km). The receiving
terminal was slightly below the radio horizon for normal refraction.
They found that the existence of super-refractive layers (either ground-based or
elevated) favors the occurrence of prolonged space wave fadeouts for the within-the-horizon
path, and increased the short-term fading range for the beyond-the-horizon path. It was also
found that the base and top of a super-refractive layer, and the magnitude of the refractive-
index gradient within the layer have a noticeable effect on various characteristics of the
received signal for both paths.
From their observations and analysis Barsis and Capps concluded that the hourly
median basic transmission loss and the fading range observed for the San Nicolas-Bldg. 50
path appeared to be closely related. It was also shown that the small fading range observed
concurrent with the linear profile corresponds to a high median transmission loss value (low
field strength) whereas a low median transmission loss value (high field strength) is
associated with considerably deeper fades.

32
This work was supported by the U.S. Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, Calif., which provided the
transmitting and receiving installations and operating personnel. The actual receiving, recording, and calibrating
equipment was furnished by the National Bureau of Standards. Data analysis and evaluation were performed by
NBS with the support of the U.S. Naval Air Missile Test Center. Meteorological data were procured and supplied
by the Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

537
 The study also established that basic transmission loss, fading range, and prolonged
space-wave fadeouts may, on the average, be considered functions of the refractive-index
profile characteristics, based on measurements made over relatively short within- and
below-the-horizon over-water paths in the Pacific coast region.
The results derived above were also in agreement with similar studies by others as far
as the dependence of transmission loss or layer height for beyond-the-horizon paths was
concerned. However, the experiment extended this type of analysis to the study of fading
range for beyond-the-horizon paths as well as to the study of the dependence of transmission
loss and prolonged space-wave fadeouts for within-the-horizon paths on refractive index
profile characteristics.

5. Fading phenomena
a) Prolonged space-wave fadeouts
Barsis and Mary Ellen Johnson analyzed measurements of short-term fading
characteristics observed over within-the-horizon paths at frequencies between 100 and 1250
MHz [41]. Four paths were chosen for study. Two were in eastern Colorado, which represents
a continental, dry climate: Cheyenne Mountain-Karval, and Beulah-Pikes Peak-Table
Mountain (see sec. 3,c, p. 536). Two were along the coast in southern California, which
represents a maritime climate with almost constant refractive-index refraction: Mt. Wilson-
Point Loma (data furnished by U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif.), and San
Nicolas Island-Laguna Peak (see sec. 4,a, p. 537).
Signal variations of the type observed over such paths have been termed "prolonged
space-wave fadeouts." They are analyzed as a function of carrier frequency, path
characteristics, and meteorological parameters. The study also included an evaluation of
fadeouts observed over the Beulah-Pikes Peak-Table Mountain path where Pikes Peak acted
as a diffracting knife-edge obstacle between transmitter and receiver.
Principal results show a stronger diurnal trend of fadeout incidence in continental
climates than in maritime climates. A significant dependence of the fadeout characteristics
on the refractive-index structure was observed in maritime climates.
In general, fadeouts tend to be more frequent but of shorter duration for higher
frequencies. These results confirm the dependence of fadeout phenomena on ground-based
ducts. Observed differences between continental and maritime areas are due to the
difference in thickness of layers, their height above ground, and the diurnal and seasonal
trends in their occurrence. Fadeout phenomena appear to be, at least indirectly, a function
of climate.
There are also indications that the occurrence of fadeouts is well correlated on

vertically-spaced antennas. Thus, conventional space-diversity techniques may not be

effective to increase the reliability of systems operating over within-the-horizon paths.

b) Measurements at 4i8 mhz well beyond the radio horizon

A series of transmission-loss measurements was made during a period of approximately
a year and a half over a 134-mile (216-km) path between Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Quincy, 111.
[42]. The transmitter was located at Cedar Rapids and was operated by the Collins Radio Co.
under contract with NBS. The receiving and recording equipment was installed and
operated by Harris B. Janes, Jack C. Stroud, and Martin T. Decker of NBS.
Space on a 750-foot (229-m) tower was obtained through the cooperation of radio station
WTAD-FM in Quincy, and the receiving antennas were mounted on this tower at heights
ranging from 30 to 655 feet (9 to 200 m) above ground. The transmitting antenna was 39 feet
(11.9 m) above ground.
The principal purpose of the experiment was to study: (1) the hourly, diurnal, and
seasonal variations in basic transmission loss experienced in transmissions well beyond the
radio horizon; (2) the corresponding long-term variability of height-gain; (3) the comparison
of measured transmission loss and height-gain with predicted values; and (4) the correlation
of verticallyand horizontally-spaced antennas.
The equipment was operated for 13 recording periods, each of approximately 2 to 3
weeks duration. During each period, continuous recordings of basic transmission loss were
made simultaneously at three to five different antenna heights.

538
 The data output was reduced to hourly distributions of instantaneous signal levels
obtained from time-totalizing recorders or, in some instances, from paper-chart recording
The hourly median basic transmission loss and the fading range (ratio, in decibels, of levels
exceeded 10% and 90% of the hour) were read from these distributions.
The angular path distance ranged from 20.3 to 15.7 milliradians for the 30- and 655-foot
(9.1- and 199. 6-m) receiving antenna heights, respectively. Insofar as the long-term basic

transmission loss measured over paths having angular distances of this order (i.e., greater
than 10 milliradians) agreed quite well with values predicted from scatter theory, this might
be considered to be a tropospheric scatter propagation path.
However, further analysis of the data revealed that for significant percentages of the
time (especially during the night), mechanisms other than scattering appear to be
important. It seems that this path is in a transitional region between the shorter paths
where processes such as diffraction and ducting may provide most of the signal power and
longer paths where scattering is the principal contributing factor.

C) WlTHIN-THE-HOUR FADING
Fading range is defined as the ratio in decibels of the signal levels exceeded 10 percent
of the hour to the level exceeded 90 percent of the hour. Short-term fading is defined as

those fluctuations in instantaneous signal level that occur within a period of an hour's
recording. The two principal factors of interest in studying short-term fading are the extent
or range of fading and the rate at which these variations occur.
An analysis was made by Janes of the fading range of 100- to 1000-MHz transmissions
received both within and beyond the radio horizon. Measurements were made over the
various Cheyenne Mountain field station paths and over the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Quincy, —
111. path [43].
An attempt was made to show for the particular frequencies and paths, and for the time
of the year (August), the variation of fading range with time of day and the angular distance
(see p. 517).
The data showed that beyond the region where diffraction is considered to be the
dominant mechanism, the received signal level distributions closely resembled a Rayleigh
distribution in both fading range and general shape. Deviations from the fading range of a
Rayleigh distribution were thought to be due to changes in the average signal level during
the hour.

Problems of phase stability in tropospheric propagation

1. Introduction

An early project in the Tropospheric Propagation Research Section, Radio Propagation

Engineering Division, was a series of studies of phase stability in tropospheric propagation.
This rather extensive program was sponsored by the Ballistic Missile Division of the U.S.
Air Force and was initiated in November 1954. At an early stage nine persons were involved
in the program. Although the objectives changed over nearly a decade, propagation phase
33
stability was at the core of all investigations. In 1956 the program was assigned to the
newly-formed Tropospheric Analysis Section and in 1959 to the Lower Atmosphere Physics
Section.

33
Initially, in 1954, the project, titled Tropospheric Propagation Phase Stability Studies, had as its objective:

to investigate the phase stability of radio frequency signals propagated through the troposphere
and received simultaneously on a number of spaced antennas.

Two years later, the project title had changed to Phase Stability Analysis, and the objective had changed:

to reduce and analyze data obtained in connection with the study of the phase stability of radio
frequency signals propagated through the troposphere over short line-of-sight paths.

With a broader scope to the program, another section of the division, the Tropospheric Measurements Section,
became involved with the specific objective in a project (Tropospheric Propagation Measurements):

to provide basic information on the propagation of radio waves contained in the VHF, UHF, and
microwave portion of the frequency spectrum.

539
2. Phase measurements over paths of varying length
Measurement of the effects of inhomogeneities in the atmosphere due to variations of
refractive index on the stability of the electrical path length (phase of arrival relative to the
transmitted phase) of electromagnetic waves as they pass through the lower regions of the
atmosphere was made as a group endeavor of the Tropospheric Propagation Research
Section, Radio Propagation Engineering Division and reported by Jack W. Herbstreit and
Moody C. Thompson, Jr. [44]. 34 35 Three paths were studied: (1) Cheyenne Mountain to Fort
'

Carson, approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km); (2) Pikes Peak to the Garden of the Gods (Colorado
Springs, Colo.), approximately 10 miles (16 km); (3) Pikes Peak to Kendrick, Colo.,
approximately 60 miles (96 km). Transmissions were made on two frequencies, 172.8 MHz
and 1046 MHz.

(Continued)

The work is basic in nature and of prime importance to the design of radio inertial guidance
systems for the ballistic missile program (U.S. Air Force).

This specific project was conducted on the Island of Maui, Hawaii, in a climate where greater changes in phase
variations would be encountered compared to those associated with Colorado atmospheric conditions.
By FY 1958 the objective for the Phase Stability Analysis project remained the same, but a corollary project to
the one on the Island of Maui was set up in the division office and titled, Radio Geodetic Research, with the
objective:

to investigate the performance of distance-measuring techniques and to determine what

limitations are imposed on such systems by atmospheric turbulance.

The matter of phase stability as a property of atmospheric turbulence was at the core of the project in determining
the accuracy of a distance-measuring system based upon observation of elapsed time of propagation and of the
speed of radio waves at microwave frequencies through the lower atmosphere.
By FY 1959 the Phase Stability Analysis project was on a continuing basis to perform phase stability analysis
for several programs.
The Radio Geodetic Research project was now assigned to the newly-formed Lower Atmosphere Physics Section
and had as its new objective:

to study the effects of atmospheric turbulence and similar phenomena on the accuracy of
electronic distance measuring systems.

A year later (FY 1960), another project, titled Low-Level Phase Stability, had for its objective:

to study atmospheric-induced time variations in the electrical lengths of line-of-sight propagation

paths.

In the following year (FY 1961) another project, of wider scope, replaced the Low-Level Phase Stability project.
It was titled, Radio Tracking Accuracy, which had as its objective:

to study the effects of the troposphere on radio tracking systems.

This project was geared to electronic tracking and guidance systems, for various uses, as affected by varying
conditions in the lower atmosphere and by the parameters of the system itself. Later, the objective was to be

somewhat more explicit:

to study the effects of atmospheric turbulence and similar phenomena on the accuracy of
electronic distance measuring systems.

This project and the Radio Geodetric Research project were to continue for several years in the Lower
Atmosphere Physics Section, Radio Propagation Engineering Division.
34
Jack W. Herbstreit was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service on Feb. 15,
1966. Herbstreit was recognized

for outstanding contributions to the Nation in the field of high precision radio tracking and
guidance systems.

Moody C. Thompson, Jr., was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service on Feb.
14, 1962. Thompson was recognized

on the physics of the troposphere and

for his research its application to precise radio distance
measuring and missile guidance techniques.

540
Portable receiving equipment used in line-of-sight propagation path between Pikes Peak (left center) and the Garden
of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colo. This path (approximately 10 miles) offered an excellent opportunity to observe
both ends of the path and changes, such as cloud formations, taking place in the intervening distance.

Portable radio receiving antenna (right) and meteorological and photographic equipment (in and atop the van) as
used in line-of-sight experiments between Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods. Colorado Springs, Colo. The
equipment was part of a study of the effects of atmospheric turbulence on the stability of the electrical length of a
radio path.

541
 Instrumentation was developed to measure variations in the phase difference of the
radio waves at the two ends of a single path and, simultaneously, variations in the phase
difference between the waves arriving over the first path and those arriving over a different
path. In addition, instrumentation previously developedwas used to measure the very small
changes in the amplitude of the received field which occur within the radio horizon. These
three sets of simultaneous measurements provided valuable data for study of the nature of
refractivity variations of the atmosphere.

3. Phase stability over low-level tropospheric path

A knowledge of the statistics of atmosphere-induced variations in the phase of the
received signal (i.e., variations in electrical path length) is essential in evaluating the
reliability any system using radio waves for measuring distance and/or velocity.
of
Thompson and Janes 6 conducted a series of experiments to study the instability of the
phase of VHF, UHF, and microwave radio signals transmitted over line-of-sight paths [45].
One such experiment was made at 9400 MHz over a path of 9.4 miles (15.1 km) from
Green Mountain Mesa, about 0.5 mile (0.8 km) west of the NBS Boulder Laboratories to the
Table Mountain field site, north of Boulder. Both terminals were at approximately the same
elevation. Each antenna was located at the forward edge of a steep slope to avoid ground
reflections in the immediate vicinity. The path passed over two valleys which slope
downward from west to east and are separated by a relatively flat mesa. This mesa
contained a small lake and appeared to constitute the major ground-reflection area.
The data consisted of: (1) 40 hours of continuous recording of long-term variations in the
phase of the radio signal; (2) 40 hours of continuous atmospheric temperature, pressure, and
relative humidity recordings; and (3) 21 samples (each approximately 5 min long) of short-
term phase variations.
Analysis of these data consisted of: (1) estimation of the power-density spectrum of the
phase variations, using both long-term and short-term recordings; (2) estimation of the
power-density spectrum of the corresponding variations in radiofrequency of the received
signal; and (3) correlation of the long-term variations in electrical path length (from the
phase records) and surface refractivity measurements (from the meteorological records)
made at the path terminals.
Variations in the phase of the received signal represent variations in the electrical
length of the path, which is proportional to the atmospheric refractivity integrated along
the path. The long-term changes in refractivity measured at a point on the path should be
correlated with the long-term changes in electrical path length as deduced from the phase
records. It was found that the two variables were not only closely correlated (correlation
coefficient: 0.915), but their fluctuations agreed in magnitude as well.

4. Path-length stability of ground-to-ground links

A series of eight experiments was conducted by the Lower Atmosphere Physics Section,
Radio Propagation Engineering Division to study the time variations in the electrical
lengths of nearly horizontal, ground-to-ground, line-of-sight radio links [46]. These were
conducted under a variety of environmental conditions such as might be encountered in the
operation of electronic-guidance, tracking, and direction-finding systems. The purpose of the
experiments was to study the statistical properties of the apparent path-length variations
and their dependence on various meteorological parameters.
Each of the eight experiments was termed a "run" to simplify the description. Runs 1
and 2 were made over a 15.2-km (9.4-mile) path near Boulder. The principal objective of the
first run was to study path-length variations at 9400 MHz over a path having little or no
ground reflection, using both horizontal and vertical polarization. The second run was a

36
Harris B. Janes was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service in 1964. Janes
was recognized

for outstanding contributions to the fields of precise radio distance measuring and missile
guidance techniques.
:iT
Sponsored, in part, by the U.S. Air Force Ballistic Missile Division (Contract Number AF 04(647) - 134).

542
continuation of the same type of measurements, but narrower beam antennas were used
and the run was continued for a longer time to more adequately study day-to-day variations.
The third run was made at 9400 MHz using a 713-m (2339-foot) path across a portion of
the nearly level surface of the Table Mountain field site near Boulder. Simultaneous path-
length (phase) variation recordings were made on two paths having one terminal in
common, and the other terminals separated vertically, one near maximum and the other
near minimum of the height-gain pattern. The purpose of this run was to study the effect of
ground reflections on phase stability.
The fourth run was made at 9400 MHz over a 3.2-km (2-mile) path which extended the
713-m path to the edge of the mesa forming the nearly level surface of the Table Mountain
field site. This run supplied information on path-length stability over a longer path, but one
having the same flat terrain and low antenna heights, thereby ensuring the existence of
ground reflections.
The fifth run used the same 15.2 km as the first two runs. Simultaneous 9400 MHz and
100 MHz path-length stability recordings were made to test the feasibility of using the lower
frequency and also to provide a comparison of stability recordings made under different
ground-reflection conditions.
The remaining runs were made on or near the Air Force Missile Test Center at Cape
Canaveral, Fla., to gather data under the same climatic conditions under which actual
systems are operated. The sixth run was made at 9400 MHz over a 7.7-km (4.8-mile) path
over flat terrain and at approximately grazing incidence to foliage on the path. The seventh
run was made over the same path but with path-length variations observed simultaneously
at vertically spaced antennas at one of the terminals; with one antenna placed to provide a
path slightly above, and the other slightly below, grazing incidence.
The eighth run was made over a 17.1-km (10.6-mile) path extending from Cape
Canaveral to a point north of Cocoa, Fla. The purpose was to study the effect of increased
path length. Vertically spaced antennas were used at one terminal, one providing a path at
approximately grazing incidence with the foliage, and the other below grazing incidence.
The upper antenna, 19 m
(62 feet) above ground, was located at or very near the radio
horizon; the lower one, separated vertically by 7 m (23 feet), was probably well below the
radio horizon.
Analysis of their data indicated that the long-term variations in phase (apparent path
length) were well-correlated with refractivity (computed from standard meteorological data
recorded at the path terminals).
The spectral density of phase variations may vary by as much as an order of magnitude
during a 24-hour period, being generally low at night and high during the day (diurnal
variations observed in Colorado were much smaller than those observed in Florida). Best
correlation appeared between the spectral density and the wind speed averaged from both
terminals.
The spectra of phase variations have slopes (on a log-log graph) of approximately -2.2.
This slope did not appear to vary significantly from day to night, or from Florida to
Colorado.
In the same region of fluctuation frequencies, the intensity of refractivity variations
may vary as much magnitude between day and night (the daytime values
as two orders of
were higher, and this effect was much more pronounced in Florida than in Colorado).
The form of the refractivity spectra showed little effect of time or location.
Any dependence of the phase-variation data on radio-signal frequency was believed to
be the result of the existence of multipaths, which introduced a frequency-dependent
mechanism.

5. Hawaii experiment
The NBS Radio Propagation Engineering Division performed a series of experimental
measurements on the Island of Maui, Hawaii, designed to study the statistics of time
variations in the phase of microwave transmissions propagated over a line-of-sight path [47].
The purpose of the experiment was twofold: (1) To provide information useful in
determining the error or noise contributed by a turbulent troposphere to any radio system

543
using phase comparison as a means of position location; and (2) to furnish statistics valuable
in formulating and testing tropospheric propagation theories.
The measurements were made over a 15.46-mile (24.88-km) path extending from the
10,000-foot (3048-m) summit of Mount Haleakala to the airport at Puunene, at an elevation
of 100 feet (30.5 m). A major consideration in the selection of this location was that, because
of relatively large variations in radio refractive index here, these data would form a
valuable supplement to similar measurements made in Colorado.
Analysis was made of time variations in: (1) the phase (relative to a stable phase
reference) of a 9414-MHz signal transmitted over the path (single-path phase data); (2) the
phase observed at one receiving antenna relative to that observed at an adjacent antenna
(phase-difference data); (3) atmospheric refractivity as recorded by a microwave
refractometer located at the Haleakala terminal; (4) wind velocity at both ends of the path;
and (5) surface atmospheric refractivity measured at five stations located on or near the
path.
The analysis of the phase data consisted of determining the total variance, serial
correlation function, and power spectrum for samples taken from approximately four days
of almost continuous recording. The extent to which the total variance and power spectrum
are functions of baseline length, long-term variability in atmospheric conditions (as
evidenced by analysis of the meteorological data), and length of data sample was
determined.
Transmission was made from the summit of Haleakala to an array of receiving
antennas at Puunene. One antenna was placed at the receiving end of the propagation path
and seven additional antennas were placed along a baseline that was approximately normal
38
to the propagation path and that had a total length of 4917 feet (1499 m).
Meteorological instrument shelters were located at both path terminals and at three
intermediate points as near to the path as possible. They were at altitudes of 3000 feet, 7000
feet, and 8000 feet (914, 2133, and 2438 m). Continuous recordings of atmospheric pressure,
relative humidity, and temperature were made at each shelter. Continuous recordings of
short-term variations in refractive index were also made at both path terminals (data from
Puunene unreliable and not included in analysis).
To record cloud activity on or near the path, a 16-mm motion picture camera was
mounted at each path terminal and aimed toward the opposite terminal. A special timing
device was used to operate the shutter at the rate of one exposure every 5 seconds.
Time variations in the phase of arrival of the 9414-MHz signals propagated over the
line-of-sight path and the time variations in the phase differences of signals originating at
the common antenna and received at two points on the horizontal baseline normal to the
propagation path were determined. By pairing different antennas, phase differences for
39
different distances could be measured.
The time variations were analyzed in terms of their serial correlation functions and
power-density spectra for different times of day, and for several baseline lengths varying
from 2.2 to 4800 feet (0.67 to 1463 m).
The slope of the power spectra and the total variance of phase difference variations
were shown to be dependent upon baseline length. The slope of the phase spectra appeared
to be independent of time of day or meteorological conditions. In some instances there was
evidence of a diurnal cycle in total variance of both phase and refractive index, with larger
variances during the daytime, but in other instances the diurnal effect was not detectable.
The long-term variations in single-path phase were well correlated with variations in
the mean value of refractive index measured at five points along the path.

The receiving antenna at the end of the propagation path was designated B. Antenna A was 3003 feet (915.3 m)
iK

north of B; the other antennas were south of B as follows: C D, 18 feet (5.5 m); E, 67 feet (20.4 m); F, 109 feet (33.2
m); G, 1181 feet (360 m); H, 1914 feet (533.4 m). An additional antenna for 1046 MHz transmission (not designated
by a letter) was 31 feet (9.4 m) south from B. The antenna designated C D was actually a system of two 9414-MHz
antennas with an effective horizontal separation of 2.2 feet (0.67 m) normal to the path.

Three combinations of paired antennas, identified by the letter designations of the antennas (footnote 38), were
ABH, BGH, and BEF.

544
6. Tracking missiles through the wild blue yonder
a) Theoretical considerations
In missile tracking systems, the position of the missileis determined by measuring the

times required for radio signals to travel from each of several antennas (arranged on an
orthogonal set of baselines) to the missile and back. The MISTRAM baseline missile
tracking system, built by the General Electric Company for operation near Patrick Air
Force Base in Florida, utilizes this principle [48].
Translating transit times to distances (and, hence, to position) requires a knowledge of
the speed with which the radio signals travel through the atmosphere. This speed is a
function of the composition of the atmosphere along the signal paths. Tracking inaccuracies
result from variations in the Earth's atmosphere along these paths. The variations consist of
both large-scale changes, caused by air-mass movements, and short-term changes, resulting
from turbulence. Such tracking errors, introduced by variations in atmospheric refractive
index, affect the accuracy of tracking systems.

b) Meteorological effects
The Radio Propagation Engineering Division of CRPL was requested to provide
estimates of the nature and extent of the atmospheric effects and to derive correction
factors to be programmed into the computer of MISTRAM. The problem was approached by
means of two separate studies, the long-term and the short-term fluctuations.
A theoretical description of long-term variations of the refractive index for both the
homogeneous and inhomogeneous atmosphere was developed by members of the Radio
Meteorology Section. This was done by analysis of all the radiosonde data available in
CRPL's Radio Refractive Index Data Center (see p. 521). Application of statistical methods to
the pool of information made possible a systematic correction of tracking data, based on
readily available meteorological data, in a form suitable for use in the MISTRAM computer.

c) Simulated tracking system

Experimental measurements were made by Janes and Thompson to study atmospheric-
40
induced errors in microwave baseline tracking systems [49]. The ground-to-air
configuration was simulated by baselines on level ground east of Boulder, Colo., and a fixed
target antenna on a mountain top west of Boulder at a range of 15.5 km and a path
elevation angle of 44 milliradians.
The accuracy measurements made by observing the transit time (or phase)
of distance
of radio signals over the distance in question is affected by space and time variations of the
radio refractive index of the atmosphere. In this study certain features of an orthogonal
baseline tracking system were simulated in order to isolate and study the errors contributed
by the lower atmosphere in tracking an elevated target.
Considerations in selection were: (1) A target located on a mountain with terrain
dropping off sharply in the direction of the baseline site and as high as possible consistent
with all-weather accessibility; and (2) baselines located on nearly level ground at an altitude
low relative to the target, and situated so as to permit an unobstructed view of the target
with no obvious sources of anomalous multipath effects. The target site was near the
summit of Green Mountain, west of the Boulder Laboratories, at an altitude 2240 m (7349
feet) above sea level. The baseline site was along Boulder Creek east of the city and a
horizontal distance of about 15.5 km (9.6 miles) from the target.
Two baselines were used. One, 380 m (1247 feet) long, was nearly perpendicular to the
propagation path and was designated the normal baseline. The other, 520 m (1706 feet) in
length, extended from the northerly end of the normal baseline in a generally easterly
direction and more nearly parallel to the propagation path (actually it formed an angle of
approximately 30° with the path). It was called the "parallel" baseline.
For the measurements the radiofrequency was 9.4 GHz. Continuous recordings were
made of variations in apparent range, range differences, and refractive index. The data were
analyzed in terms of power spectra.

4,1
This study was sponsored by the Air Force Missile Test Center, U.S. Air Force Systems Command, under contract
No. AF08(606)-3776 with the General Electric Co.

545
 Correlation between range and surface-refractivity variations and the correlation of
range variations on adjacent paths were analyzed carefully in order to study the errors
contributed by the lower atmosphere in tracking an elevated target.

d) Over-water measurements of phase and amplitude

A line-of-sight path through the troposphere
microwave signal transmitted over a fixed
will exhibit time variations in both phase-of-arrival and amplitude. Such variations are
caused by fluctuations in the three-dimensional structure of the atmospheric refractive
index along the radio path. Phase-of-arrival variations have been investigated in CRPL
experiments using predominantly over-land paths and, although they were not designed to
study amplitude variations, the signals were observed to undergo occasional deep and
prolonged fading on paths of the order of 15 km (9.3 miles) in length. Two questions which
these experiments left unanswered were: (1) How will the signal phase and amplitude
behave on an over-water path? and (2) To what extent will the phase and amplitude
variations be correlated in two signals separated in frequency?
At the request of the Air Force Missile Test Center, propagation measurements at 9.4
and 9.2 GHz were made over a 47 km (29 miles) line-of-sight, over-water path at the
MISTRAM installation on Eleuthera Island, British West Indies (in the Bahamas) by Janes,
41 42
Albert W. Kirkpatrick, Donald M. Waters, and Dean Smith [50]. The purpose was to
study the signal amplitude and phase variations at the two radio frequencies, and in
particular, the variations in the phase difference and amplitude ratio ("differential
amplitude") of the two frequencies.
The baseline microwave link chosen for the measurements at Eleuthera Island
extended from the MISTRAM central site (near the auxiliary Air Force Base) in a southerly
direction to the Powell Point site at the southwestern tip of the island. Except for the
immediate foreground at each end, the entire path was over water.
The results included power spectra of phase and phase difference variations, and
cumulative distributions of amplitude, differential amplitude, and phase difference.

e) Simulated earth-to-space links

An experimental study was made (in June and July 1964) by Janes and Thompson of
the time and space statistics of the phase-front distortion of microwave signals sent from a
ground terminal to an elevated terminal [51]. Phase-front characteristics are important in
systems involving phase measurements between a ground station and a moving airborne or
space terminal. To isolate atmospheric errors from random motion of the upper terminal,
the latter was simulated by a series of mountain-top antenna arrays.
The objective of the experiment was to obtain a detailed statistical description of time
and space variations in the phase-front to serve as a basis for predicting atmospheric errors
in microwave range and/or angular position measurements involving a moving upper
terminal.
In principle, the best experimental arrangement would have included a moving
terminal (an aircraft or a satellite) sweeping with a perfectly determined trajectory across
the sky to measure the phase-front characteristics of a ground-based signal. However, this
possibility was ruled out for technological reasons.
It was decided to substitute an array of fixed mountain-top antennas for the moving
terminal, and to make phase-of-arrival and phase-difference recordings at several points on
the array simultaneously. This arrangement isolated the purely atmospheric effects from
the random motion of any practical airborne terminal and permitted the collection of
statistically large data samples of phase-front behavior.

Jl
An essential part of the MISTRAM
precision missile trajectory measurement system installed on the Atlantic
Missile Range consisted
microwave links which transmitted phase information from the outlying terminals of
of
two baselines to a central station where it was converted to target position and velocity information. Each link
involved the simultaneous transmission of two signals in the neighborhood of 8 GHz separated by 256 MHz. The
successful operation of the system required that the phase and amplitude variations of one signal relative to the
other remain below certain limits.
i2
This work was supported by the U.S. Air Force Missile Test Center (MTDRM).

546
 The site chosen was on the Island of Maui, Hawaii, with propagation paths extending
from a point 25 m (82 feet) above sea level at the abandoned Puunene airport to an array of
four antennas approximately 3000 m (9843 feet) above sea level at the summit of Mount
Haleakala. (This site had been used by CRPL for other experiments several years earlier;
see p. 543). The paths were from 24.5 to 24.9 km (15.2 to 15.5 miles) in length and were tilted
4,!
at an angle of 7 degrees from the horizontal. All phase measurements were made at a radio
frequency of 9.4 GHz.
Phase-front distortion was analyzed in terms of time variations in radio range on a
single path and in first- and second-range differences from pairs of paths. The cross-
correlations of range variations on adjacent paths, and range-difference variations on both
adjoining and separated pairs of paths, were investigated, including the strong dependence
of correlation on the portion of the power spectrum included in the data. The effect of the
mountain-top terrain on the spatial homogeneity of the phase-front was found to be
insignificant. A diurnal pattern in the variance of 15-minute range-difference samples was
observed, with minimum variance in the early morning hours. This pattern was not
observed in the range variances, nor were the range and range-difference variances
significantly correlated with refractive index, air temperature, pressure, or wind-speed data
at the lower terminal.

Space communications

1. Interference between surface and space communication systems

Estimates of the mutual interference expected to occur between the ground terminals of
space communication systems and surface point-to-point systems were prepared by William
J. Hartman and Martin T. Decker in a form suitable for engineering applications.
The prediction method used was that developed earlier by NBS scientists for
tropospheric scatter propagation [52]. The method was designed to predict the median value
of hourly median basic transmission loss, and to give a distribution of the medians. The
median basic transmission loss is defined in terms of the ratio of the power radiated from
the transmitting antenna to the available power at the receiving antenna, when isotropic
antennas are used at both ends of the path. The method is applicable for any path
configuration. Most of the data were over conventional scatter paths with the antennas
directed at the horizon in the great circle path.
Measurements were made over a test path of 165 miles (263.5 km) between the Table
Mountain site near Boulder and Haswell, Colo. Pertinent parameters of this path were:
Frequency, 409.9 MHz; the angular distance with both antennas directed at their respective
horizons was 33 milliradians; the fixed transmitting antenna was a 14-foot-diameter
parabolic dish, and the receiving antenna (which could be elevated) was a 60-foot-diameter
parabolic dish.
Two cases were considered. First, the interference from an earth-terminal transmitter
to a point-to-point relay receiver; and second, the interference from a point-to-point
microwave-relay transmitter to the earth-terminal receiver of a satellite system.
After careful theoretical analysis of their data, it was concluded that space-
communication systems and surface systems of the conventional microwave-relay type could
share the same frequencies if care was used in locating the possible interfering sources.
Separation distances of from 100 miles (161 km) to 150 miles (241 km) usually suffice, and
under ideal conditions, distances of less than 100 miles could give adequate protection.
Estimates have been made for other systems such as high-powered radar and these
indicate that harmful interference should not be experienced if the radar and earth
terminals are separated by 500 miles (805 km) or more.
The data represented times when aircraft were not present in the propagation path,
and although the data agreed with the predicted values for the assumed condition, the
estimates may not be accurate for some paths when aircraft are present.
43
The experiment was divided into 9 "runs" or periods of continuous recording activity, each approximately 24
hours long. Each run was characterized by a particular arrangement of the four antennas at the upper site. The
several arrangements were chosen to give as wide a variety of path separation as possible (the maximum
separation was 790 m, 2592 feet).

547
Antenna array and meteorological tower at Haswell, Colo. Besides being a key installation of the Cheyenne
Mountain project, Haswell was well situated for a wide variety of other experiments.

Two 60-foot-diameter parabolic antennas at the NBS Table Mountain field site, north of Boulder. Differences in
azimuth and elevation allowed measurement of phase differences (and differences of electrical length) in the
arrival of radio waves. The antennas could be moved 90° in elevation between the vertical position (left) and the
horizontal (right), and could be rotated 360° in azimuth.

548
 Tropospheric forward scatter

1. Introduction
Although radio propagation theory indicated that radio waves above about 60 MHz
would travel through the lower atmosphere (troposphere) no farther than light waves, i.e., to
the optical horizon (line of sight) or slightly beyond (the rays are bent downward by
atmospheric refraction), it was observed in practice that radio signals were being received at
much greater distances.
To allow for this bending and for the practical purpose of calculating distances, a
hypothetical value for the effective radius of the Earth was adopted as 4/3 of its actual
value. Even then distances much farther than the calculated values were observed. This led
to questions such as "why?" and "how?" and to research that would help in answering these
questions.
It was recognized that climate, weather, and terrain irregularities played important
roles in determining the strength of a tropospheric signal and the distance it would be
propagated. In April 1950 two scientists at Cornell University, H. G. Booker and W. E.
Gordon, published "A theory of radio scattering in the troposphere," in the Proceedings of
the Institute of Radio Engineers. The Booker-Gordon scatter theory postulates that
inhomogeneities in the refractivity of the atmosphere (p. 519 and footnote 11), generally
referred to as "blobs," cause a scattering in all directions of radio energy that strikes them,
—
but predominantly forward therefore the designation forward scatter.

2. Special issue of IRE Proceedings

A special issue of the Proc. IRE (Vol. 43, No. 10, Oct. 1955) was devoted to the topic-
44 45
Scatter Propagation. The editor's Foreword reads, in part,

The nature of scatter propagation and its practical significance are fully
described in the following pages. Suffice here that the material in
it to note
these pages, released for publication just in the last three or four months,
presents the results of over four years of intensive work on the subject.

The special issue editors stated:

. ..Recent experiments have demonstrated that it is possible to achieve

.

very reliable "beyond-the-horizon" (scatter) radio communication in both

the vhf and uhf regions of the spectrum. There has been, therefore,
extensive re-examination of existing data, as well as increasing propagation
research, primarily to provide necessary information for the design of
scatter communication systems.
This collection of papers discusses two distinctly different modes of
transmission which have been announced recently. The first mode,
ionospheric, is communication by means of radio waves scattered, it is

believed, from the lower flayer of the ionosphere. The phenomenon

permits communication in the frequency range from 25 to approximately 60
mc, and over distances extending from approximately 600 to 1200 miles.
Such circuits have so far been limited to use with teletype or voice
intelligence. The second mode, tropospheric, is propagation by means of the
scattering of electromagnetic waves by the troposphere. This phenomenon
is, to a first approximation, independent of frequency; it appears to be

useful for communication purposes over the frequency band extending from
100 to at least 10,000 mc.

44
Publication of the issue was under the joint sponsorship of the IRE Professional Group on Antennas and
Propagation (PGAP) and the Joint Technical Advisory Committee (JTAC) of the Electronic Industries Association
and the Institute of Radio Engineers.
45
Jerome B. Wiesner, Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, organized the issue and Kenneth A. Norton, Chief of the Radio Propagation Engineering Division,
CRPL, shared in planning the contents and procuring, reviewing, and selecting the material.

549
 Although it has been commonly that vhf and uhf radio
believed
transmission were limited to the line-of-sight distances, evidence to the
contrary had been noted by early workers. In retrospect, Eckersley's work
anticipated the ionospheric scatter effect, and Marconi found evidence in
his short-wave experiments which led him to believe that with adequate
power and a more sensitive receiver he could transmit beyond the optical
line of sight. In December 1932 Marconi wrote, in a paper published in the
Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, "In regard to the
limited range of propagation of these microwaves, the last word has not
been said. It has already been shown that they can travel round a portion
of the earth's curvature, to distances greater than had been expected, and I
cannot help reminding you that at the very time when I first succeeded in
proving that electric waves could be sent and received across the Atlantic
Ocean in 1901, distinguished mathematicians were of the opinion that the
distance of communications, by means of electric waves, would be limited to
a distance of only about 165 miles." The propagation field has now caught
up with Marconi's vision.
Speculations which led to the discovery of the ionospheric scatter
communication were actually stimulated by discussions in 1950 regarding
the use of tropospherically scattered signals. Thus the two completely
separate techniques developed simultaneously.

Even though the existence of the scatter signals at great distances is well
established, common agreement is lacking on the physical mechanism by
which they are propagated. In the case of the tropospherically propagated
uhf signals, most investigators attribute the presence of these fields, whose
strengths greatly exceed the expected diffraction fields, to scattering from
turbulent "blobs" in the atmosphere. However, some theorists believe that
a partial reflection from a smooth atmosphere, the density of which varies
with height, would by itself account for such signals. Unfortunately, the
mathematical problems involved in obtaining an analytical solution of this
model present great difficulty, and the conflict between these two points of
view has not been completely resolved.

The newly exploited propagation techniques discussed in these papers make

possible extremely reliable communication over distances of 100 to 1000
miles, distances formerly considered too short for good ionospheric
propagation and too long for conventional vhf or uhf transmission.

Kenneth A. Norton and Jerome B. Wiesner

3. CRPL research on tropospheric forward scatter

a) IT GETS STARTED
At about the time that the Booker-Gordon theory was announced, CRPL began a
4b
systematic study of tropospheric forward scatter [53]. It included not only conventional
techniques but also advanced concepts designed to explain and define observed scatter
phenomena. Specific activities in the field included investigations of such quantities as
fading rate, transmission loss, fading range, phase variations, angular distance, and obstacle
gain (all of which are described in various sections of this chapter).
A program at CRPL which led directly to studies of tropospheric forward scatter began
in January 1949 (this was a year before the Booker-Gordon theory was announced). CRPL
entered into contracts with the Federal Communications Commission, several universities,
broadcasting companies, and other organizations to measure the field strengths of a number
of FM and TV stations. By the end of 1951 long-term measurements were being obtained

46
A comprehensive summary of tropospheric forward scatter research by CRPL up to 1956 was given in the
February 1956 issue of the NBS Technical News Bulletin (see reference [53]).

550
over more than a hundred propagation paths in all parts of the United States. Data were
supplied to CRPL by these contractors in the form of hourly median values of field strength
and were recorded over some paths for several years. These data were transferred to
punched cards in order to make them more readily available, and became the basis of
several comprehensive reports (for example Technical Note 101, see footnote 10).

b) Mathematical studies
Among the earliest research on tropospheric forward scatter at CRPL were
mathematical studies by several members of the staff.
Norton derived "a formula for the transmission loss of space waves propagated over
irregular terrain" (an unpublished NBS report dated June 16, 1952, not circulated outside
NBS). Norton also introduced the concepts of transmission loss (p. 515) and angular distance
(p. 517).
Harold Staras investigated the scattering of electromagnetic energy in a randomly
inhomogeneous atmosphere, and the effect of scattering by a turbulent atmosphere on the
received field deep in the shadow region [54]. He derived an integral expression for this
scattered power based on first-order perturbation. This expression was identical with those
used by Booker and Gordon (p. 549) and earlier by C. L. Pekeris at Columbia University
(Feb. 1947). However, instead of a space-correlation function of refractive-index variations
Staras used a time-correlation function which permitted a formal evaluation of the time-
average scattered power. He found that for large-scale turbulence, the frequency and
scattering-angle dependence of the scattered energy was greatly affected by the time-
correlation function chosen.
Staras presented a paper entitled "The Statistics of Scattered Radiation," at the
Conference on Radio Propagation and Standards, held during the Dedication of the Boulder
47
Laboratories, National Bureau of Standards (Sept. 1954). The paper was based on his Ph.D.
thesis at the University of Maryland [55,56]. He derived explicit mathematical expressions
for many of the statistical parameters that appear in scattering theory, assuming isotropic
turbulence. Among the statistical properties included were the statistical distribution of the
received signal, the correlation of signals received on spaced antennas, and the correlation
of signals as a function of the separation of the carrier frequencies.
Joseph Feinstein of the CRPL Tropospheric Propagation Research Section made a study
of the persistent anomalous field strengths measured far beyond the horizon, which he
explained on the basis of partial reflections produced by the atmospheric gradient of
refractive index [57]. When he evaluated these partial reflections on the basis of a hybrid-
wave and ray theory, he observed that calculated signal strengths were of the order of
magnitude of those measured. In addition, the wavelength, distance, and angular
dependence appeared to be in agreement with observation. Feinstein developed a
mathematical treatment which accounted for these reflections and presented the results
graphically [58].
He further proposed that, for a refractive-index distribution which is an analytic
function of height, the total effect of a gradient is of the order of the effective earth-radius
modification of the uniform-atmosphere theory. When a discontinuity in any order
derivative is present, an inverse-distance power-law signal dependence is obtained in which

the magnitude of the power is a function of the order of the derivative possessing the
discontinuity [59,60].
After making a few formal observations concerning wave propagation through an
inhomogeneous medium, George Hufford suggested a modification of Kirchoff s formula and
derived an integral equation which gave an estimate of the error made in the usual
approximate methods [61]. Applications were indicated to the equivalent Earth's radius
model and to the flat-Earth modified-index model.

47
Harold Staras had resigned from NBS and was with the Engineering Products Division, Radio Corporation of
America, Camden, N.J., in Sept. 1954. He had started work on his Ph.D. thesis while with CRPL.

551
4. Scatter measurements near the radio horizon

Measurements of small variations in 100-MHz field intensity within and just beyond the
radio horizon were made by Janes and Paul I. Wells, in order to increase basic knowledge of
the scattering mechanism and to evaluate the effect of scattering in certain practical
applications involving line-of-sight transmission [62]. The transmission paths used in the
measurements were from the summit transmitter of the Cheyenne Mountain field site to
three of the Cheyenne Mountain Project receiving sites in eastern Colorado Kendrick, —
Karval, and Haswell (see p. 531).
Both the transmitting and receiving antennas had rather broad beams and therefore for
each of the transmission paths, the parameters of the scattering integral were determined
almost entirely by the scattering elements themselves.
The measured fields were considered to be the resultant of two field components, one
having a constant amplitude and the other being a rapidly-fading scattered component. The
purpose of the analysis was to determine the relative magnitude of each of these two
components.

References
[1] M. Schulkin, "Average radio-ray refraction in the lower atmosphere," CRPL Report 2-2, August 11, 1947; Proc.
IRE, Vol. 40, No. 5, May 1952, pp. 554-561.
[2] D. L. Randall, "A study of some of the meteorological effects on radio propagation at 96.3 Mc between
Richmond, Va., and Washington, D.C.," Bull. Amer. Meteorological
No. 2, Feb. 1954, pp. 56-59.
Soc., Vol. 35,
[3] Howard E. Bussey, "Reflected ray suppression," Proc. IRE (Correspondence), Vol. 38, No. 12, Dec. 1950, p. 1453.
Also "Suppression of microwaves by zonal screens," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. News Bull., Vol. 36, No.
1, Jan. 1952, pp. 6-7. U.S. Patent No. 2,763,001, issued Sept. 11, 1956.

[4] J. W. Herbstreit and P. L. Rice, Survey of Central Radio Propagation Laboratory Research in Tropospheric
Propagation 1948-1956, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 26, Sept. 1959, 127 pages + 22 supplements of
varying page lengths and including numerous figures, a total of 380 pages and 224 figures.
[5] Kenneth A. Norton, "Transmission loss in radio propagation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 41, No. 1, Jan. 1953, pp. 146-152.
[6] Kenneth A. Norton, "System loss in radio wave propagation," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 1,
July-Aug. 1959, pp. 53-73.
[7] D. A. Williamson, V. L. Fuller, A. G. Longley, and P. L. Rice, A Summary of VHF and UHF Tropospheric
Transmission Loss Data and Their Long-Term Variability, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 43, Mar.
1960, 37 pages + 137 figures.
[8] P. L. Rice, A. G. Longley, K. A. Norton, and A. P. Barsis, Transmission Loss Predictions for Tropospheric
Communication Circuits, Vol. I and Vol. II, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 101, Vols. I and II, May 7,
1965 (reissued May 1, 1966 and Jan. 1, 1967), Vol. I, 188 + VI pages; Vol. II, 202 + VI pages.
[9] K. A. Norton, P. L. Rice, and L. E. Vogler, "The use of angular distance in estimating transmission loss and
fading range for propagation through a turbulent atmosphere over irregular terrain," Proc. IRE, Vol. 43,
No. 10, Oct. 1955, pp. 1488-1526.
[10] B. R. Bean and E. J. Dutton, Radio Meteorology, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. .92, March 1, 1966, 435 pages.
[11] Ernest K. Smith, Jr., and Stanley Weintraub, "The constants in the equation for atmospheric refractive index
at radio frequencies," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 50, No. 1, Jan. 1953, pp. 39-41; also Proc. IRE,
Vol. 41, No. 8, Aug. 1953, pp. 1035-1037.
[12] Stanley Weintraub, "Slide rule computes radio refractive index of air," Electronics, Vol. 26, No. 1, Jan. 1953,
pp. 182, 186, 190, 194, 196, 198, 200.
[13] Walter E. Johnson, "An analogue computer for the solution of the radio refractive index equation," J. Res.
Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 51, No. Dec. 1953, pp. 335-342.
6,

[14] George Birnbaum, "A recording microwave refractometer," Rev. Sci. Instr., Vol. 21, No. 2, Feb. 1950, pp. 169-
176.
[15] George Birnbaum, "Fluctuations in the refractive index of the atmosphere at microwave frequencies," Phys.
Rev. (Letter to the Editor), Vol. 82, No. 1, Apr. 1, 1951, pp. 110-111.
[16] George Birnbaum, Howard R. R. Larson, "The measurement of variations in atmospheric
E. Bussey, and
refractive index," IRE and Propagation, Vol. PGAP-3, Aug. 1952, pp. 74-78.
Trans. Antennas
[17] Howard E. Bussey and George Birnbaum, "Measurement of variations in atmospheric refractive index with an
airborne microwave refractometer," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 51, No. 4, Oct. 1953, pp. 171-178.
[18] M. C. Thompson, Jr., and M. J. Vetter, "Compact microwave refractometer for use in small aircraft," Rev. Sci.
Instr. Vol. 29, No. 12, Dec. 1958, pp. 1093-1096.
[19] Moody Thompson, Jr., Frank E. Freathy, and Donald M. Waters, "Fabrication techniques for ceramic
C.
X-band cavity resonators," Rev. Sci. Instr. Vol. 29, No. 10, Oct. 1958, 865-868. U.S. Patent No. 2,981,908,
issued April 25, 1961.

552
[20] M. Vetter and M. C. Thompson, Jr., "Absolute microwave ref'ractometer," Rev. Sci. Instr. Vol. 33, No. 6,
J.

June 1962, pp. 656-660. U.S. Patent No. 3,400,330, issued Sept. 30, 1968 (see footnote 21).
[21] George Birnbaum and H. E. Bussey, "Amplitude, scale, and spectrum of refractive index inhomogeneties in the
first 125 meters of the atmosphere," Proc. IRE, Vol. 43, No. 10, Oct. 1955, pp. 1412-1418.

[22] Bradford R. Bean, "Climatology of ground-based radio ducts," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 1,
July-Aug. 1959, pp. 29-34.
[23] B. R. Bean and E. J. Dutton, "Concerning radiosondes, lag constants, and radio refractive index profiles," J.
Geophys. Research, Vol. 66, No. 11, Nov. 1961, pp. 3717-3722.
[24] B. R. Bean, "First meeting on radio climatology," Proc. IRE (Letter to the Editor), Vol. 46, No. 7, July 1958, pp.
1425-26.
[25] "Radio Refractive Index Data Center," Tech. News Bull. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 46, No. 1, Jan. 1962, p. 5.
[26] B. R. Bean and G. D. Thayer, CRPL Exponential Reference Atmosphere, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. 4, Oct.
29, 1959, 67 pages. See also B. R. Bean and G. D. Thayer, "CRPL Exponential Reference Atmosphere," J.
Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 3, Nov.-Dec. 1959, pp. 315-317.
[27] B. R. Bean, J. D. Horn, and L. P. Riggs, "Refraction of radio waves at low angles within various air masses," J.
Geophys. Research, Vol. 65, No. 4, Apr. 1960, pp. 1183-1187.
[28] G. D. Thayer, "A formula for radio ray refraction in an exponential atmosphere," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 2, Mar.-Apr. 1961, pp. 181-182.

[29] C. F. Pappas, L. E. Vogler, and P. L. Rice, "Graphical determination of radio ray bending in an exponential
atmosphere," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 2, Mar.-Apr. 1961, pp. 175-179.
[30] B. R. Bean and B. A. Cahoon, "Correlation of monthly median transmission loss and refractive index profile
characteristics," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. U.S., Vol. 65D, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1961, pp. 67-74.
[31] B. R. Bean and B. A. Cahoon, "A note on the climatic variation of absolute humidity," Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc,
Vol. 38, No. 7, Sept. 1957, pp. 395-398.
[32] B. R. Bean and "Synoptic variation of the radio refractive index," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
L. P. Riggs,
Vol. 63D, No. July-Aug. 1959, pp. 91-97.
1,

[33] B. R. Bean, L. P. Riggs, and J. D. Horn, "Synoptic study of the vertical distribution of the radio refractive
index," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. U.S., Vol. 63D, No. 2, Sept.-Oct. 1959, pp. 249-254.
[34] B. R. Bean and J. D. Horn, "Radio-refractive-index climate near the ground,"
J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),

Vol. 63D, No. Nov.-Dec. 1959, pp. 259-271. See also B. R. Bean, J. D. Horn, and A. M. Ozanich, Jr.,
3,

Climatic Charts and Data of the Radio Refractive Index for the United States and the World, Nat. Bur.
Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. 22, Nov. 25, I960, 178 pages.
[35] A. P. Barsis, J. W. and K. O. Hornberg, Cheyenne Mountain Tropospheric Propagation
Herbstreit,
Experiments, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circ. 554, Jan. 3, 1955, 39 pages.
[36] Raymond E. McGavin and Leo J. Maloney, "Study at 1046 megacycles per second of the reflection coefficient of
irregular terrain at small grazing angles," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 2, Sept.-Oct. 1959,
pp. 235-248.
[37] R. S. Kirby, H. T. Dougherty, and P. L. McQuate, "VHF propagation measurements in the Rocky Mountain
region," IRE Trans. Vehicular Communications., Vol. VC-6, July 1956, pp. 13-19.
[38] R. S. Kirby, H. T. Dougherty, and P. L. McQuate, "Obstacle gain measurements over Pikes Peak at 60 to 1046
Mc," Proc. IRE, Vol. 43, No. 10, Oct. 1955, 1467-1472.
[39] A. P. Barsis and R. S. Kirby, "VHF and UHF signal characteristics observed on a long knife-edge diffraction
path," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1961, pp. 437-448.
[40] A. P. Barsis and F. M. Capps, "Effect of super-refractive layers on tropospheric signal characteristics in the
Pacific coast region," I.R.E. Wescon Conv. Record, Vol. 1, part I, 1957, pp. 116-133.
[41] A. P. Barsis and Mary Ellen Johnson, Prolonged Space-Wave Fadeouts in Tropospheric Propagation, Nat. Bur.
Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 88, Feb. 8, 1961, 40 pages + 30 figures.
[42] H. B. Janes, J. C. Stroud, and M. T. Decker, An Analysis of Propagation Measurements Made at 418 Mc Well
Beyond the Radio Horizon, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 6, May 1959, 84 pages.
See also a digest of this Tech. Note (same authors, same title,
"
— a digest"), J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
Vol. 64D, No. 3, May-June 1960, pp. 255-257.
[43] H. B. Janes, "An analysis of within-the-hour fading in 100- to 1000-Mc transmissions," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.), Vol. 54, No. 4, Apr. 1955, pp. 231-250.

[44] J. W. Herbstreit and M. C. Thompson, "Measurements of the phase of radio waves received over transmission
paths with electrical lengths varying as a result of atmospheric turbulence," Proc. IRE, Vol. 43, No. 10,
Oct. 1955, pp. 1391-1401.
[45] M. C. Thompson, Jr., and H. of phase stability over a low-level tropospheric path," J.
B. Janes, "Measurements
Res. Nat.Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. July-Aug. 1959, pp. 45-51.
1,

[46] M. C. Thompson, Jr., and H. B. Janes, Radio Path Length Stability of Ground-to-Ground Microwave Links, Nat.
Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 219, Nov. 15, 1964, 17 pages + 50 figures.
[47] K. A. Norton, et al (10 co-authors), An Experimental Study of Phase Variations in Line-of-Sight Microwave
Transmissions, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. 33, Nov. 1, 1961, 90 pages.
[48] "CRPL aids missile tracking," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. News Bull, Vol. 46, No. 3, Mar. 1962, pp. 46-47.
[49] H. B. Janes and M. C. Thompson, Jr., "Errors induced by the atmosphere in microwave range measurements,"
J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 68D, No. 11, Nov. 1964, pp. 1229-1235.

[50] H. B. Janes, A. W. Kirkpatrick, D. M. Waters, and D. Smith, Phase and Amplitude Diversity in Over- Water
Transmissions at Two Microwave Frequencies, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 307, Apr. 12, 1965, 18
pages + 44 figures.

553
[51] H. B. Janes and M. C. Thompson, Jr., Observed Phase-Front Distortion in Simulated Earth-to-Space Microwave
Transmissions, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 339, May 12, 1966, 19 pages + 73 figures + 4 tables.
[52] William J. Hartman and Martin T. Decker, "Mutual interference between surface and satellite communication
systems," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1961, pp. 433-436.
[53] "Forward scatter of radio waves, Part II. Tropospheric forward scatter," Tech. News Bull. Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.), Vol. 40, No.
Feb. 1956, pp 24-27.
2,

[54] Harold Staras, "Scattering of electromagnetic energy in a randomly inhomogeneous atmosphere," J. Appl.
Phys., Vol. 23, No. 10, Oct. 1952, pp. 1152-1156.
[55] H. Staras, "The statistics of scattered radiation," Abstract 99, and H. Staras, "A mathematical study of beyond-
the-horizon scatter transmissions," Abstract 100, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 26, Sept. 1959, pp. 45-
46 (see reference 4).

[56] H. Staras, "A mathematical study of beyond-the-horizon scatter propagation," dissertation submitted to the
Graduate Faculty, University of Maryland, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree
(1955). See also Harold Staras, "Forward scattering of radio waves by anisotropic turbulence," Proc. IRE,

Vol. 43, No. 10, Oct. 1955, pp. 1374-1380.

[57] J. Feinstein, "The role of partial reflections in tropospheric propagation beyond the horizon," IRE Trans.
Antennas and Propagation, Vol. PAGP-2, March 1952, pp. 2-8.
[58] J. Feinstein, "Tropospheric propagation beyond the horizon," J. Appl. Phys. (Letter to the Editor), Vol. 22, No.
10, Oct. 1951, pp. 1292-1293.
[59] J. Feinstein, "The nature of gradient reflections," IRE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, Vol. PGAP-4, Dec.
1952, pp. 2-13.
[60] "New theory on UHF radio wave propagation," Tech. News Bull. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 36, No. 2, Feb.
1952, p. 17-18.

[61] George A. Hufford, "A note on wave propagation through an inhomogeneous medium," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 24,
No. 3, Mar. 1953, pp. 268-271.
[62] H. B. Janes and P. I. Wells, "Some tropospheric scatter propagation measurements near the radio horizon,"
Proc. IRE, Vol. 43, No. 10, Oct. 1955, pp. 1336-1340.

554
 Chapter XIII

ENGINEERING FOR RADIO PROPAGATION 1

Introduction
With the formation of theCRPL on May 1, 1946, there came an outburst of planning
and setting the stages for many projects that would continue within NBS, at least in their
broader aspects, until 1965 when the functions of the CRPL became a part of ESSA
(Environmental Sciences Services Administration). Of considerable significance were some
of the "engineering" projects inaugurated by the Frequency Utilization Research Section
during the fall of 1946. These projects included: A study of radio navigation systems, studies
2

of radio noise (however, studies of radio noise, both atmospheric and cosmic, remained
within the Experimental Ionospheric Research Section for several years), antenna research,
the study of a systematic error in phase-tvpe distance measuring equipment (a system later
to be used for measurement of speed of radio waves), and studies relating to color television.

Noise— The limiting factor to radio reception

1. The IRPL studies the effect of atmospheric noise

Interest at NBS in the nature and effect of atmospheric noise ("static") on radio
reception began in the early 1920's with the investigations by Louis W. Austin (in residence
—
at NBS see ch. II). Years passed before any further effort was made toward taking into
account the effect of atmospheric noise on radio reception. It was noted to a very limited
extent in the IRPL's (Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory) Radio Transmission
Handbook, Frequencies 1000 to 30,000 KC of January 1, 1942, and Supplement of June 1,

1
This title is oriented to that of radio communication technology and covers CRPL projects not directly related to
the study of propagation characteristics of the ionosphere and the troposphere. These projects were in the areas of
noise, antennas, modulation, radio navigation systems, utilization of the frequency spectrum, and others. In
February 1949, these projects were distributed among the several sections comprising the newly-formed Systems
Research Laboratory of CRPL (see app. C). During 1951 the systems research activities were transferred to Boulder,
Colo. Upon expansion of CRPL research after the move to Boulder in 1954, these "engineering" projects were
spread among the two radio propagation divisions (see app. C). The NBS Annual Report for 1955 stated acutely:

The ultimate objective of NBS work in radio propagation engineering is the more efficient use of
the radiofrequency spectrum. This objective can be attained only to the extent that the nature of
radio-wave propagation, together with the characteristics and effects of radio noise and
interference upon various signals, are known qualitatively and quantitatively.

By 1956 they became part of the new Radio Propagation Engineering Division which also included research and
development in tropospheric communication. By 1959 the engineering projects were spread over both the Radio
Propagation Engineering Division and the newly formed Radio Communication and Systems Division. However, the
Radio Propagation Engineering Division continued to be largely oriented to tropospheric propagation research and
development.
2
The Frequency Utilization Research Section was organized on October 1, 1946, by the newly appointed chief,
Kenneth A. Norton, a former member of the Radio Section. The three early members of this section, Norton,
William Q. Crichlow, and Jack W. Herbstreit, would take important roles in the future work of the CRPL relating
to engineering for radio propagation.

555
 3
1942 (see ch. XI, pp. 403-404 ). The topic was discussed in some detail in the IRPL Radio
Propagation Handbook, issued November 15, 1943 (see ch. XI, p. 410), indicating the
4,5
importance of noise level in communication systems. However, much of the information
had been obtained from the British Inter-Services Ionosphere Bureau (ISIB). 6
3
In his "Milestones" lecture of October 24, 1974, Newbern Smith (former chief of CRPL) stated that the year 1941
was significant in the Radio Section for the beginning of a study of noise effects on radio reception." This study was
reflected early, first in the 1942 Supplement) and to a greater extent in the IRPL Handbook of 1943.
Handbook (in

"Taking part in the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Marconi's birth, the Department of Commerce Boulder
Laboratories sponsored the Marconi Centennial Series of four lectures, beginning in September 1974. The series of
the four Marconi lectures was one facet of the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the Boulder Laboratories.
The lectures were:
"Marconi" by Charles Siisskind, September 12, 1974
"International Aspects of Radio" by Jack W. Herbstreit, October 10, 1974
"Marconi's Impact on Radio" by George Millington, October 14, 1974
"The History of Radio in the Department of Commerce" by Newbern Smith, October 24, 1974
4
Of significance, the 1943 Handbook stated:

In order to interpret calculated received field intensities in terms of their usefulness for
communication, it is necessary to know the minimum value of field intensity required for
reception. This is a function primarily of the noise level at the receiving location, although the
factors of antenna directivity and operator's skill also enter in. The type of service desired
(phone, CW, direction finding, etc.) also must be considered.
5
Contained in the 1943Handbook were world maps indicating noise zones of atmospheric noise (primarily lightning
discharges) in 5 noise grades. As one would expect on the basis of thunderstorm prevalence, grade 1 was associated
with arctic regions where thunderstorms are at a minimum, while grade 5 was associated with certain tropical
areas where thunderstorms are most prevalent. Corresponding to the 5 noise zones were 5 sets of graphs depicting
the required field intensities (microvolts per meter) for acceptable phone reception over the frequency range of 20
kHz to 40 MHz. The several curves in each graph indicated the field intensity for local time (afternoon and early
evening hours requiring the highest field intensity). The graphs indicated that CW reception required but one-tenth
the field intensity of phone reception.
6
Research that led to information on noise given in the 1943 Handbook was initiated in 1942 at the Inter-Services
Ionosphere Bureau by Dana K. Bailey and J. S. Kojan of the Army Signal Corps (Bailey joined the CRPL in 1948).

60 80 100 120 140 160 EAST ISO WEST 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60

Atmospheric radio noise distribution for period June-July-August (one of the four periods equally divided over the
year). Such maps show distribution of noise grades throughout the world for each season. Areas in which
thunderstorms are frequent are indicated by the high noise grades to 5. Areas remote from thunderstorms in which
low noise levels occur, even by way of long distance sky-wave propagation, are indicated by low noise grades.

556
 Based upon experience gained during the war years of 1942 through 1945, the IRPL was
able to add to its store of information by gathering further data on the effect of atmospheric

noise on radio reception. By 1945 a cooperative program among three centralizing agencies
resulted in a project of collecting noise data on atmospheric radio noise from 17 stations
scattered over the world. By the end of 1947 an analysis of these data was published by Edna
7
L. Shultz of the Basic Ionospheric Research Section [l].
Upon publication of NBS Circular 462 entitled, "Ionospheric Radio Propagation," in
1948, more information became available to the radio engineer for estimation of required
field intensity for intelligible signal level in the presence of radio noise. 8

2. The CRPL initiates a noise measurement program

Among the projects activated in 1946 by the CRPL's Experimental Ionospheric
Research Section was

work on the improvement of the sensitivity of present types of equipment

used to measure atmospheric radio noise and the design of instruments for
automatic radio noise measurements over wide frequency ranges with
9
discrimination in azimuth and vertical angles of arrival.

The IRPL had definitely shown that noise is the

several years of experience by the
limiting factor to radio reception,and particularly by atmospheric noise on communication
systems operating below 30 MHz. Thus it was desirable to study the characteristics of this
noise in relation to thunderstorm activity to enable the prediction of noise levels.
During 1946 an early step was taken in the project to improve the sensitivity of the
then existing equipment that was developed in England for noise measurement. A program
in noise measurements had been in progress for several years at the National Physical
Laboratory in England, and this led to a cooperative project being formulated between the
two laboratories. Herman V. Cottony guided the project to improve the measurement
equipment.
In the spring of 1949 the atmospheric noise project was transferred to the Frequency
Utilization Research Section and placed in charge of William Q. Crichlow. A broader
objective of the radio noise studies soon came to the fore, that of

. .the accurate prediction and forecast of the intensity of atmospheric

.

radio noise at any geographic location, radio frequency, time of day, season,
and phase of the sunspot cycle.

During the following year steps were taken to make experimental recordings of atmospheric
10
noise levels, the project being set up at the Sterling (Va.) field station. In the interest of an
improved noise prediction service, a continued analysis of noise data received from other
sources was carried on concurrently with the development and use of the noise recording
equipment.

7
This program was initiated in 1943 by the Wave Propagation Committee of the Combined Communications Board,
Combined Chiefs of Staff (see ch. XI, p. 405). Cooperating in the program were the three centralizing agencies:
National Physical Laboratory (England), Australian Radio Propagation Committee, and the CRPL. Observations
were in the frequency range of 2.5 to 20 MHz, but mainly at 2.5 and 5 MHz. Although there were large differences
in noise levelsamong the stations, there appeared to be a linear decrease in average noise level (logarithmic value
of noise level in microvolts) with increasing latitude in the northern hemisphere. Noise levels were in fair
agreement with predictions by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

8
Much of the information in NBS Circular 462 became available to the CRPL from work by the Radio Propagation
Unit of the United States Army Signal Corps.
9
Concurrent with activation of the atmospheric noise project was a closely related project with the objective of
measurement of the intensity and frequency distribution of cosmic (galactic) noise in the VHF band (see ch. XIV,
pp. 596-597).

10
The recordings of noise levels were made over a 1-kHz bandwidth centered on 539 and 2180 kHz (near the lower
and somewhat above the upper limit of the broadcast band), resulting in average values of the envelope of the
atmospheric noise voltage.

557
 By 1952 the CRPL had a program in progress for recording atmospheric noise levels on
a worldwide coverage, including the development of automatic recording equipment
11
designed for this specialized objective. The noise program was now partially supported by
the Army Signal Corps. Noise recording stations were established at Front Royal, Va. and
12
on Gunbarrel Hill near Boulder, Colo.

11
During the course of development there evolved recording receiver equipment that covered a frequency range of
15 kHz to 20 MHz operating on eight fixed-frequency channels that provided measurement of the average noise
power (within effective noise bandwidths of 150 to 300 Hz) relative to a known level at the antenna. The equipment
became known as the ARN-2 Atmospheric Radio Noise Recorder. A number of recorders were manufactured on
contract, following the development of the prototype model, for use at several recording sites and, several years
later, for the extensive noise project of the IGY program.

12
These two recording stations were fitted with a "standard" antenna consisting of a 21.75-foot vertical whip in the
center of an elevated ground plane of 90 radial conductors (wire) 100 feet in length, mounted 8 feet above the
surrounding terrain. The ground plane served to stabilize the antenna impedance and increase its efficiency.

iragf^ —
Robert T. Disney at controls of the NBS Model ARN-2 Atmospheric Radio Noise Recorder. This equipment covers a
frequency range of 15 kHz to 20 MHz, operating on eight fixed-frequency channels. A number of these recorders
were manufactured on contract for use in the IGY noise measurement program of 1957-1958 that was supervised
by NBS personnel.

558
 In order to obtain noise recordings in an area free of manmade radio noise, a mobile
recording unit was used to survey an extensive region in eastern Wyoming for such <
location. A location was found in an area near Bill (north of Douglas), Wyo., a local
community with a population of 10. 13 A field station, operated by the CRPL, was located
here from 1955 until 1965.
Emerging from the noise program was the publishing in 1955 of NBS Circular 557 that
discussed the characteristics of radio noise, noise predictions, and analysis of measurements
[2]. Noise data were available from the Front Royal station, the Boulder station, and an

English operated station at Tatsfield, England. Two years later Crichlow published a paper
1415
giving an overview of the CRPL atmospheric noise project [3].
By 1955 the objective of measurement of radio noise by a worldwide network as a basis
for noise predictions was in the early stages of being attained, with data becoming available
from four recording stations. Robert T. Disney had been assigned to the radio noise program
and began to take a very active role in its operations, continuing through the years of ESSA
and until his retirement from ITS (Institute for Telecommunication Services).

3. NBS supervises the IGY noise program

By 1955 the CRPL's planning and preparation for the IGY (International Geophysical
Year) program of 1957-1958 was getting into full swing. The worldwide nature of the IGY
program gave a timely opportunity to NBS for support and establishment of a chain of radio
noise recording stations scattered over the globe (see ch. XI, sec. "CRPL Participation in the
IGY Program"). Through specifications of an improved type of the ARN-2 Radio Noise
Recorder, NBS arranged for the manufacture of a sufficient number of the recorders to
outfit 16 stations that would take part in the IGY program.
16
NBS engineered the
installation of the recorders and training of personnel to the point where they could be
operated by local staffs of the cooperating agencies.

13
At this location the noise level was about 40 dB below the manmade noise level at Boulder. The level was but 2
dB above the thermal noise level of the receiver.

"Although Crichlow's paper was titled "Noise Investigation at VLF by the National Bureau of Standards," the
frequency coverage was much beyond that of the VLF band. The paper had been presented at the Symposium on
Propagation of Very-Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Waves held in January 1957 at Boulder.
15
Crichlow called attention to the Bureau's participation with the British in preparing predictions of worldwide
atmospheric noise levels for the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR). The report was adopted by the
VIII Plenary Assembly of the CCIR at Warsaw, Poland in September 1956.
16
With improvements in the equipment design it was now possible to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the
nature of radio noise. In addition to the continuous recording of average noise power, some of the stations were
outfitted to record the average envelope voltage and the average logarithm of the envelope voltage, the three
measurements comprising three statistical moments of the noise observations.
Four members of the Radio Noise Section developed a means whereby the three statistical moments could be
treated by a graphical method to determine the amplitude-probability distribution of atmospheric radio noise. The
simplified result yielded the relation of signal voltage to percentage of time the signal level exceeded a given level.
In turn, this relation could be used to predict the performance of a radio communication system in the presence of
atmospheric noise of a certain locality and season of the year. (A simplified version of the published paper was
prepared for the January 1960 issue of the Technical News Bulletin under the title of: "Graphical Method for
Determining Radio Noise Characteristics.")

559
The NBS noise recording station located on Gunbarrel Hill northeast of Boulder, Colo. A whip antenna extends
vertically above the center of an elevated
ground plane consisting of wires radiating horizontally from the base of
the antenna. Such a ground plane stabilizes the antenna impedance. This station was one of 16 scattered over the
World for the IGY noise program of 1957-1958, 5 of the stations being operated by the NBS.

560
 »• WEST O'EASr 20-

RADIO NOISE RECORDING STATIONS

USING CRPL EQUIPMENT
100" 120' 140' ISO* EAST 180* WEST 160' 140' 120' 100' 80 20' WEST 0'E»ST 20'

Locations of the 16 radio noise recording stations comprising the worldwide network in operation during the
International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958. Each station was equipped with an NBS-designed ARN-2 Atmospheric
Radio Noise Recorder, and NBS supervised the IGY noise program.

Early in 1958 the Radio Noise Section, under Crichlow's leadership, brought out NBS
Report 5558 summarizing 6 months of observations that included the early months of the
IGY program. Only a few of the 16 planned stations were in operation to be covered by this
report.
Shortly after the close of the IGY program (July 1, 1957-December 31, 1958) the Radio
Noise Section published NBS Technical Note 18, summarizing the data that had been
recorded by the 15 stations supervised by NBS during the 18 months of observations [4]. 17,18
No interpretation of data was given in this publication, only the noise data of the stations by
frequency, month, and hour of the day. Tables showing grouping of observations by seasons
(3 months each) were also given.
Beginning with the IGY program, supervision of the worldwide network of noise
recording stations was continued by NBS until taken over by the Environmental Science
Services Administration (ESSA) in 1965. During the years of 1957 to 1965 the noise data
were garnered for publication in a continuation of the NBS Technical Note 18 series that
appeared quarterly. The final copy covered the period of March, April, May 1965 as NBS
Technical Note 18-26. By 1963 the number of stations had grown to 18, with 7 being operated
by NBS.

17
Five of the stations were operated by NBS, at: Bill, Wyo.; Boulder, Colo.; Byrd Station in the Antarctic; Front
Royal, Va.; and Kekaha, Hawaii. The U.S. Army Signal Corps, that had a long-time interest in the prediction of
radio noise levels, operated stations at Balboa, Canal Zone and Thule, Greenland. Each of eight other stations was
operated by an agency of the respective country. India did not have its station at New Delhi in operation until 1959,
and then took part in the continuing program.
18
The total program was a cooperative achievement of NBS with the Signal Corps Radio Propagation Agency, the
Bureau of Ships, the U.S. Air Force, the National Science Foundation (which gave support to the United States
participation in the IGY program), and with each of the foreign governments that took part in the global program.

561
4. Improving the techniques of noise measurement
After much experience with the ARN-2 Radio Noise Recorder, attention was turned in
1959 to the design, experimentation with, and construction of, an Energy Spectrum
Recorder. The objective was to provide an instrument for scanning the noise spectrum below
550 kHz by small increments of bandwidth in order to obtain a better understanding of
19
noise characteristics at low frequencies. Heretofore, atmospheric noise had had only
meager study at the low portion of the radio-frequency spectrum.
As an adjunct to the noise analyzing facilities a specialized magnetic-tape system was
developed for recording atmospheric noise to provide samples for reduction to a variety of
statistical studies. With computer assistance, these studies could provide information on a
given communication system to determine performance in the presence of atmospheric or
manmade noise.
An interesting application in the early 1960's of the noise-measurement systems
developed by the Radio Noise Section was that of measurement of manmade noise (as well
as atmospheric noise) in the vicinity of Minuteman missile sites. Presence of radio noise was
an important consideration in the performance of the launch- control system for the missile.
The CRPL mobile radio noise recorder, designed for a variety of field measurements, was
used in the vicinity of the missile sites.

5. Cooperating with the CCIR and with URSI

In 1956 the Radio Noise Section participated in a report to the CCIR (International
20
Radio Consultative Committee) for the prediction of worldwide atmospheric noise levels.
Later, with the application of computer assistance and the growth of the CRPL-sponsored
worldwide noise-recording network, the CCIR Worldwide Prediction Charts became more
useful and reliable.
During the course of the following 7 years to 1963, the Radio Noise Section was
attaining its objective of "furnishing the telecommunications engineer with information on
the (noise) interference environment relative to frequency, time, and location, so that design
of terminal facilities will promote best utilization of the electromagnetic spectrum." By 1963
the section had completely revised its previous reports to the CCIR and submitted Report
322, entitled "World Distribution and Characteristics of Atmospheric Radio Noise." This
report incorporated revisions based upon extensive investigations carrried out by the section
during a decade of research. The report was adopted by the Xth Plenary Assembly of the
CCIR in 1963 at Geneva.
In reports of the U.S. National Committee to the General Assembly of URSI
(International Scientific Radio Union) in 1960 and in 1963, Crichlow and others of the Radio
Noise Section prepared information relating to atmospheric noise investigations conducted
21
in the United States.

6. Some noteworthy observations

Observation of atmospheric radio noise led to the conclusion that the ionosphere
transmits the noise of lightning discharges over considerable distances, at least in certain
bands of the noise spectra. An aspect of this transmission by the ionosphere was observed in
two nuclear explosions at high altitude over Johnston Island (about 700 miles southwest of
the Island of Kauai, Hawaii) on August 1 and 12, 1958 [5]. For these observations use was
made of the Bureau's radio noise recording station at Kekaha, Kauai. In the frequency
range from 50 kHz to 2.5 MHz there was absorption in the ionosphere as a result of the

19
The instrument was developed to scan at 200-Hz bandwidth for periods of 2.5 minutes at each of 2750 frequencies,
thus requiring nearly 5 days to cover the frequency range of 200 Hz to 550 kHz. Radio signals were also scanned
during the noise observations. The instrument proved to be useful in a variety of applications.
20
The use term "predictions" has not been entirely that of forecasting future radio noise conditions but,
of the
rather, presentations of past data insummarized forms, mainly by world maps. However, the maps have shown the
diurnal and seasonal characteristics of radio noise on a world scale.
21
The scope of the 1963 report to the XIV General Assembly can be ascertained from the subjects covered in the
report, published in the May 1964 issue of Radio Science — too detailed for inclusion here.
562
explosions that decreased the transmission of atmospheric noise by more than 30 decibels.
The absorption lasted for several days after each explosion. Johnston Island was in the
direct transmission path of noise recorded at Kekaha from thunderstorms in the vicinity of
southeast Asia or Indonesia. With noise data collected from various stations of the Pacific
area during several subsequent years, it was found that anomalies had existed in the
observations of these explosions which did not lend themselves to explanation.
In 1962 the opportunity came to make atmospheric radio noise observations over
extensive water areas during cruises lasting up to 80 days from South America to
Antarctica. The floating radio noise station was provided by the National Science
Foundation's Floating Antarctic Research Station, the USNS Eltanin with an ARN-2 Radio
Noise Recorder on board.

Antenna research
Antenna research and development at NBS extends back to a period before 1920.
During the World War I period Dellinger developed a better understanding of loop
antennas, while Willoughby and Lowell developed a submarine antenna (see ch. VI).
Dunmore developed some novel types of antennas. After the mid-1920's and until the
formation of the CRPL in 1946, very little effort was given to antenna design and
measurement, the Radio Section being much oriented during that period to propagation
studies, radio aids to air navigation, and frequency standards. But the diverse and expanded
fields entered upon by the CRPL brought on problems associated with antennas.

1. Antennas for vertical-incidence ionosondes

Among the many projects taken up by the newly formed CRPL was that of developing a
more effective antenna for vertical-incidence sounding equipment, and
ionospheric
particularly for the NBS Model C-2 ionosphere recorder. The double rhombic antenna had
been found relatively ineffective as a transmitting antenna for vertical-incidence
ionospheric observations. The problem was primarily that of designing an antenna, along
with the associated transmission line, with relatively constant impedance over the 1- to 25-
MHz frequency range of the ionosonde. Also important was efficient radiation in the
vertical direction. The first step to be taken by the Experimental Ionospheric Research
—
Section (later known as the Ionosphere Research Section see ch. XI, footnote 78) was the
design of an instrument for measurement of the antenna impedance. 22
During the course of development of an efficient transmitting antenna, various types of
broad-band antennas were tested at the Sterling (Va.) field station. Full-scale antennas were
used in the early experiments. Scaled-down models were used in later experiments, with
scaling factors ranging up to 85. Evolving from these investigations were two types of
transmitting antennas, each developed upon modifications of basic designs by other
23
laboratories. The development program was under the guidance of Harold N. Cones. It was
a design, known as the 600-ohm multiple-wire delta antenna, that became widely used by
the CRPL for its vertical-incidence ionosonde installations.

2. Corner-reflector antenna measurements

a) Studies at the Sterling field station

The Bureau's pioneering work in the development of a radio-communication system

utilizing ionospheric forward scatter led to studies of antennas that were suitable for such a

22
Herman V. Cottony reported on the balanced recording impedance meter on March 6, 1947, at the IRE Technical
Meeting in New York City, the paper entitled "A Method of Rapid Continuous Measurement of Antenna
Impedance over a Wide Frequency Range." The equipment was described in several NBS publications on antennas
in subsequent years.

23
The earlier modification by the NBS team was that of a vertical double- W antenna that required rather large
dimensions to extend the frequency down to 1 MHz. The later modification was that of a delta antenna
incorporating multiple wires in various configurations in its design. The mean impedance of the multiple-wire delta
antenna was well matched to the 600-ohm transmission line from an ionosonde [6].

563
system (see section entitled "NBS Pioneers in Radio Communication by Ionospheric Forward
Scatter," ch. XI). These studies were given over largely to design variations of rhombic,
corner-reflector, and Yagi antennas. The initial study was reported in 1953 by Peter P.
Viezbicke, Jr. and Herman
V. Cottony of the Ionospheric Research Section, the study being
made on corner-reflector antennas at the Sterling field station. 24
Cottony paralleled the study of corner-reflector antennas with investigations of rhombic
and Yagi antennas. By 1955 the ionospheric forward scatter project was partially
declassified and Cottony reported his studies to an IRE symposium (November 1955, see ch.
XI, p. 497) [7]. The corner-reflector and Yagi antennas were far more compact than the
rhombic antennas, a desirable feature for use in the forward scatter project. Cottony found
that a particular design of a 60-degree corner-reflector had a gain of 20 decibels, a sought-
after and necessary feature for transmission and reception of the weak signals transmitted
by forward scatter in the ionosphere. The corner-reflector antenna became the choice for the
operational communication systems built for the U.S. Air Force.

24
This study was covered in an NBS Report entitled "Experimental Investigation of a Corner-Reflector Antenna,"
dated August 17, 1953. At the time it was not revealed in the report that the antenna was being studied for use in a
classified project, that of the development of communication by ionospheric forward scatter.

Large corner-reflector antenna erected at the Sterling field station for study of antennas suitable for communication
by ionospheric forward scatter. The sheet-aluminum reflector surfaces could be set at various aperture angles,
shown in the photo of October 1953 at 90°. Barely distinguishable near the vertex is the single half-wave dipole
radiator (for operation at 400-MHz measurement frequency) at one of the two positions. Measurements of antenna
gain were made as a function of aperture angle and different widths and lengths of reflector surfaces (in terms of
wavelengths). Photo shows reflector size of 25 ft length and 12 1/2 ft width (across vertex).

564
 b ) Studies at Boulder

Antenna research at the Sterling field station was gradually moved to the Boulder
Laboratories over a period of several years, beginning with the major move of the CRPL
i
during 1954. At Boulder studies were continued on the corner-reflector antennas, the
''

measurements being made at the Table Mesa antenna range (later, known as the Table
Mountain field station), north of Boulder. 2 Cottony and Alvin C. Wilson participated in the
'1

project. The antenna and apparatus for gain measurements were scaled for operation at 400
MHz, whereas operation of the ionospheric forward scatter communication system
developed for the U.S. Air Force was around 50 MHz, and involved large-scale antennas.
Much flexibility was incorporated into the design and constructional features of the corner-
reflector antenna in order to determine the relation of antenna gain to a variety of
combinations of the antenna parameters [S].'Zl
The gain measurements were followed by a series of measurements on radiation
patterns of a corner-reflector antenna. The antenna model was scaled for measurements at
2000 MHz. The model was placed on a ground-based table that could be rotated on a vertical
axis for determination of the radiation patterns in the E- and H-planes. Various
combinations were made of widths and lengths of the reflecting surfaces, with the aperture
angle set to maximize the gain. Of particular importance was the determination of sidelobe
radiation, which was found to be more than 40 decibels below the main lobe a required —
performance for the antennas used in the ionospheric forward scatter communication
systems [9].
20
For a period of time the research activities were carried on at both locations, with personnel of the Ionospheric
Research Section that were associated with antenna research being stationed at each of the two locations. With the
formation of a new division in January 1959, the group was organized into the Antenna Research Section within
the newly formed Radio Communication and Systems Division, with Cottony as chief of the section.
26
Two steel turntables, the larger 34 feet in diameter, were installed at the Table Mountain field site for rotating
both small model and full-scale antennas.
21
Gain measurements were made by techniques described by Cottony in NBS Circular 598, entitled Techniques for
Accurate Measurement of Antenna Gain (Dec. 1958).

Experimental model of corner-reflector antenna mounted on turntable at the Table Mountain field station located
north of Boulder, Colo. The antenna was designed to restrict width of the main lobe to 10° in the E plane, and to
reduce secondary-lobe radiation to greater than 40 dB below the main lobe. Reflector surfaces consisted of two
planes of small diameter wires at a selected spacing. A collinear array of half-wave dipole radiators was a feature
to obtain the narrow beam. The model antenna was operated at 400 MHz with a scaling factor of 10; full-scale
antennas to be used in systems for communication by ionospheric forward scatter and by meteor bursts.

565
 In a corollary project Wilson improved upon the performance of corner-reflector
antennas, increasing the gain and reducing further the side-lobe radiation. By current
phasing of the feed system to the collinear array of half-wave dipoles, he was able to slew or
change the directional pattern of the main lobe.

3. Similitude with scaled-down antennas

The design and construction antenna range at the Sterling field station was,
of a model
in effect, an exercise Scaled-down models of antennas, with a corresponding
in similitude.
increase in the operating frequency, permitted measurements to be made with comparative
ease that otherwise presented problems with full-scale antennas. The model range was
designed, initially, for study of antennas for ionosphere-sounding equipment (3 to 30 MHz).
The range featured a large inverted V-shape structure that supported a small self-contained
28
transmitter at the apex [10]. By the law of reciprocity, the transmitter (at apex of V-frame)
and a simple receiver mounted on the model antenna (at center of ground plane) allows
measurement of the antenna's radiation pattern as if a transmitter energized the antenna
directly.
The model range, developed by Cottony in 1951, proved useful for measurement of
radiation (or reception) patterns of many
types of antennas. Later, the model range was
moved to Boulder and occupied a site on the edge of the Green Mountain Mesa. Occasionally
the elevated V-structure was a source of wonderment to nearby residents.

28
The inverted V-shape structure was formed of two truss beams joined together at the apex (60-degree angle) at a
point more than 50 feet above a ground plane. The beams were of plywood sections joined together without metal in
order to form a nonconducting structure. The V-frame could be pivoted through an arc of 180 degrees which, in
combination with orientation of the model antenna at the center of a ground plane, permitted measurements to be
made of radiation patterns in a vertical plane.

Model antenna range at the Sterling field station near Washington, D.C. The site is now occupied by Dulles
International Airport. Designed to measure antenna radiation patterns in the vertical plane, the antenna is placed
at the center of an oval-shaped metallic ground plane. The inverted V-frame of plywood carries a self-contained
target transmitter at the apex and can be moved through a 180° arc. Photo taken in July 1951 shows V-frame at
the 90° position. Using the model technique, this model permits measurements to be mode in the frequency range of
60 to 1500 MHz, simulating antennas that operate in the range of 1 to 25 MHz.

566
 Model antenna range located on Green Mountain Mesa at base of the Flatirons, Boulder. The inverted V-frame of
improved design replaced the one brought from the flatlands of Sterling, Va. Being measured for antenna patterns,
as shown in this photo of 1962, is a model of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic research ship USNS
Eltanin fitted with several types of model antennas, located on ground plane in front of observer.

4. Yagis on parade — Electronically-scanned antenna arrays

The development of a communication system by ionospheric forward scatter fostered
further research of the ionosphere. There was interest and the need to know of the path
structure of transmission via forward scatter. Thus came into the program of the Antenna
Research Section in 1959 an experimental investigation to determine the feasibility of a
receiving antenna array incorporating electronic scanning. A frequency of 41 MHz was
selected in the VHF band of ionospheric forward scatter. By June 1960 the system,
developed by Cottony and Wilson, was in operation with satisfying results at the Table
Mountain antenna range north of Boulder. A 5.8-degree-wide beam could be swept over a 42-
29
degree azimuth sector at a rate of 20 scans per second [ll]. For the first time it was
possible to observe the paths of reflections of ionospheric forward scatter. The system was
also useful for observing the direction of meteor-trail reflections and sporadic-E layer
reflections, the latter being a source of strong reflections.

29
initial experiment seven Yagi antennas (five elements) were aligned on masts and directed toward the
For the
NBS transmitter at Long Branch field station near Havana, 111., 1295 km distance. A complex electronic system
controlled phasing of the antennas for directive reception of signals over a narrow and sweeping beam. An
oscilloscope, synchronized to the incoming signals, gave direct viewing and photographing of the display of direction
of maximum signal response.

567

I
 Yagis on Parade

Electronically-scanned antenna array in operation beginning June I960 at the Table Mountain field station north of
Boulder, Colo. Designed by the Antenna Research Section, its initial use was that of studying the phenomenon of
ionospheric forward scatter, receiving signals from the NBS transmitter at the Long Branch field station near
Havana, III., 1295-km distance. The seven Yagi antennas (five elements) scanned with a 5.8-degree beam over a 42-
degree azimuth sector. Later, the array was extended to 25 Yagi antennas, obtaining a beam width of 1.5 degrees.

With it was but a matter of increasing the number of Yagi antennas

this initial success,
in the broadside array to improve the angular resolution by decreased bandwidth. This was
accomplished in 1961 by increasing the number of Yagi antennas to 25, with the result of
obtaining a 1.5-degree width of the main lobe. However, this improvement added to the
complexity of the electronic scanning [12]. 30
With the added success of the 25-Yagi-antenna array, a similar array for operation in
the 12- to 25-MHz range was completed in May 1962. This array, which used log-periodic
dipole antennas (13 elements), became useful for directional back-scatter observations.
Added to this array for horizontal scanning, was another for scanning in the elevation plane
31
within the frequency range of 12 to 25 MHz.

30
In 1961 Cottony received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for sustained
outstanding leadership leading to advancement of accurate methods for measurement of antenna characteristics
and for the development of an important and novel technique for high resolution electronic scanning for the
radiation pattern of a directive antenna array which allows an essentially unlimited scan rate."

31
Ten log-periodic dipole antennas (13 elements) were arrayed at 16-meter intervals on a 152-meter tower. Again,
electronic scanning was used. This array supplemented the azimuth scanning of the 25-antenna array in order to
obtain a more extensive "picture" of transmission paths in the ionosphere.

568
Combination (upper left) of two electronically-scanned antenna arrays of high resolution for simultaneous horizontal
and vertical scanning to study the ionosphere in the frequency range of 12 to 25 MHz, including the effects of
ionospheric irregularities on radio-signal propagation over long distances. The array for horizontal scanning
(lower photo) consists of 25 masts, each mounted with a log-periodic dipole antenna of IS elements. In the close-up
skyward view (upper right) can be seen 8 of the 10 log-periodic dipole antennas (13 elements) for vertical scanning,
mounted at 16-meter intervals on the 152-meter tower. This combination of two antenna arrays is one of many
specialized facilities located at the Table Mountain field station, beginning in 1951*.

569
5. A miscellany of antenna projects

A
miscellaneous assortment of antenna problems, mainly from military sources, came
to the attention of, and then with subsequent attack by, the Antenna Research Section. The

problems were concerned primarily with designs of specialized antennas and out-of-the-
ordinary measurements. Also, the section's consulting services were in considerable demand.
One of the more unusual antennas studies was a monopole array for the U.S. Air Force.
The principal feature was steering of the main lobe in a complete circle by phase change of
currents feeding the 30 quarter-wave monopoles (in 2 concentric circles of 10 and 20 each)
surrounding the center monopole antenna. Although in practice the array would serve as a
transmitting antenna, the pattern was measured as a model of a receiving antenna mounted
on a large turntable and positioned by small angle changes toward a distant target
transmitter [13].
During the period of July 9 to 11, 1963, the PTGAP International Symposium on Space
Telecommunications was held at the Boulder Laboratories. The event was sponsored by the
IEEE Professional Technical Group on Antennas and Propagation (PTGAP), with the
technical program under the chairmanship of Cottony of NBS. The symposium was attended
by nearly 500 scientists and engineers from industry, universities, and Government
32
agencies.

32
The technical sessions covered the subjects of: space telecommunications, propagation, feeds and reflectors for
antennas, surface waves, broad-band antennas, aperture synthesis of antennas, electromagnetic theory of radio
propagation, antenna arrays, and the theoretical and experimental determinations of plasma effects on radio
propagation.

Carriage-and-track mounting designed by the Antenna Research Section for positioning a dipole antenna in three
mutually perpendicular directions along three orthogonal axes, with the measurements related to those of a second
dipole in a fixed position (not shown). Subsequent computer processing of the measurements yields the amplitude,
phase, and angles of arrival of the multipath field components in this aperture-synthesis method. Photo shows the
experimental system located at the Bureau's elevated site on Green Mountain Mesa, with a view to the northeast
overlooking Boulder.

570
6. Theoretical approaches to antenna designs

During the period from 1956 to 1960, James R. Wait published a number of papers
relating to theoretical approaches to antenna design problems. Serving in a consulting
capacity to several groups within the Boulder Laboratories, his mathematical solutions
solved problems associated with slot antennas and similar radiators. Later, in the 1960's,
Wait published several papers on antennas "immersed" in a plasma, such as found on
rockets.

Modulation research 33

was minimal. However, in

Interest in modulation research by the former Radio Section
1924, C. B. Jolliffe developed a rather simple type of modulation meter (see ch. V, p. 110).
Not until several years after the formation of the CRPL were there projects initiated that
34
related primarily to modulation research and engineering. The first recorded interest
within the CRPL was that of studying the modulation system of Loran equipment, the
project being associated with the Frequency Utilization Research Section in 1947.

1. The CRPL initiates modulation research

In the spring of 1949 a project with the title FM Modulation Study was assigned to the
30
Frequency Utilization Research Section. Its function was for:

Experimental and theoretical studies of frequency modulation systems,

with special consideration for spectrum band-width requirements and for
interference-reduction possibilities.

2. Progress in modulation research

In June 1951 Arthur D. Watt joined the Frequency Utilization Research Section as leader
of the modulation research project and was associated with this work for a number of years.
—
The project was one of the earliest to be moved to Boulder, Colo. nearly 3 years before the
"big" move by the CRPL in 1954. In Boulder new laboratory facilities were established for
modulation research. The CRPL Annual Report for FY 1953 stated, in part, for modulation
research:

Because of the scarcity of space in the radio-frequency spectrum and the

necessity for more reliable communications, a study of the efficiency of
various types of modulation and methods of communication over radio
paths has been undertaken. 36

As an introductory project at Boulder, frequency spectra (including information) were

obtained for a large number of modulation waveforms. These spectra provided a means of
determining both the bandwidth necessary for adequate reception of signals and the
interference caused by adjacent transmission channels. In 1953 an extensive study was
started on the reduction of adjacent-channel interference caused by keying waveforms of

33
The two words "modulation research" became a common term in CRPL and NBS reports. In 1956 the term
became the title of the Modulation Research Section; initially the name was Modulation Systems Section. By 1965
the name was changed to Information Transmission Section.
34
Many types of modulation are used today, although in their simplest forms they are usually known as amplitude,
frequency, and phase modulation of continuous wave (CW) radio transmissions.
35
Three other projects related modulation research had been activated earlier. These were: (1) Study of required
to
signal-to-noise ratio for different types of communication services for the Provisional Frequency Board in Geneva,
Switzerland; (2) Analysis of the ratio of desired-to-undesired telegraph signals for interference tests being conducted
by the Signal Corps laboratory at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. in cooperation with the CRPL; (3) Tests conducted with a
large number of CRPL staff members in judging degradation of television pictures by (visual) noise interference,
the tests being conducted for the Federal Communications Commission.
36
Although the term "modulation" generally is applicable to an entire communication system, it is often restricted
demodulation techniques associated with receiver circuits.
to the transmitter yet covers, as well, the

571
transmitters. This project yielded much information on the suppression of widely spaced
frequency components (extending from the carrier frequency) that can be of considerable
amplitude. The study resulted in five publications over a period of 5 years, with a concluding
37
paper in 1958 [14].
Concurrent with the early work by Watt and others at Boulder were investigations at
Washington by G. Franklin Montgomery on several types of modulation. iS One study was a
comparison of the effectiveness of frequency-shift, and on-off amplitude modulation methods
of binary-coded messages as a function of noise and carrier fading [15]. Another study
resulted in a publication on the errors of binary-coded signals that occur in diversity
methods of reception of frequency-shift-keyed modulation.
During the 1950's the newly developed NBS system for transmission by ionospheric
forward scatter was subject to much study by Dana K. Bailey and others. During the first
half of 1958 the Modulation Research Section became involved in the study, to determine
the efficiency of several types of modulation under different conditions of transmission. The
transmission facilities of the Long Branch field station were used, with reception of signals
39
at the Table Mountain field site north of Boulder, the distance being 1295 km. The first
experiments were at 49.6 MHz, at which frequency the transmissions were not affected by
long-delayed multipath signals caused by F 2 -layer propagated backscatter. Three types of
40
modulation and two kinds of antennas were used in the experiments. Binary error-rate
tests gave information on signal-to-noise requirements. Under conditions of fading, voice
signals by FM were good but voice signals by SSB were poor. The study was published in a
lengthy paper by J. Wesley Koch, chief of the Modulation Research Section [16]. Later,
during the spring of 1959, experiments were made at frequencies of 30 and 40 MHz under
conditions of F 2 -layer backscatter where multipath conditions exist. It was found that FM
voice signals were poor whereas voice signals by SSB modulation suffered but little from the
backscatter delays [17].

3. Studies in advanced modulation techniques

With much experience behind the Modulation Research Section, by the early 1960's
members of the section were investigating advanced methods in transmitting and receiving
information over radio paths. By 1960 communication by digital coding was receiving
considerable attention in the section. In particular, both theoretical and experimental
studies were being made of digital error distributions, with the objective of determining data
for optimum performance design of error-detecting and error-correcting codes. From this
point the section moved into the ESSA organization (see app. C).

RADIO NAVIGATION
Navigation by radio had its roots within NBS back to the pioneering work by Kolster,
beginning in 1913 (see ch. VI). Over a period of 5 years from 1916, Kolster developed the
radio compass. At the time of cessation of hostilities of World War I, Kolster began
experimenting with blind landing of airplanes. By the close of 1920 Engel and Dunmore
began experimenting with the crossed-field pattern of two loop antennas that led to the
development of the airway beacon system. With the added development of the blind landing
system by Diamond and Dunmore, by 1931 NBS had an all-radio air navigation system in

37
The papers described the possibilities and the methods of filtering keying waveforms of linear amplitude-
modulation transmitters and frequency-shift-keyed transmitters. There was sizeable reduction of interfering
sideband components as predicted by frequency-spectra analysis and indicated by experimental measurements.
38
Montgomery was on loan for a period of time to the Frequency Utilization Section by the Ionospheric Research
Section.

39
For information on the Long Branch field station see chapter XI, footnote (96); for detailed information see the
August 1958 issue of the Technical News Bulletin.

Binary coded signals were transmitted with frequency-shift-keyed modulation; voice transmission by FM and by
40

SSB (single sideband) modulation. Antennas were paired for transmitting and receiving, a pair of dual-diversity
rhombic antennas for one series of experiments and a pair of quadruple-diversity Yagi antennas for the other.

572
successful operation (see ch. VI). Thereafter, by the middle 1930's and until near the close of
World War II, NBS was not active in radio navigation.
41

1. Involvement in Loran
a) Early Loran studies
NBS was introduced to the Loran system of navigation early in 1945 when requested on
January 19 by the Bureau of Ships, Department of the Navy "to study certain transmitter
42
and receiver problems directly applicable to the design of Loran equipment."
Shortly after joining the CRPL in 1946, William Q. Crichlow prepared a report on the
comparative accuracy of several existing and proposed radio navigation systems, including
43,44
Loran. The purpose of this study, made by the Frequency Utilization Research Section,
was to assist interested groups in choosing optimum systems for worldwide use on ships and
aircraft. A report indicated that low-frequency Loran (typically 100 kHz) gave the greatest
accuracy of position, both night and day at long distances, for the three systems that were
analyzed. Crichlow's report was followed by one prepared by Kenneth A. Norton, chief of
the Section, on the technical factors involved in the choice of a carrier frequency for a
worldwide low frequency Loran system. Norton's study was prepared primarily for
distribution at the 1947 Atlantic City World Telecommunications Conference.

b) Involvement in Cytac
After the 1946 studies of Loran by the Frequency Utilization Research Section, there
was a long lull in this activity. During the middle 1950's the newly organized Navigation
Systems Section, with Gifford Hefley as chief, engaged in low-frequency propagation studies
40
for the Cytac development program by the U.S. Air Force. The CRPL study resulted in
several classified documents relating to low frequency propagation of radio waves. In 1956 J.
Ralph Johler and his associates published NBS Circular 573, entitled "Phase of the Low
Radiofrequency Ground Wave", which was of considerable importance to the project. Also
reported by the section was the observation that the phase of discrete long-range, sky-wave
reflections is very stable, indicating that a navigation system using such waves was quite
feasible. Various low-frequency propagation studies were continued or renewed well into the
1960's.
Although further development of the Cytac system was laid aside by the Air Force, the
U.S. Navy became interested in Cytac for a long-range, high-accuracy, radio navigation
system, particularly for operation in the Atlantic. The U.S. Coast Guard also had an interest
in Cytac. By 1958 the Navigation Systems Section was providing consulting services to the
46
Coast Guard in a relocation and reconstruction of the earlier Air Force System.

41
An interesting account of NBS research in navigation was published in the June 1950 issue of the Technical News
Bulletin.

42
In response to the Navy's request the IRPL (Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory) of NBS studied the
problem, with conclusions that spectrum bandwidth could be reduced considerably without impairment of
usefulness of the complete system. The study was reported October 10, 1945, in the document, IRPL-R24, entitled
"Relations Between Band Width, Pulse Shape, and Usefulness of Pulses in the Loran System."
43
Loran is the acronym for LOng RAnge Navigation. It is a hyperbolic type of radio navigation system using pulsed
signals from two pairs of ground stations of known location, and determining position from analysis of time
intervals. The first system was developed by the MIT Radiation Laboratory early in World War II.

44
Previously, Crichlow had been a member of the Operational Research Staff of the Office of the Chief Signal
Officer and had been associated with Loran projects. Jack W. Herbstreit of the Operational Research Staff also
joined the CRPL in 1946.

45
Cytac was to be an all-weather, long-range, ground-based, tactical bombing system using radio navigation at a
frequency around 100 kHz. It was a pulsed system wherein several types of pulse sampling could be used. After its
early development by the U.S. Air Force, the system was abandoned on the decision of no further development of a
land-based bombing system.
46
earlier Cytac system, was called East Coast Loran-C. The master station was
The new system, converted from the
located at Cape Fear, and the two slave stations at Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Jupiter Inlet, Fla. The
N.C.,
chain of three stations of the Cytac system had been the source of many observations by the CRPL during the
period of 1955-1956 from many locations in the eastern half of the United States.

573
c) Development of the Loran-C clock
Latent within the Loran-C system of navigation resided the capability of a time-
distribution system and a new and very accurate means of synchronizing clocks over
relatively long distances. Such had been possible using the high-frequency signals of WWV
but with a limited accuracy of about 1 millisecond, although considerably better with VLF
signals. Use of a Loran-C system indicated the possibility of synchronization of clocks to
within 1 microsecond, plus a new time-distribution system that would greatly advance the
accuracy over existing systems. Working toward these goals, the Navigation Systems Section
became much involved in a project that began in 1957 and extended for a number of years.
Instrumentation for Loran-C to gain the added features of time distribution and
synchronization of clocks had its genesis in the development of a high-speed device for
47
recording accurately the time of arrival of transient signals. By 1959 the section was
engaged in the development of equipment, to become known as the Loran-C clock, for
48
improved missile range timing on the Atlantic Missile Range. The clock had a visual
readout from 1 microsecond to 399 days. An account of its development by the section was
published in 1960 by Thomas L. Davis and Robert H. Doherty [18]. The authors pointed out a
variety of applications of the system.

47
This device, developed by the section, was a film-recording system in which a randomly occurring event, such as a
sferic,and the time of the occurrence would be recorded simultaneously. The main feature was an unambiguous
binary time readout with a range from 10 microseconds to 31 days.
48
This development was sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Eastern Ground Electronics Engineering Installation
Agency (GEEIA) Region.

Console of an advanced development model (1961) of the Loran-C clock used to synchronize time (to within 1
microsecond) and frequency at widely separated locations. Receiver equipment in cabinet at right. Electronic
circuitry of the Loran-C clock housed in cabinet at left. Above the monitor oscilloscope in center section is
the

readout that contains a 15-digit visual display covering 1 microsecond to 1000 days.

574
A pictorial display of the NBS Loran-C clock, set up in the Radio Building lobby and photographed on May 21, 1960.
The clock's potential uses were illustrated for the viewer's interest.

During October 1960 the section demonstrated the timing potentials of the Loran-C on
the Atlantic Missile Range, obtaining accurate timing over the system to 1 microsecond [19].
A UHF time-distribution system for serving facilities in close proximity to the master or a
slave station was also demonstrated.
On November 1, 1961, the section took part in demonstrating the synchronization of
clocks to 1 microsecond over a distance of approximately 1000 miles. The clocks were at the
Naval Observatory at Washington, D.C. and at Richmond, Fla. (near Miami). In pointing out
this accomplishment, the Technical News Bulletin listed in its February 1962 issue nine
49,5
applications of this newly devised system for accurate navigation and timing [20]. By 1972
eight worldwide chains, involving 34 stations, were in operation by the U.S. Coast Guard,
with close synchronization to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Following the development of the Loran-C clock and its application to Loran-C for
timing distribution and synchronization of clocks, other related projects claimed the
51
attention of the Navigation Systems Section. The projects related primarily to further
study of the propagation characteristics of 100-kHz radio waves used in Loran-C systems.

49
In 1962 Hefley received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for the innovation
and leadership of development of the 'Loran-C Clock', a radio technique enabling one microsecond synchronization
of widely separated clocks."

50
In 1972 Hefley published an NBS Monograph, giving an historical account of the development of Loran-C
navigation and timing, primarily as participated in by NBS [21].
51
In the spring of 1962 the name was changed to the Radiodetermination Section.

575
2. Investigations of air navigation systems — Tacan
The spheres of knowledge and of experience that had been gained from the VHF-UHF
air-to-ground and air-to-air communications studies during the late 1940's for the
Department of Defense (see sec. 4. under Spectrum Engineering) were soon to find
application to the investigations of air navigation systems. There had been a growing need
for increased accuracy and reliability of these systems.
During the fall of 1949 the Air Navigation Development Board (ANDB) requested NBS
to initiate a comprehensive study of propagation characteristics of a band of frequencies in
the region of 1000 MHz (later to be extended over a much wider frequency range). This
52

band had been designated by the FCC for development of the Common Systems of Air
Navigation and Air Traffic Control. The primary purpose of this study was determination of
minimum distance spacings between transmitters operating on the same or adjacent
frequencies to prevent interference beyond permissible levels. This initial study resulted in
the very extensive tropospheric propagation program carried out over a period of years with
transmitters located on Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs (see ch. XII).
Beginning in the fall of 1950, several investigations were made for the Radio Technical
Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), primarily on interference problems relating to air
53
navigation systems. Previous studies served as sources of information for allocation of
frequencies and for determining distance spacings of transmitters. One investigation related
specifically to the VOR navigation system.
54

Under the sponsorship of the Air Navigation Development Board the CRPL began an
investigation in 1955 of coverage and channel requirements of the Tacan navigation system,
55
used exclusively by the Department of Defense. With the Tacan system operating at
approximately 1000 MHz, NBS was especially proficient in conducting the investigation
because of its recent research in propagation of radio waves at this and other frequencies at
the Cheyenne Mountain facility. From the investigation made under the leadership of
Martin T. Decker of the Radio Systems Application Engineering Section, various factors
were pointed out to the Board for estimating the coverage to be expected in the air space
surrounding the ground facility and on the number of channels required for implementing
the system in continental United States. The study resulted in a published report which
included a map for the required ground facilities to cover eastern United States [22].

A MEASUREMENT OF THE SPEED OF EM WAVES

Among the studies of several radio-navigation systems undertaken by the CRPL during
1946 was a project soon to become labeled Differential Phase Variation at Low Frequencies.
The purpose of this project was "to find out to what extent radio-propagation effects vitiate
the phase readings of low-frequency radio navigation systems." The initiating team included
Richard Silberstein, Edwin R. Florman, and Andrew Tait, to be continued later by Florman
and Tait, then in a spin-off project by Florman alone.

1. Discovering a source of error in phase measurements

Development of the complex measurement equipment required to study the validity of a

navigation system resulted in an improved type of direct-reading electronic phasemeter
operating in the range of 100 to 5000 Hz. Evaluation of the phase measuring system was

52
The ANDB was administratively under the Civil Aeronautics Adminstration.
53
The RTCA is an advisory group for coordinating the application of radio, electronics, and telecommunications in
aeronautical operations. During the 1950's CRPL representatives served in various capacities on several special
subcommittees of the RTCA (see ch. XVI, p. 650). Dellinger served as chairman of the RTCA for 17 years, beginning
in 1941 (see app. D, p. 789).

54
The VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) navigation system operates within the band of 108-118 MHz and provides
bearing information for aircraft at allazimuths within its service area.
55
Tacan (TACtical Air Navigation) is a radio air navigation system of the polar-coordinate type and provides
aircraft with an indication of bearing and distance from a selected ground facility.

576
This motor caravan was assembled in 1947 to study the validity of an LF radio navigation system, and 6 years later

(1953) was used by Edwin F. FlormanArizona to determine a new value for the speed of electromagnetic waves.
in
The photo, taken in the summer of 1947, shows the four vans in line along the east side of the South Building at
NBS Washington. Andrew Tait, a supervisor of the measurement group, stands (right) by the control and
measurement van. The two receiver vans follow in the line, with the transmitter van bringing up the rear; each of
these three vans with its power-unit trailer. The ivy-covered South Building was the location in 1911 where
Dellinger performed the first calibration of an instrument (wavemeter) at radio frequencies at NBS (see ch. II, pp.
38-39).

over a period of several years and resulted in a hitherto undiscovered source of error in such
56
systems.

2. Preparations for measurement of the speed of EM waves

Use of this measurement method for observing phase-differential variation of a low-
frequency navigation system indicated its potential use for measurement of the speed of EM
waves, and by the close of 1950 a modification program was underway to realize this
57
potential. After considerable searching, a suitable site for conducting such a project was
found at an abandoned airport. 58 At this location preliminary tests with a scaled-down field
model were made of the modified system to learn of: sources of systematic errors, reliability
of operation, and phase stability of the equipment. Of importance was further confirmation
that the measurement method was susceptible to large phase errors if there were reflections
from nearby objects such as power lines or even the trees of a forest.

3. A radio interferometer measurement of the speed of EM waves

To minimize chances for phase errors due to reradiation from various objects, a site in
the nature of a dry lake bed was selected in southeast Arizona, near the town of Wilcox.

56
The evaluation was conducted at the Patuxent Game Preserve (near Beltsville, Md., the location of WWV) which
provided a strip of land several miles in length. Equipment housed in four mobile vans served as two receiving
stations (2.4 miles apart), a measurement station, and a 300-kHz roving transmitter. Errors of measurement were
traced to certain paths traversed by the transmitter and were found to be caused by reradiating structures such as
power lines or telephone lines. The phase-change errors were in orders of 2tt radians, and could exist in integer
multiples thereof. A paper was published in the June 1950 issue of the Proc. IRE.
57
The numerical value of the speed of light, associated with propagation of radio waves, is a very important
physical constant. The constant appears in many expressions of physical phenomena, including the familiar
equation E = mc 2 of the relativistic transformation of mass into radiant energy.

airport, known as the Blue Ridge Airport, was near Willard, Va., not far from the NBS Sterling
58
The abandoned
field station. Today, the land of the abandoned airport forms the central area of Dulles International Airport.

577
 —a

Here the nearest reradiating objects (except for the equipment vans) were more than 4 miles
distant. At this location during a 3-week period in April and May, 1953, Florman conducted
a series of measurements that yielded a value of 299,795.1 ±3.1 km/s for free space phase
velocity (or, simply velocity) of VHF (172.8 MHz) waves [23].
59 62
Later, further field tests
were conducted, this time at the Sterling field station, to determine sources and magnitude
of possible errors.

Spectrum engineering
1. Introduction
In the NBS Annual Report for 1955 the CRPL stated that:

The ultimate objective of NBS work in radio propagation engineering is the

more efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum. . . .

This objective was being followed by studying the nature of radiowave propagation and the
and interference and of modulation waveforms on radio signals.
effects of radio noise
Over a period of many years the Radio Section, and then the CRPL to a greater extent,
provided services to Government departments and independent agencies on the matters of
63
frequency utilization of the radio spectrum. Closely related to the matter of frequency
utilization is that of service area of radio transmitters, usually expressed in terms of field-
64
strength measurements.

59
Although the term "velocity" of light (EM waves) had been used consistently in the past by physicists, within the
past several decades the more correct term "speed" has come into fairly common usage, both within NBS and
elsewhere. Correctly used, the term velocity is a vector quantity, with the meaning of speed in a particular
direction. Florman used the term velocity, or rather phase velocity in his publication.

60
The radio interferometer method used by Florman consisted of two receiving stations separated by accurately
surveyed distances (1500 meters for most experiments, 850 for some). Two transmitters were located, one on each
side of an extension of a straight line through the receivers (use of two stationary transmitters simplified the
earlier method of using one roving transmitter). Phase observations were made at a control-unit van where
equipment received UHF signals from the two receiver stations. These signals carried phase-difference information
which, with the known distance between the receivers, yielded the velocity of EM waves.
61
Speed of light measurements were not new to NBS. In 1907 Rosa and Dorsey of the Electricity Division published
their experimental value of the ratio of the electromagnetic to the electrostatic unit of electricity, which is the
speed of light (see ch. V, p. 91). In actuality, the value for the speed of light depends upon the relation of forces between
electrical charges at rest and in motion with respect to the system of reference.
Of unusual interest was the account published in the January 1955 issue of the Technical News Bulletin, under
the title of "Velocity of Light Redetermined." The article covered both Florman's determination of the speed of EM
waves and Earle K. Plyler's (Radiometry Section) determination of the speed of light by the molecular-constants
method using infrared lines of the carbon monoxide molecule. These two projects were carried on concurrently within
NBS. Plyler's value was 299,792±6 km/s.
More recently, in 1972, two groups within NBS (within the Quantum Electronics Division and the Joint
Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics) announced a new and far more accurate value for the speed of light
299,792. 4562±0.018 km/s— using laser techniques (see ch. XV, pp. 634-637). This 1972 value for the speed of light
compared very favorably with a value of greater uncertainty, adopted by URSI at its XII General Assembly in 1957 —
value of 297,792. 5±0. 4 km/s. In retrospect, one finds that Florman's value by the radio interferometer method, was
approximately 2.5 km/s greater in speed than the NBS value by laser techniques in 1972.

62
In 1956 Florman received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for an outstanding
contribution to a more precise knowledge of the velocity of propagation of radio waves at very high frequencies."
63
In 1928 Dellinger, chief of the Radio Section, was on leave of absence from NBS to serve the Federal Radio
Commission (FRO as chief engineer (see ch. XVI, pp. 645-646). Thereafter, NBS served the FRC in various
its first

capacities and, beginning in 1934, the successor agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Other
groups to be served were: the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC), the International
Telecommunication Union (including the International Radio Consultative Committee), and various international
committees and conferences. Also to be served were various branches of the military establishment.
64
Because of their close relationship, the subjects of frequency utilization, service area, and field-strength are
combined into this section of chapter XIII.

578
2. The indispensable field strength meter
Beginning in the 1920's, the field-intensity meter (later termed field strength meter)
became a mainstay for various measurements related to radio propagation; first in fading
studies and later in measurement of radiated output of transmitters (see ch. V, pp. 111-112).
During the period of 1951-1953 Gail E. Boggs of the Ionospheric Research Section directed
the development of an improved meter, to be known as the GS-4 field strength recorder/' 5
Later, more sophisticated models were developed, designed for automatic operation and with
recording by magnetic tape. A 10-channel output could be adjusted to record the time in
minutes that field strength exceeded different preset levels. This equipment and commercial
models of receivers and field-strength meters, plus various types of small antennas, were
used by the CRPL during the 1950's in the field for propagation studies. Over the years
several mobile research units were designed and constructed for measurement of field
strength. These units could be used, both in motion or stationary, and could be taken to
remote areas.

3. Gauging transmission utilization — Service area

a) Early work by NBS
As far back as 1931 the former Radio Section had taken an interest in the service area
of radio transmitters in terms of the lowest field intensity for "practical" or "useful"
66
reception (see ch. VII, pp. 197-199). In the IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook issued on
November 15, 1943, the Radio Section listed a number of "Correction Factors for Various
Types of Service" which gave the ratio of required field strength for type of service under
consideration to that for barely satisfactory commercial telephony. With more experience
and a greater amount of data becoming available, on June 25, 1948, the CRPL issued NBS
67
Circular 462 that extended the scope of information on minimum required field intensities.

b) The rising tide of FM and TV broadcasting— CRPL efforts to keep pace

Coincident with the rapid growth of the CRPL after its formation in 1946 was the rapid
growth of FM and TV broadcasting and the interest in color television. The frequency range
of these communication services of public interest was in the VHF (30-300 MHz) and UHF
(300-3000 MHz) bands where the properties of the troposphere and the nature of the terrain
have predominating effects on propagation. The CRPL Annual Report for FY 1948 stated, in
part:

As more and more field-intensity measurements at frequencies at the VHF

and UHF portion of the spectrum are made, it has become increasingly
evident that the existing theories of radio wave propagation at these
frequencies are inadequate in describing the field intensity to be expected
at a given distance from the transmitter. . . .

65
The GS-4 model strength recorder incorporated several features to attain a high degree of amplitude (or
field
and an amplifier with several types of negative feedback. The
gain) stability, such as a logarithmic attenuator
equipment could be used as a radio-frequency voltmeter or as a power meter. These features were the subjects of
five publications by Boggs.
66
On January 25, 1932, the Bureau released Letter Circular 317, "Distance Ranges of Radio Waves," including two
graphs that indicated distance ranges in relation to frequency range, for day or night and summer or winter
reception. Practical reception was based upon a field intensity of 10 microvolts per meter in the broadcast
—
frequency range a rather low level in comparison with today's desire for high quality reception. The material was
updated in 1940 with Letter Circular 615.
67
NBS Circular 462 contained six graphs from which minimum required field intensities could be determined to
assure satisfactory radio telephone communication 90 percent of the time in the presence of atmospheric and
cosmic noise. The six graphs indicated the field intensity levels at 4-hour intervals of local time throughout a 24-
hour day. Each graph consisted of a set of curves indicating several noise grades at the receiving location for both
summer and winter conditions. In addition, a table was furnished for "type of service factor, T", where T was
defined as the ratio of minimum radiated power required for radiotelephone service (double sideband with 100%
modulation, 90% intelligibility— as the reference of unity) to that required for the type of service actually used.
Sixteen types of radio communication services were listed, but did not include television services.

579
 On a much larger scale was the involvement of the CRPL in a total tropospheric
propagation program, beginning in 1946 (covered in ch. XII). The magnitude of this program
can be ascertained by a review of NBS Technical Note 26 which was a survey of CRPL
research in tropospheric propagation for the 8-year period of 1948-1956 [24]. A total of 313
NBS publications and progress reports (prepared by subcontractors) was listed (including
abstracts) in this Technical Note. Of this number, a sizeable share covered subjects related
to the subject of service areas of radio transmitters. Many of the publications were prepared
by Kenneth A. Norton, chief of the Frequency Utilization Section and, later, chief of the
Radio Propagation Engineering Division.
A significant contribution to use of the VHF band by FM broadcasting stations (limited
to the narrower band of 88-108 MHz) was by Norton in 1948 as a section, entitled
"Propagation in the FM Broadcast Band," published in Volume I of Advances in Electronics
[25]. By means of a table, Norton suggested an idealized allocation of FM stations on a
common frequency channel (or channels) for serving a large area such as the United
68
States. He closed his lengthy 1948 account by stating:

It is desirable to point out that we are just beginning to learn a little about

the characteristics of radio propagation in the FM band and much further

experimental and theoretical research is indicated. One kind of data which
is considered to be of utmost value in connection with such research is

continuous recordings of the field intensities of FM and television broadcast

stations. Such data should be collected for a wide variety of meteorological
and terrain characteristics in various parts of the country. . . .

It was such a program, as suggested by Norton, that would occupy the talents of many
CRPL staff members for many years to come.
In 1948 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appointed an Ad Hoc
Committee to study the characteristics of VHF propagation. After publication in 1949 of
69

available and applicable propagation data, the committee recommended that an extensive
program of measurements be undertaken to increase the fund of knowledge on VHF
propagation. The result was a long-time cooperative program by the CRPL, the FCC, four
universities, and several other agencies, with assistance by the Department of Defense. The
70
early CRPL field studies were made in several areas of the United States. In later years
observations of tropospheric propagation were extended to other parts of the world. The
program, as a whole, had many ramifications and grew as time progressed. There was the

68
In his account Norton wrote on a variety of topics related to FM broadcasting in the VHF band such as, the
antenna height, irregular terrain, refraction by the atmosphere, reflection from atmospheric
effects of: noise, of
boundaries, and direct transmission. To study these effects on service range, Norton directed a project in 1947 over
a Richmond, Va. to Washington, D.C. transmission path of 96.6 miles at a frequency of 96.3 MHz, the transmitter
being iocated at Richmond. Over the 2-month period of observations, the fading and diurnal effects of long-distance
VHF transmission were noted, caused by changes of atmospheric conditions. It was also evident that transmission
can extend far beyond the line-of-sight at times, and that this factor must be considered in the service and
interference ranges of FM broadcasting stations. Norton's study was also covered in an article in the April 1948
issue of the Technical News Bulletin.
Concurrent with publication of his early work on FM broadcasting, Norton contributed a proposal to
accompany a report on fading, submitted by the U.S. particpants of Study Group 2 (Radio Propagation) to the Fifth
Meeting of the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) at Stockholm. His memorandum, entitled "The
Effect of Fading on the Desired-to-Undesired Signal Ratio Required to Provide a Specified Grade of Service for a
Given Percentage of a Specified Period of Time," stated the factors involved in determining the allowance for
fading which must be made in the allocation of two stations operating on the same or adjacent radio frequencies
under specified conditions. Although the experimental observations for this study were made at 15 MHz, the
proposal was applicable to a wider range of frequencies.
69
Norton, chief of the Frequency Utilization Research Section, and Thomas J. Carroll, chief of the Basic Microwave
Research Section served as NBS representatives on the FCC Ad Hoc Committee for two terms, the first beginning
December 2, 1948, the second beginning May 31, 1949.
The raison d'etre of this Committee, although not indicated by title, was that of evaluation of the radio
propagation factors concerning the television and frequency modulation broadcasting services in the frequency
range between 50 and 250 MHz.
70
In the spring of 1950 Robert S. Kirby and Frederick M. Capps conducted a twofold project in the Washington,
D.C. -Baltimore, Md. area, using a mobile van unit with field-strength recorder and a telescopic mast to vary the

580
need to measure additional parameters in order to furnish experimental data for new
theoretical approaches to the problems associated with VHF and UHF propagation.
In 1953 Norton pointed out in a published paper the advantage of using a specific
71
definition (among several) of "transmission loss" in radio propagation analyses [26]. The
superior aspect of this specific definition of transmission loss was utilized by Philip L. Rice
and Frances T. Daniel of the Radio Propagation Engineering Division in an analysis of
approximately 159,000 hours of median field-strength observations. Those in the frequency
range of 90-110 MHz, taken over a period of several years, were the result of the program
suggested by the FCC in 1949, and were distributed geographically across the whole of the
United States. The results of this analysis showed: (1) less distance-attenuation than
previously reported by the FCC Ad Hoc Committee in 1949, (2) rapid increase in variance of
transmission loss with time as the distance was increased out to 120 miles, and (3) at great
distances a freedom from diurnal and seasonal changes in transmission loss [27]. Later, Rice
and Daniel, with William V. Mansfield and Pius J. Short, reported on radio transmission
loss versus angular distance and antenna height at 100 MHz.'" Much of the data used for the
previous paper was used in this report and comparisons made of the two methods of
treatment.
In 1960 appeared NBS Technical Note 43 that summarized 700,000 hourly median
values of VHF and UHF tropospheric transmission loss data into the two periods of summer
and winter [28]. The data came from observations on 135 beyond-line-of-sight radio paths in
the United States. The long-term variability of observed hourly medians was compared with
predicted variability based on empirical curves prepared earlier by Rice, Anita G. Longley,
and Norton.

C) A NEW APPROACH TO SERVICE AREAS

Experience indicated that the method used by the FCC to define service area for
television broadcasting was not satisfactory and in 1950 Norton and Leon Gainen of the
—
CRPL suggested an improvement a service defined by total areas, each of specified field
strength, rather than by two zones delineated by a circular contour enclosing the
73
transmitter. In a paper published in 1957, Robert S. Kirby of the Radio Systems
Applications Engineering Section described a method, following the suggestion by Norton
and Gainen, whereby the measurement of service area for television broadcasting could be

height of a loop antenna above ground level. One project involved the measurement of field strength (reduced to
transmission loss) along a path perpendicular, at midpoint, to a line joining VHF stations, one at Washington, the
other at Baltimore. The two FM were at nearly the same frequency. Thus interference between the
stations
stations could be studied, plus correlation (simultaneous increase and decrease of signals) of transmission over two
paths in opposite directions. No significant correlation was observed. The second project was that of observations of
signal strength along a circular path of approximately 37-mile radius from two VHF stations radiating signals with
approximately 20-MHz separation from the same antenna (by diplexing). The terrain covered by the circular path
was quite varied, consisting of a metropolitan area, farm land, heavily wooded areas, and open water. The result
was that of significantly high correlation of transmission at two frequencies differing by 20 MHz.
The same equipment was used in 1951 by Kirby, John M. Taff, and Holmes S. Moore to study the effect of
irregular terrain on VHF and UHF transmission and the effect of directive antenna patterns. Measurements were
made on circular paths at distances of 0.4, 10, and 30 miles from antennas at Fort Dix, N.J. Four transmitters were
used at frequencies of 49, 142, 239, and 460 MHz. The result was to find variations of considerable magnitude in
signal strength along the circular paths, due to the irregular terrain and different heights of the receiving antenna.
Also noted, in many instances, was the distortion of the radiated pattern of the directive transmitting antennas by
irregular terrain and large-scale obstacles.

71
This specific definition of "transmission loss" was given by Norton as the ratio of the power radiated from the
transmitting antenna to the resulting signal power available from a loss-free receiving antenna.
72
The use between the ray from the transmitting antenna
of angular distance (defined as the vertical angle
through its its radio horizon) minimizes the problem of
radio horizon and a ray from the receiving antenna through
defining antenna height over irregular terrain compared to use with the parameter of distance between
transmitting and receiving antenna.
73
Experience had shown that, especially in irregular terrain, a circular contour could include many locations where
reception was at less than specified field strength and beyond the contour there would be locations where reception
was at a field strength greater than estimated.

581
 74
improved [29]. Kirby listed seven advantages for the new method in comparison with that
75
of the method that had been used for a number of years by the FCC.

74
Also described in the August 1957 issue of the Technical News Bulletin.
75
As a means of making the measurements, Kirby suggested one method whereby an equal number of field-
strength observations (30, for example) be taken on each of a number of circular contours surrounding a
transmitter.From this distribution an estimate could be made of the percentage of locations on each contour that
would receive service in several grades. By joining together estimates of each grade, an estimate could be obtained
that would give the area around the transmitter for each grade of specified service (in terms of field-strength
levels).

Mobile equipment used by the CRPL to measure field strength and to study radiation patterns of VHF stations in
the Washington, D.C. region and in New Jersey during 1950-1951. The top photo, taken on driveway near the
South Building, NBS Washington, shows the laboratory truck with receiving antenna erected to maximum height
of 30 ft. The trailer carries the gasoline engine and generator to supply electric power for the measurement
equipment. The lower photo pictures the interior of the mobile laboratory.

d ) The service area of a flying TV transmitter

In his lengthy account on Propagation in the FM Broadcast Band in Vol. I of Advances
in Electronics, Norton suggested in 1948 that:

. . . The efficient utilization of FM channels would thus appear to be

promoted best by the utilization of the highest transmitting antennas
available. In this connection, it would appear that "stratovision," i.e., the

systems of broadcasting involving cruising in the stratosphere might well

offer considerable advantages." (See [25], p. 414.)

582
 —

Eleven years later this suggestion by Norton came into existence as a proposal for a
—
nationwide educational TV network a study by the CRPL was requested and supported by
the Ford Foundation.
Martin T. Decker of the Radio Propagation Engineering Division was assigned to the
project, directing a study of the service area of an airborne TV station at altitudes of 7500,
10,000, and 15,000 meters and at frequencies of 575 and 785 MHz within the UHF band.
76
Performance was in terms of "system transmission loss," as developed by Norton. NBS
Technical Note 35 described the study [30]. NBS Technical Note 134, published by Decker
77

in 1962, treated the more complex situation of airborne television coverage in the presence
of co-channel interference.
Tests during the period of 1961 to 1964, under the direction of Purdue University, led to
abandonment of the project. 78 Today, television via satellite transmission is much more
practicable.

4. Exploring frequency bands for communications services

Air-to-ground, air-to-air

Following some early measurements by the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, a
conference was held on August 14, 1947, at the request of the U.S. Air Force, for further
study of radio communication in the VHF (30-300 MHz) and UHF (300-3000 MHz) bands.
79 80 '

Of primary was communication from air-to-ground, and from air-to-air, particularly

interest
in the proposed aircraft communications band from 225-400 MHz. During the next several
years this study area of tropospheric propagation would be covered by several sections
within the CRPL and thereafter grew into the broad and extensive programs to be developed
in Colorado, and particularly at the higher frequencies with the aid of the Cheyenne
Mountain facility (see ch. XII).
In a series of letters to the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, Norton and
Herbstreit of the Frequency Utilization Research Section reported individually on an
81
analysis of the Wright Field measurements. The analysis resulted in somewhat of a
complexity of conclusions in comparisons at 138 and 328 MHz of the VHF-UHF service
range tests for air-to-ground and air-to-air communications. Further measurements were
suggested.

76
See: Kenneth A. Norton, "System loss in radio wave propagation," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 63D, No. 1,

July-August 1959, pp. 53-57.

'

A large collection of the curves given in this publication could be summarized by the curves of two graphs (one for
7

each frequency) that indicated the percent of locations that would receive a 99 percent grade of service as a
function of distance from the transmitter being flown at three different altitudes. Sufficient information was
furnished by multiple curves to indicate the variable of system transmission loss as determined by different
equipment parameters.
78
The scheme of flying a TV transmitter was quite practical technically and a request was made of the FCC to
regularize the license. The FCC declined to do so, primarily because the large coverage from the airborne
transmitter would alter their plan of frequency assignments. However, the FCC did recommend such service to a
band near 1.4 GHz, but the plan did not materialize.
79
Participants in the conference at NBS were representatives of CRPL, the Department of the Air Force (Air
Materiel Command), and the Department of the Navy. Note: These two Departments of the Department of Defense
had been renamed from the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy less than 1 month previously (July 26, 1947).
80
The term "communication" was used in a broad sense of application, that of: voice and code communications for
aeronautical (mobile) services, aeronautical radio navigation systems, and air traffic control systems (including use
of radar).
At the close of World War II communication systems used by the armed services and by commercial aircraft
operated at frequencies within the 100- to 156-MHz band. Because of the great demand for frequency assignments
for other types of services within this band, plus the growing requirements for additional communication channels,
the FCC was taking steps toward moving military aircraft communications to higher frequencies, in the 225- to 400-
MHz band. Later, the propagation characteristics of still higher frequencies would be explored for aircraft
communications.
81
These reports, in a format known as the "Wright Field Letters," are contained in Supplement XIX of A BS
T

Technical Note 26, Sept. 1959 a —

voluminous report entitled, "Survey of Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
Research in Tropospheric Propagation 1948-1956."

583
 The "further measurements" were forthcoming. During 1948 and 1949, members of the
CRPL participated in flight evaluation tests conducted by the Navy at the U.S. Naval Air
Test Center, Patuxent River, Md. The overall result of these measurements was the
publication in 1952 of two papers, one a tutorial paper by Kirby, Herbstreit, and Norton, on
service range [31], the other, by Norton and Rice, for determining by calculations an
optimum ground-station antenna height for use in air-to-ground communications [32].
In the tutorial paper the authors came to the general conclusion that: "The propagation
problems involved in the service ranges for air-to-ground and air-to-air communications are
primarily the result of lobes caused by interference between the direct and ground-reflected
rays as well as a systematic decrease in free-space maximum range with increasing
frequency." In commenting on the use of a higher frequency band for aircraft
communications, the authors stated: "If the limitations in spectrum space require the use of
higher frequencies, the methods outlined in this paper should prove beneficial in improving
coverage." Further research and, the many years of operation in the higher frequency
bands, proved that the conclusions and deductive comments of Kirby, Herbstreit, and
Norton were well founded.

5. The matter of frequency allocation — Contributions by the CRPL

a) The CRPL aids in matters of frequency allocation
During the early months of the Frequency Utilization Research Section, organized in
the fall of 1946 with Norton as chief, an important assignment was that of analyzing
technical data for frequency allocations. Thiswork gave assistance to the U.S. Delegation in
preparation for the International Telecommunication Conference held in 1947 at Atlantic
82
City (see ch. XVII, p. 659).
Although the main thrust for consideration by the FCC Ad Hoc Committee (see p. 580)
was that of service areas for radio transmitters, the matter of frequency allocation was an
inseparable subject. It was during the functioning period of this committee in 1949 and 1950
that Norton and Thomas J. Carroll were involved with problems associated with frequency
allocation.
In his address to the Boulder Laboratories, "Fifty years of radio at the National Bureau
of Standards," on March 3, 1961 (Dellinger's address, 1961), Dellinger pointed out that:
... At various times we worked on application of propagation data to the
subject of the basic allocation of the frequency spectrum to different
services. One of the results of this was the 1952 book put out by the JTAC
called Radio Spectrum Conservation, and that kind of work is continued in
your present Division 83 (Radio Propagation Engineering).
This book referred to by Dellinger, Radio Spectrum Conservation, had the subtitle, "A
Program of Conservation Based on Present Uses and Future Needs." Published in 1952, it
was the report of the Joint Technical Advisory Committee (JTAC) [33]. 83 The chapter on
"Propagation Characteristics of the Radio Spectrum" was compiled by Dellinger. 84
82
An outgrowth of the Atlantic City Conference was the International Administrative Aeronautical Radio
Conference held in Geneva in 1948. This meeting of several months was attended by Thomas N. Gautier of the
Upper Atmosphere Research Section (see ch. XVII, p. 664). Because of the rapid growth of the aviation industry and
the use of radio navigation for planes, years later, in 1964, the Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference for
the Aeronautical Service was held in Geneva. Attending this lengthy conference was Allen Barnabei, the
Communications Liaison Officer with the Department of Commerce, and George W. Haydon of the Radio Systems
Division (see ch. XVII, p. 665).
In 1948 at Mexico Cityand in 1950 at Rappola, Italy, Herbstreit attended meetings of long duration of the High
—
Frequency Broadcasting Conference as a technial advisor meetings related to the Provisional Frequency Board set
up at the Atlantic City Conference (see ch. XVII, p. 664).
83
The JTAC was a joint committee of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) and the Radio-Electronics
Manufacturers Association (REM A). Thelatter organization changed its title a number of times over a relatively
short period.

This lengthy chapter of over 100 pages was compiled several years after Dellinger had retired from NBS. He was
84

assisted in its preparation byThomas N. Gautier of the CRPL, and Marcella L. Phillips, formerly of the CRPL. The
book also contained a chapter on "History of the Allocation of the Radio Spectrum," prepared under Dellinger's
supervision.

584
 In 1964 a much larger edition was published by the JTAC. The book bore the title of
Radio Spectrum Utilization, with the subtitle, "A Program for the Administration of the
85
Radio Spectrum" [34]. The chapter on "Propagation and Technical Factors in Radio
86
Spectrum" was prepared by CRPL staff members. This chapter was a distillation of a very
extensive subject area that covered nearly the whole field of radio science.

b) A CONTRIBUTION TO TASO
At the request of the FCC, an organization was formed in 1956 to be called the
Television Allocations Study Organization (TASO) and consisting of representatives of the
television industry.Among the 6 panels established for technical studies was one named
"Analysis and Theory," chaired by Herbstreit of NBS. Later the panel received the
assistance of Robert S. Kirby and Albrecht P. Barsis, also of NBS. Resulting from this
organizational study was a report to the FCC entitled, Engineering Aspects of Television
Allocations, published in 1959 as a book of over 700 pages. The acknowledgement stated
that:
The National Bureau of Standards furnished invaluable data on
tropospheric propagation and also contributed to the analysis of these data.

c) Writings on space communication

With the burst of interest in satellites and space vehicles during the late 1950's there
came the accompanying interest in space communication. This brought on the inevitable
problem of allocation of new and shared bands in the already crowded frequency spectrum.
Relative to this problem, George W. Haydon of the Radio Communication and Systems
Division published a paper early in 1960 on the selection of frequencies for space
87 88
communication [35].
'

Later, in 1961, William J. Hartman and Martin

Decker of the T.
Radio Propagation Engineering Division published a paper that treated the problem of
89
mutual interference between "earthbound" and satellite communication systems [36].

d) A WRITING ON EFFICIENT USE OF THE RADIO SPECTRUM

In 1962 Norton published NBS Technical Note 158 that outlined some relatively simple
principles slanted toward a more efficient use of the radio spectrum, particularly in the
range of TV frequencies where a large segment of the total spectrum was being occupied
_90,91
[37]
85
This publication had been preceded in 1961 by a report by JTAC, entitled Frequency Allocations for Space
Communications. Herbstreit represented NBS on the subcommittee that prepared the report. Much of the material
in this report was contributed by NBS.
86
This lengthy chapter of 178 pages was prepared by a subcommittee of the JTAC, with Jack W. Herbstreit as
chairman, assisted by 14 members of the CRPL staff.
87
Hayden based his published paper on material presented to, and adopted by, the CCIR at the IX Plenary
Assembly at Los Angeles in April 1959. At the time of the Assembly he was with the Radio Frequency Engineering
Office, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C. Later, in 1959, he joined NBS at the Boulder Laboratories as a
consultant in the Radio Communication and Systems Division. In 1962 Haydon was appointed chief of the newly
organized Frequency Utilization Section.
88
Because of the low power of space transmitters that could be foreseen for the early years of space communication,
Haydon's sole criteria for frequency selection was based on signal-to-noise ratio. Optimum frequencies came within
the wide range of 70 to 6000 MHz. For the space vehicles, frequency selection was largely based upon permissible
size and minimum beamwidth of the antenna. At the time of writing, little was known for selection of optimum
frequency for communication between space vehicles.
89
In their investigation, based upon the work of Rice, Longley, and Norton on the predicted behavior of
transmission loss in tropospheric propagation (referred to on p. 581), Hartman and Decker concluded that under
suitable conditions common frequencies can be shared by "earthbound" and satellite communication systems
without material interference. On this basis, accommodation of earth-space communication systems lessens the
problem imposed upon the overcrowded frequency spectrum.
90
Norton summarized his findings by stating several conclusions. As one prerequisite for satisfactory operation of a
telecommunication system, such as a TV system, sufficiently high power should be used to achieve a satisfactory
grade of service at all times. Satisfactory grade of service was primarily that of maintaining a high signal-to-noise
ratio by use of high transmitter power. He stressed the point that various techniques should be applied to minimize
mutual interference between transmitters. Some of these techniques were analyzed.
91
In 1962 Norton received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service "for outstanding
contributions and leadership in the field of radio propagation research."

585
e) Application of computer techniques
During the early 1960's and extending to the time of the formation of the
Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) in 1965, considerable effort was
directed by the CRPL toward rather extensive use of computer techniques in solving the
problems associated with utilization of the frequency spectrum (see sec. 5).

f) An epilogue to the many writings

One matterof importance that extended timewise beyond the amalgamation of the
CRPL with the newly formed ESSA organization in 1965 was that of CRPL staff members
taking part in the preparation of a noteworthy document entitled, Spectrum Engineering —
The Key to Progress. This huge volume, published in 1968, as a report by the Joint Technical
Advisory Committee bore the subtitle, "A Report on Technical Policies and Procedures for
Increased Radio Spectrum Utilization." A task group headed by Herbstreit and later by
Haydon was responsible for the preparation of material in the Supplement entitled,
"Unintended Radiation." 92

DATA PROCESSING
1. Introduction

The development of SEAC (National Bureau of Standards Eastern Automatic

Computer) by NBS during the period of 1948 to 1950, and its later installation in the Radio
Building (NBS Washington), could not help but cast its spell upon the CRPL's need for
93
speeding up the processing of data. But this would not happen overnight it was a number —
of years before elctronic computers would be effectively used by the CRPL.

92
This material related to manmade radio noise and was of considerable detail. Participating in the preparation
were six other staff members of the former CRPL who became associated with the Institute of Telecommunication
Sciences and Aeronomy of ESSA.
93
With the success of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer), the world's first
electronic computer, developed by the University of Pennsylvania during World War II, many institutions,
including NBS, became intensely interested in this new computer technology of seemingly unbounded
potentialities. (And so it proved with the passage of time.) Development of electronic digital computers began at
NBS in 1946, both from the interest by NBS and that of the Bureau of the Census. It began with a 2-year program
for the development of improved components for digital computers. The program was conducted jointly by the
Electronics Division (ordnance development supported by Department of the Army) and the Applied Mathematics
Division.
By late 1948 an electronic digital computer was under development and construction by the Electronics
Division to serve the needs of NBS for an interim period until several computers designed by NBS could be supplied
by contractors. In May 1950 NBS had a full-fledged computer in operation, and it continued in operation until 1964.
During its early life the computer served not only as an operational facility but as a complete system for further
research and particularly for further development of memory systems. SEAC was not used by the CRPL, although
facilities of the Computation Laboratory were used for early production of contour maps of the ionosphere.
Joining NBS in 1948, Ralph J. Slutz became associated with the Electronic Computers Section (Samuel M.
Alexander, chief) and served as the assistant chief from 1949 until he became assistant chief of the CRPL in 1954
and, later, chief of the Radio Propagation Physics Division. For a number of years, beginning in 1948, Slutz took a
major role in the development and applications of SEAC. He was one of the many recipients who, in 1951, received
the Department of Commerce Gold Medal as a group award for Exceptional Service for the development of SEAC.
Originally, in the spring of 1950, the entire assembly of SEAC had been set up in the Electronics Laboratory
(Electronics and Ordnance Division). Late in 1954 SEAC was moved to the Radio Building which had been
evacuated by the CRPL during the spring and summer in its move to Boulder, Colo. The office space used by
Dellinger for many years became a portion of the space occupied by SEAC. Never before were there so many
—
vacuum tubes in operation in the Radio Building in its fully developed stage SEAC operated with 1300 electron
tubes (a real heat problem), plus 16,000 germanium diodes. Nor previously had there been so much complex
electronic circuitry in the building. For a number of years the building was occupied by the Data Processing
Systems Division (five sections) and it took on the name Computer Laboratory.

Note: Over a period of years a number of articles appeared in the Technical News Bulletin relating to SEAC and its

progenies. NBS
Circular 551, published in 1955, was entitled "Computer Development (SEAC and DYSEAC) at the
National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C." In a ceremony on February 24, 1965, "vital" parts of SEAC were
presented as items of historical interest to the Smithsonian Institution. A "retirement" ceremony had been held on
April 23, 1964, attended by Slutz.

586
2. Automatic data analysis
Early in 1950 the Upper Atmosphere Research Section initiated a project "for
94
automatically processing data from the radio propagation field stations." In its earliest
stage this was a punch-card method with sorting by a relatively simple machine process, but
an improvement over previously used manual methods of handling the data. Further
improvement came slowly for lack of a better method of machine sorting. Late in 1950 the
project was transferred to the Regular Propagation Services Section, with the project's title
changed to "Ionosphere Data Mechanography."
Not until the spring of 1956, when the Radio Propagation Physics Division at the
direction of Ralph Slutz (chief) leased a high speed IBM data processor (type 650), was there
a marked improvement in handling data from the 10 ionosphere stations being channeled
95,96
into the Boulder Laboratories for automatic processing.

3. Expansion of computer program

In the fall of 1959 a mathematician, John J. Sopka, Jr., joined the Boulder Laboratories
as a consultant to develop the computer program. A year later, a larger scale and higher
speed computer was procured, the CDC (Control Data Corporation) model 1604 binary
computer. This was operated by the Mathematics Group and Computation Facility under
the direction of Sopka.
Needed expansion of computer services brought on the construction of Wing 5 to the
Radio Building, the last wing to be built to complete the original design. Installed late in the
fall of 1962, a new IBM 7090 computer was ready to take on a host of services to meet the
rapidly developing computer needs of the Boulder Laboratories. In May 1965, a computer of
greater capability yet less expensive to operate, the CDC 3600, replaced the former computer
97
after 3 years of operation.
An important use of the large electronic computer by the CRPL was that of theoretical
calculations of transmissions in the frequency range of 10 to 10,000 MHz using the
diffraction method of radio propagation (see ch. XII, pp. 535-537). By 1965 automatic
reduction and tabulation of all data from the NBS worldwide network of ionospheric
recording stations was performed on the electronic computer. Computer techniques were
98
also used in the study of meteor-burst communication (see ch. XI, pp. 461-465).

4. Data reduction for tropospheric propagation research

Beginning in the early 1950's, data relating to tropospheric research were compiled at
such a rapid rate that relief from laborious calculations was a dire necessity. By late
summer of 1956 a new section was organized within the Radio Propagation Engineering

94
Data processed included:

Critical frequencies and minimum virtual heights of the F 2 F 1; and E layers, maximum usable
,

frequency-factors for these layers, and the top frequency and minimal virtual height of E B
reflections.

90
Maurice A. Kistner, an experienced tabulator, was employed as a tabulator machine supervisor. His services in
computer operations have continued to the present (now with NOAA).
96
Among the early users of this data processor were William B. Jones and Roger M. Gallet of the Upper
Atmospheric Research Section who used it for the development of ionospheric mapping by numerical methods (see
ch. XI, p. 429). Other uses were for the processing of airglow data, studies of HF oblique incidence, analysis of
amplitude scintillations of radio stars (see ch. XIV, p. 603), the ionospheric prediction services, and the processing of
noise data.

97
After the formation of ESSA and, later, of NOAA, replacements of the CDC 3600 computer for use by the
Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories were, in sequence, a CDC 3800 in 1967, a second CDC 3800 in 1972,
and a CDC 6600 in 1975. With the formation of ESSA in 1965, and later of NOAA, John D. Harper, Jr., was
appointed chief of Computer Services.
98
In 1965 George R. Sugar received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for
outstanding contributions to the research program of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory through his
skillful and creative design and development of equipment for the digitization of field data" (relating to
meteorburst communication).

587
Division, to be called the Data Reduction Instrumentation Section, with Walter E. Johnson
as chief." Previously, a start had been made toward development of instrumentation for
simplifying refractive-index calculations.

a) Computation of refractive index of the atmosphere

Knowledge of the refractive-index gradient (or profile) of the atmosphere is essential in
studies propagation in the troposphere. Computation of the refractive-index
of radio
equation is tedious but can be simplified by use of nomograms. The process was further
simplified by the development of two slide rules in 1952 by Stanley Weintraub of the
100
Tropospheric Propagation Research Section [38].
For further simplification and greater accuracy of computation of the refractive index
of the atmosphere, Johnson devised an analogue computer [39]. The computer was a
specially designed bridge circuit, fitted with several dials to introduce the variables of the
refractive-index equation, plus a null indicator showing bridge balance. Average operational
time for a computation was approximately 10 seconds.

b ) Instrumenting for data reduction

By 1957 the newly organized Data Reduction Instrumentation Section had assembled a
12-channel, magnetic-tape system for recording the various parameters of phase stability
measurements being made on tropospheric propagation studies at Colorado Springs, Colo.,
and Maui, Hawaii. For the next several years other magnetic-tape recorders, plus magnetic-
tape data reduction systems, were added to the increasing assemblage of equipment for data
reduction.
In addition to having access to the large CRPL electronic computer, the section
developed several special-purpose computers for use in tropospheric propagation studies.
These developments were described by Johnson in NBS Technical Note 111 [40].
101

5. Selection of optimum frequencies by electronic computer

Early in 1961 a program was started within the Radio Systems Division to computerize
the prediction of maximum usable frequency (MUF), optimum traffic frequency (FOT),
lowest useful high frequency (LUF), and other information (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio) to aid
in the rapid selection of frequency allocations and circuit design of ionospheric (sky wave)
communication systems. This project, under the guidance of George W. Haydon, resulted in
an NBS Report. 102 103 The automated system, using an electronic computer, had particular
application in frequency assignments for U.S. Navy communication services.
99
The functions of the new section were:
Research on data reduction techniques; development of instrumentation for automatic data
recording and processing; development of instrumentation to achieve better efficiency and
accuracy in data reduction.
100
The slide-ruleof calculation was suggested by Howard E. Bussey of the Microwave Standards Section.
method
Both used for a calculation of refractive index, each for a separate term in the refractive-index
slide rules are
equation; the data based on the parameters of air pressure, temperature, and relative humidity.
101
NBS
Technical Note 111, by Johnson, described several of these special-purpose computers. One was a Spectrum
Analyzer that is useful for the analysis of data taken in the measurement of phase stability over low-level

tropospheric paths (see ch. XII, p. 542). Another was a Correlation Computer designed for continuously performing
the multiplication and integration required in solving normalized correlation equations associated with message
errors on single-sideband transmissions at UHF. Another was an analysis system, called an Automatic Amplitude
Distribution Analyzer, for determining the principal statistical parameters of time varying propagation data. This
system made it possible to analyze data at the rate of 100 times the speed at which it is recorded, with digital
printout for computation. Still another instrument was a Distribution Analyzer which computes the percentage of
time the amplitude of signals exceeds various preset levels, such as the distribution of fade rate and fade-rate
duration.
102
See p. 585 and footnote (87) on Haydon's earlier work in the CRPL.
103
This document covered the technical considerations in the selection of optimum frequencies, taking into account
the many variables that enter into the design and operation of a sky-wave communication system.
The document was reprinted in June 1969 as ESSA Technical Report ERL 113-ITS 81, entitled "Technical
Considerations in the Selection of Optimum Frequencies for High Frequency Sky- Wave Communication Services,"
and authored by George W. Haydon, Donald L. Lucas, and Rodney A. Hanson. From time to time the same authors
had prepared NBS Reports on high frequency propagation predictions for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA).

588
 A DIVERSITY OF PROJECTS
1. Consideration of conductivity in groundwave propagation
The consideration of ground conductivity in the propagation of radio waves goes back to
1909 when Sommerfeld of Germany published a paper on "The Propagation of Waves in
104
Wireless Telegraphy."
In 1932 Samuel S. Kirby and Kenneth A. Norton of the Radio Section published an
account of their field-strength measurements taken over distances ranging from 1 to nearly
600 km, and in a frequency range of 285 to 5400 kHz that included the broadcast band (see
ch. V, pp. 111-112) [41]. With the aid of graphical information published 2 years earlier
(1930) by Bruno Rolf of Sweden, Kirby and Norton were able to calculate from their
measurements the average values of conductivity over several long transmission paths. 105
Within the broad scope of problems relating to the allocation of radio-frequency
channels to broadcasting services and extending into the VHF band, were those problems
106
associated with conductivity in relation to groundwave propagation. For a number of
years this study area was listed in the project structure of the CRPL under the title of
107
"Terrain Effects on Propagation." Early in this period (1951-1959) NBS was requested by
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to essay a correlation of conductivity with
type of soil. If the correlation were possible, the result of measurements in the form of maps
would be of considerable value to the FCC and the consulting radio engineers. A 2-year
study was summarized in the form of maps in NBS Circular 546, entitled "Effective Radio
108 109
Ground-Conductivity Measurements in the United States" [42]. -

The information compiled in NBS Circular 546 became embodied in the 1956 FCC
"Standards of Good Engineering Practice Concerning Standard Broadcast Stations" and has
remained as such to the present time.
A more hopeful approach to the correlation problem (effective ground conductivity with
soil type) was taken by the section group in 1954, this time using a more simple
classification of soil types —
that of a system of 39 types used by the Civil Aeronautics
Administration for airport design. This study continued on an irregular schedule for nearly
5 years, with the conclusion reached that the insufficient correlation that was found would
only provide for a poor engineering practice.
104
In his paper (Annalen der Physik, Vol. 28, Mar. 16, 1909) A. Sommerfeld took into account the three Earth
constants of conductivity, dielectric constant, and permeability.
105
Kirby and Norton determined the conductivity to be 3.35x10 14 emu (or 3.35 millisiemens per meter) along a
propagation path to the southwest across New Jersey, and considered this value to be typcial for areas east of the
Allegheny Mountains that approximate the latitude of New Jersey. They determined the conductivity to be
13
1.07x10 emu (or 10.7 millisiemens per meter) along a propagation path to the east of Chicago, 111., and considered
this value to be typical for areas near Chicago.
Later, in 1941, Norton published a paper, while a staff member of the Federal Communications Commission, in
14
which he used the values of 9 X 10 14 and 5 X 10 emu for conductivity of land in his examples of a graphical method
of determining groundwave field intensity.

106
The importance of the subject can be ascertained from the statement made in the 1953 CRPL Annual Report
that: "Ground conductivity plays a dominant role in the transmission of low frequencies in the 550 1600 kc region"
(broadcast band).

107
This project was assigned first to the Tropospheric Propagation Research Section and later to the Radio Systems
Application Engineering Section.
108
This project, under the guidance of Robert S. Kirby (son of Samuel S. Kirby), had its basis in the preparation of a
catalog of measurements of effective ground conductivity obtained from files of the FCC
(cataloging was started in
1947). By 1953 a measurements made of 621 broadcast stations operating in the
total of 7237 ground-conductivity
frequency range of 540 to 1600 kHz had been collected and cataloged by the Tropospheric Propagation Research
Section, the project being completed in Boulder, Colo. These "Proof of Performance" measurements had been taken
over a period of years for the FCC by consulting engineers.
The measurements were studied statistcally by the section staff to determine the most probable values and the
probable range of values of ground conductivity for 243 soil types classified in the Department of Agriculture Atlas

of American Agriculture. The study showed some correlation between effective ground conductivity and surface soil
type (composition) but insufficiently so to preclude the correlation method to be a means of predicting conductivity
for estimating groundwave radio transmission.
Because of this lack of correlation of effective conductivity with soil type, another approach was taken to
provide useful information to the radio engineer for future analysis of radiation fields of transmitters, as based
upon past measurements. The result was NBS Circular 546. Information was delineated by 81 sectional maps

589
 Beginning around the mid-1950's, a number of CRPL papers on propagation at LF and
VLF considered the effect of ground conductivity, with assigned values ranging from 1 to
more than 20 millisiemens per meter, and for "ideal" propagation a value of infinity. Most
of these papers were theoretical treatments of propagation characteristics, particularly
those by James R. Wait. Ground conductivity was also considered in the study of
propagation of sferics over long distances.

2. A bout with color television

Although the dream of color television probably came as early as that of television
itself,the art was not demonstrated in the United States until 1929, when on June 27 the
Bell Telephone Laboratories demonstrated a wire communication system to the press.
Eleven years later, on September 4, 1940, the Columbia Broadcasting System broadcast
(from a New York City station) the first experimental color pictures,, using the field-
sequential method with a rotating mechanical color disk. Beginning in 1945, following
World War II, the rapid strides in further development of color television brought on a
110
batch of problems soon to be faced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Hearings on color television, conducted by the FCC, began on December 9, 1946 and, at
intervals, extended into the early 1950's. It was in a climate of intense technical rivalry
among the protagonists of the television industry that the National Bureau of Standards
was drawn into the controversies that developed. Coming within the scope and functions of
the U.S. Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (to which the FCC
reported), the chairman, Senator Edwin C. Johnson (Colorado) requested Edward U. Condon,
director of NBS to serve as chairman of a Senate Advisory Committee on Color Television
that would give the Senate Committee "sound, impartial, scientific advice" on the problems
of national scope that were affecting both the television industry and the general

(Continued)

covering 48 sectors (each sector 5 degrees latitude and 5 degrees longitude) of the United States. Shown on the maps
were the effective ground conductivities (one or more, with values in milliohms) on each of 8 or more radials over
which field-strength measurements had been made (to obtain effective ground conductivity), plus frequency and call
letters of each broadcast station. More than 7000 measurement radials were associated with the 621 stations
described.

109
In the September 1954 issue of the Proc. IRE, Harry Fine of the Federal Communications Commission published
a map adopted by the FCC, entitled "Effective Ground Conductivity Map for Continental United States." It was
stated:

This map represents estimates (of ground conductivity) based on measurements over
approximately 7000 paths throughout the country which were submitted to the FCC. The
previous ground conductivity map had been promulgated in 1938 and based upon relatively few
measured paths plus the soil type map. Subsequent measurements had shown that the estimates
of conductivity provided by this 1938 map were appreciably in error for various parts of the
country. For this reason a more accurate map was considered desirable in the allocation of
standard broadcast stations and the present map was adopted by the FCC for use as of April 5,
1954.

Estimated effective ground conductivities ranged from 0.5 to 30 millisiemens per meter, plus 5000 for sea
water.
Much credit was given to R. S. Kirby who "was extremely helpful in supplying the subsoil correlation analysis
and the map overlays, which represented an enormous amount of labor by himself and other CRPL personnel."
11(1
These problems were mainly those of operating standards, channel width, compatibility of color with black-and-
white pictures, and the three systems of transmission, viz., field sequential, line sequential, and dot sequential.
111
Senator Johnson was well known to Condon; at the time he was becoming involved in the selection of a new
location for the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (see ch. XIX).

112
In a letter to Condon, dated May 20, 1949, Senator Johnson stated, in part:

The question of the present-day commercial use of color television has been a matter of raging
controversy within the radio world for many months. There is a woeful lack of authentic and
dependable information on this subject.
Hundreds of applicants for television licenses, as well as those now operating television stations
are vitally affected by its settlement. . . .

590
 —

The Advisory Committee on Color Television submitted a report to the Senate

Committee in February 1950. This initial report was primarily one on the problem of
frequency allocation for television service. The committee submitted its final report Senate
—
Document 197 after its concluding meeting of July 5-6, 1950. Thereafter, with the
permission of Senator Johnson, the complete report was published in the September 1950
issue of the Proc. IRE [43]. 114116
In 1950, after 62 days of testimonies from many witnesses, on October 11 the FCC
decided to adopt the standards for the incompatible (with monochrome television) field-
sequential system. Public broadcasts using this system were inaugurated by the Columbia
Broadcasting System in New York City on June 25, 1951. But opinion of the television
industry as a whole, and the RCA (advocating the dot-sequential system) in particular, was
overwhelmingly opposed to the FCC decision. Yet after review by the U.S. Supreme Court,
the FCC's decision was sustained. Time took its toll on the inadequacy of the FCC's choice

(Continued)

The Federal Communications Commission has declined to authorize commercial licensing of

color television. It seems reluctant to indicate when and if it will act with respect to authorizing
commercial licensing of color. . . .

My objective, and the objective of the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, is
to encourage development of the radio act and to press for a nationwide, competitive television
service in the public interest. . . .

I am particularly concerned with resolving once and for all the charges that have been made
that the advance of color television has been held up by the Commission for reasons difficult for
us to understand, and I feel certain that a committee headed up by so eminent a scientist as you
will help resolve these doubts and questions which have been tossed about. . . .

113
In making a selection of members for his small committee, Condon chose persons well known in the
communications field: Stuart L. Bailey, William L. Everitt, Donald G. Fink, and Newbern Smith (chief of the
CRPL).
114
The final report was confined to technical factors of color television, expressed as far as possible in nontechnical
terms. The committee based its report on three basic conclusions that were:

1. A 6-Mc radio frequency channel is adequate for color television service, and represents a
compromise between quality and quantity of service.
2. The three systems of color television herein described (line-sequential, field-sequential, and
dot-sequential systems) comprise all of the basic systems of color television which need be
considered for a 6-Mc channel.
3. The three systems are mutually exclusive. One, and only one, of these systems must be
chosen in advance of the inauguration of a public color television service.

The conclusions were reached after members of the committee had witnessed demonstrations of each of the
three systems. Added to the report were two "Annexes," reports of tests performed by NBS, one on flicker in color
television, the other on fidelity of color reproduction of two of the systems. The tests were performed by the
Photometry and Colorimetry Section.
115
Following publication of the report in the September 1950 issue of the Proc. IRE, a year later, in the October
1951 issue, the Institute of Radio Engineers brought out a "special issue" entitled, "Color Television." It contained
20 papers, many of which covered important developments in the then very rapid growth of color television. This
was the first of many special issues covering a variety of subjects in the field of radio and electronics that have
been published in the Proc. IRE (later, IEEE).

A few months after publication of the Advisory Committee's final report, the Scientific American published a
116

paper prepared by Newbern Smith entitled, "Color Television," which appeared in the December 1950 issue [44].
This paper clearly stated the problems faced by the FCC. To quote from Smith's paper, which was published after
the FCC had reached a decision in the controversy, he stated:

The FCC decision has not ended the controversy; indeed, the differences between the contending
interests have been brought law courts and in the court of public
to the stage of action in the
opinion. Because the ultimate judgment of the issue will be made by public opinion, it is
important that the public have some understanding of the underlying technical problems and
issues involved. They will be summarized here as they were analyzed by the Senate Advisory
Committee on Color Television on which the writer served The Advisory Committee made
. . .

no recommendation as to which of the competing systems should be adopted, since such a

decision "must include consideration of many social and economic factors, factors not properly
the concern of the technical analyst."

Smith presented the committee's assessment of the three competing systems by means of a chart. By means of
practical diagrams he explained the working principles of each of the three systems.

591
and on December 17, 1953, the FCC approved the use of the compatible dot-sequential
system and color television in the United States soared into popularity beyond all
117
expectations.

3. A radio system for investigating sferics — Ephi

The facilities and expertise of the Navigation Systems Section were uniquely suited in
1958 to develop a versatile direction-finding system for automatic azimuthal detection and
—
analysis of sferics (lightning discharges) a project requested by the Air Force Cambridge
118
Research Center. Evolving from this project was the development of a new system of radio
direction finding, operating in the VLF range (3-30 kHz) that had greater accuracy than
119
other systems such as those using crossed-loop techniques. The system minimized siting
and polarization errors, these errors being disadvantageous to crossed-loop techniques. The
project, under leadership of Gifford Hefley, was reported in a 1961 publication [45].

117
Much credit for the trend of opinion that changed the viewpoint and finally changed the decision by the FCC
must be given second National Television System Committee (NTSC) whose membership
to operations of the
consisted of a large number of highly qualified television engineers. This committee, which functioned over a 5-year
period (1949-1953), had its origin in the first committee that was formed during the period of 1940-1941 by the Radio
Manufacturers Association (RMA) for evaluation of standards for monochrome television.
118
Measurement data of sferic observations are useful for radio propagation studies, ground-conductivity
determination, distance measurements, thunderstorm and tornado location and tracking, and the like, all to be
gained from direction finding and complex spectrum measurement.
119
The new system was named "Ephi" because the bearing of the transient signal was determined from the
(E-<J>)

relative phase, <J>

(phi), of field, E, received at spaced antennas. The system required three
the vertical electrical
antennas located at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. In the development system, located 30 miles east of
Boulder near Brighton, Colo., the three antennas were 125-foot towers spaced approximately 4 miles apart. Phase
detectors, delay lines, and coincidence circuits were used to obtain directional coding in preset directional sectors,
with an accuracy in direction of less than 1 degree. The electronic equipment had capability for counting the
number of sferics in a given time interval, and counting the number of sferics arriving simultaneously from several
different directions. Also, the sferic waveforms could be photographed automatically for analysis, as stills or motion
pictures.

Pictorial diagram illustrating the principle of "Ephi, " a direction-finding system for automatic azimuthal detection
and analysis of lightning discharges (sferics). Developed in 1958 by the Navigation Systems Section, the Ephi
system was located near Brighton, Colo. Sferic signals received by each of three 125-ft (height) antennas, located 4
miles apart at the vertices of an equilateral triangle, are fed by coaxial cables to a centrally located recording
station.At this station, time differences (of the order of several microseconds) between the three signals are
processed by electronic circuits to indicate accurately the direction of an electrical storm. Two such stations located
several hundred miles apart can accurately fix the position of a storm at distances of thousands of miles.

592
 References
[1] E. L. Shultz,"Comparison of predictions of atmospheric radio noise with observed noise levels," Trans. Amer.
Geophysical Union, Vol. 28, No. 6, Dec. 1947, pp. 854-860.
[2] W. Q. Crichlow, D. F. Smith, ft. N. Norton, and W. R. Corliss, Worldwide Radio Noise Levels Expected in the
Frequency Band 10 Kilocycles to 100 Megacycles, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.J, Circ. 557, Aug. 25, 1955, 36 pages.
[3] William Q. Crichlow, "Noise investigation at VLF by the National Bureau of Standards," Proc. IRE, Vol. 45,
No. 6, June 1957, pp. 778-782.
[4] W. Q. Crichlow, C. A. Samson, R. T. Disney, and M. A. Jenkins, Radio Noise Data for the International
Geophysical Year July 1, 1957-December 31, 1958, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 18, July 27, 1959, 235
pages.
[5] C. A. Samson, "Effects of high-altitude nuclear explosions on radio noise,"
J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol.

64D, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1960, pp. 37-40.

[6] H. N. Cones, H. V. Cottony, and J. M. Watts, "A 600-ohm multiple-wire delta antenna for ionosphere studies,"
J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 44, No. 5, May 1950, pp. 475-488.

[7] H. V. Cottony, "High-gain antennas for VHF scatter propagation," IRE Trans. Communications Systems, Vol.
CS-4, No. 1, Mar. 1956, pp. 56-63.
[8] H. V. Cottony and A. C. Wilson, "Gains of finite-size corner-reflector antennas," IRE Trans. Antennas and
Propagation, Vol. AP-6, No. 4, Oct. 1958, pp. 366-369.

[9] A. C. Wilson and H. V. Cottony, "Radiation patterns of finite-size corner-reflector antennas," IRE Trans.
Antennas and Propagation, Vol. AP-8, No. 2, Mar. 1960, pp. 144-157.
[10] "NBS model antenna range," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 35, No. 12, Dec. 1951, pp. 173-175.
[11] H. V. Cottony and A. C. Wilson, "A high-resolution rapid-scan antenna," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol.
65D, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1961, pp. 101-110.
[12] H. V. Cottony, "Current development in an electronically scanned antenna," Electromagnetic Theory and
Antennas, Pergamon Press, London, 1963, pp. 1289-1294.
[13] "NBSstudies radiation pattern of monopole array," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 47, No. 1,
Jan. 1963, pp. 6-7.
[14] A. D. Watt, V. J. Zurick, and R. M. Coon, "Reduction of adjacent-channel interference components from
frequency-shift-keyed carriers," IRE Trans. Communication Systems, Vol. CS-6, No. 2, Dec. 1958, pp. 39-47.
[15] G. Franklin Montgomery, "A comparison of amplitude and angle modulation for narrow-band communication
of binary-coded messages in fluctuation noise," Proc. IRE, Vol. 42, No. 2, Feb. 1954, pp. 447-454.
[16] J. W. Koch, "Factors affecting modulation techniques for VHF scatter systems," IRE Trans. Communication
Systems, Vol. CS-7, No. 2, June 1959, pp.77-92.
[17] J. W. Koch, W. B. Harding, and R. J. Jansen, "FM and SSB radio-telephone tests on a VHF ionospheric scatter
link during multipath conditions," IRE Trans. Communication Systems, Vol. CS-8, No. 2, Sept. 1960, pp.
183-186.
[18] T. L. Davis and R. H. Doherty, "Widely separated clocks with microsecond synchronization and independent
distribution systems," IRE Trans. Space Electronics and Telemetry, Vol. SET-6, No. 3-4, Sept-Dec. 1960, pp.
138-146.
[19] R. H. Doherty, G. Hefley, and R. F. Linfield, "Timing potentials of Loran-C," Proc. IRE, Vol. 49, No. 11, Nov.
1961, pp. 1659-1673.
[20] "Loran-C clock timing system," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull, Vol. 46, No. 2, Feb. 1962, pp. 20-21.
[21] Gifford Hefley,The Development of Loran-C Navigation and Timing, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Monogr. 129, Oct.
1972, 144 pages.
[22] Martin T. Decker, "Tacan coverage and channel requirements," IRE Trans. Aeronautical Navigational
Electronics, ANE-4, No. 3 Sept. 1957, pp. 135-143.
Vol.
[23] Edwin F. Florman, "A measurement of the velocity of propagation of very-high-frequency radio waves at the
surface of the earth," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 54, No. 6, June 1955, pp. 335-345.
[24] J. W. Herbstreit and P. L. Rice, Survey of Central Radio Propagation Laboratory Research in Tropospheric

Propagation 1948-1956, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 26, Sept. 1959, 211 pages.
[25] Kenneth A. Norton, "Propagation in the FM broadcast band," Advances in Electronics, Vol. I, Academic Press,
New York, 1948, pp. 381-423.
[26] Kenneth A. Norton, "Transmission loss in radio propagation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 41, No. 1, Jan. 1953, pp. 146-152.
[27] P. L. Rice and F. T. Daniel, "Radio transmission loss versus distance and antenna height at 100 Mc," IRE
Trans. Antennas and Propagation, Vol. AP-3, No. 2, Apr. 1955, pp. 59-62.
[28] D. A. Williamson, V. L. Fuller, A. G. Longley, and P. L. Rice, A Summary of VHF and UHF Tropospheric
Transmission Loss Data and Their Long-Term Variability, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 43. Mar.
1960, 174 pages.
[29] Robert S. Kirby, "Measurement of service area for television broadcasting," IRE Trans. Broadcast
Transmission Systems, Vol. BTS-7, Feb. 1957, pp. 23-30.
[30] M. T. Decker, Service Area of an Airborne Television Station, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 35, Oct. 1959,
43 pages.
[31] R. Kirby, J. W. Herbstreit, and K. A. Norton, "Service range from air-to-ground and air-to-air
S.

communications at frequencies above 50 Mc," Proc. IRE, Vol. 40, No. 5, May 1952, pp. 525-536.
[32] Kenneth A. Norton and Philip L. Rice, "Gapless coverage in air-to-ground communications at frequencies
above 50 Mc," Proc. IRE, Vol. 40, No. 4, Apr. 1952, pp. 470-474.
[33] Radio Spectrum Conservation, a report of the Joint Technical Advisory Committee, IRE-RTMA, McGraw-Hill.
New York, 1952.

593
[34] Radio Spectrum Utilization, a report of the Joint Technical Advisory Committee of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers and the Electronic Industries Association, published by the IEEE, 1964.
[35] George W. Haydon, "Optimum frequencies for outer space communication," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
Vol. 64D, No. Mar.-Apr. 1960, pp. 105-109.
2,

[36] William J. Hartman and Martin

T. Decker, "Mutual interference between surface and satellite communication
systems," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1961, pp. 433-436.
[37] Kenneth A. Norton, Efficient Use of the Radio Spectrum, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 158, Apr. 1962, 77
pages.
[38] Stanley Weintraub, "Slide rule computes radio refractive index of air," Electronics, Vol. 26, No. 1, Jan. 1953,
pp. 182 190,194,196,198,200.
[39] Walter E. Johnson, "An analogue computerfor the solution of the radio refractive-index equation," J. Res.
Nat. Bur. Stand. No. 6, Dec. 1953, pp. 335-342.
(U.S.), Vol. 51,

[40] Walter E. Johnson, Data Reduction Instrumentation for Radio Propagation Research, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
Tech. Note 111, July 1961, 32 pages.

[41] S. S. Kirby and K. A. Norton, "Field-intensity measurements at frequencies from 285 to 5400 kilocycles per
second," Proc. IRE, Vol. 20, No. 5, May 1932, pp. 841-862. (Also published in J. Res. NBS.)

[42] R. S. Kirby, J. C. Harman, F. M. Capps, and R. N. Jones, Effective Radio Ground-Conductivity Measurements
in the United States, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Circ. 546, Feb. 26, 1954, 87 pages.
[43] "The present status of color television," a report by the Senate Advisory Committee on Color Television, E. U.
Condon, S. L. Bailey, W. L. Everitt, D. G. Fink, and Newbern Smith, Proc. IRE, Vol. 38, No. 9, Sept. 1950,
pp. 980-1002.
[44] Newbern Smith, "Color television," Scientific American, Vol. 183, No. 6, Dec. 1950, pp. 13-17.
[45] G. Hefley, R. F. Linfield, and T. L. Davis, "The Ephi system for VHF direction finding," J. Res. Nat. Bur.
Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65C, No. 1, Jan.-Mar. 1961, pp. 43-49.

594
 Chapter XIV

BEYOND THE IONOSPHERE 1

Cosmic radio noise

1. From earthborn static to the stars

Both within NBS and outside, the science of radio astronomy had its genesis in rather
intensive studies of the limitations on radio communication caused by noise external to the
receiver. In 1932, at the Bell Telephone Laboratories facility at Holmdel, N.J., Karl G.
Jansky observed a low intensity background noise while measuring the directional
properties of atmospheric noise at 20.5 MHz (14.6 m). He concluded that this hiss-type of
background noise was of extraterrestrial origin, to be called later "cosmic" or "galactic"
2
radio noise [1,2]. (See ch. I, year 1932.)
Strangely, Jansky's work did not
excite the curiosity of other radio engineers or the
astronomers, except that of a radio engineer and amateur living in a suburban town west of
Chicago, Wheaton, 111. Grote Reber, using his own resources, single-handedly constructed a
31.4-foot diameter paraboloidal directional antenna which he set up in the backyard of his
home. He designed and built a special receiver to observe cosmic noise at 160 MHz (1.87 m),
much higher in frequency than that selected by Jansky. Reber constructed this, the world's
first radio telescope, during the summer of 1937 and published his first observations in 1940,
with more extensive papers in 1942 [3,4]. Based upon theoretical considerations of
astronomy, Reber was able to evaluate the intensity of radio emission from interstellar
space.
In 1944 Reber was able to plot with considerable accuracy the positions of sources of
cosmic noise in the Milky Way, including those of the constellations of Sagittarius, Cygnus,
and Cassiopeia.
Termination of World War II engendered rapid interest in radio astronomy and time —
recorded that Jansky and Reber opened up new avenues of scientific exploration of the
Universe. Today, radio telescope installations, great and small, are found in many spots
throughout the World. Much has been written on the revelation of Nature's secrets of
distant galaxies and stars.

2. Grote Reber joins the CRPL

In the spring of 1947 Grote Reber entered on duty in the Experimental Ionospheric
Research Section. The NBS purchased his cosmic radio noise measurement apparatus and
had the entire radio telescope moved from Wheaton, 111. and installed at the Sterling, Va.,
field station. Here it remained for radio astronomy studies until 1952 when it was

The reader will find overlapping subjects within chapters XI and XIV. Ground-based observations of the
ionosphere are covered in chapter XI, plus added material on observations by rockets and satellites, also some
exploration of the exosphere. Chapter XIV was written 5 years later with the intention of letting chapter XI
remain intact. Chapter XIV includes subjects "Beyond the Ionosphere," such as: Radio astronomy projects, the
conjugate point program, the exosphere, and space communications.

With his directional antenna, Jansky first thought that the hissing noise was from an unidentified carrier
modulated by noise within the receiver. Then he attributed it to radiation from the Sun. But he soon found that the
source was from the Milky Way and primarily from the region of the constellation Sagittarius. Jansky pursued his
study of galactic noise for several years thereafter and then the project was terminated.

595
disassembled and taken to Boulder, Colo. On an indefinite loan basis, it was rebuilt in 1957
3
at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory near Green Bank, W. Va.

!
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, supported by the National Science Foundation and administered by
Inc., was located on a large tract of land near Green Bank, W. Va., in 1957. It is now
Associated Universities,
equipped with many types of radio telescopes, some of gigantic dimensions. Grote Reber's original telescope is
preserved here primarily as an item of historical interest, but is used from time to time as an operable device
serving several functions.
Unfortunately Jansky's original directional antenna was dismantled and cast aside. A full-scale replica is now
located at the Green Bank facility.

The world's first radio telescope, built by Grote Reber at Wheaton, III. It became the property of NBS and is pictured

at the Sterling, Va., field station. The telescope, now located at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory near
Green Bank, W. Va., serves both as a historical item and occasionally as a working instrument.

3. The CRPL studies cosmic radio noise

Of the several new projects to be initiated soon after formation of the CRPL on May 1,
1946, was one to be labeled for a number of years as "cosmic radio noise." The Quarterly
Report for the period of April-June 1946 stated:

Experimental recording of radio noise from the stars (sometimes called

cosmic noise) at 100 Mc, using a dipole antenna at ground level, was begun.
It is expected that this project will lead to an accurate determination of the

596
 limiting field intensities for useful results in any radio services in the VHF
range, such as FM
broadcasting.
1

Thus began an extensive program at NBS that included the measurement of cosmic noise,
studies of solar noise, and observations associated with the fast expanding field of radio
astronomy. Radio work at the NBS would now reach beyond the ionosphere.
The new field station near Sterling, Va., was well suited for measurement of cosmic and
solar noise, the area being relatively free from man-made noise at radio frequencies. It was
at this field site that Jack W. Herbstreit, assisted by Herman V. Cottony, William Q.
Crichlow, and J. Ralph Johler, set up their measurement equipment. During the earlier
years, the project was within the Experimental Ionospheric Research Section.
Specially designed stable and very sensitive receivers (field-strength recorders) with
very low noise figures were constructed. Measurements were begun at 110 MHz, using a
half-wave dipole antenna placed one-quarter wavelength above the ground. The axis of the
dipole was oriented both in the east-west and north-south planes to compensate for the
Earth's rotation so as to adapt to the general direction of the strongest cosmic noise (from
the constellation Sagittarius in the Milky Way). During the next several years,
measurements were made at discrete frequencies ranging from 25 to 110 MHz. It was soon
learned that the cosmic noise intensity varies in inverse proportion to a 2.4 power of the
5
frequency. In 1948 Herbstreit published an account of the earlier work on the cosmic noise
6
project [5].

At a Conference on Radio Propagation at NBS during the period of May 8-10, 1947,
there was a session on cosmic radio noise, with Karl G. Jansky as chairman. Newbern Smith
was general chairman of the Conference. About 75 persons attended.
Beginning in March 1948, Cottony and Johler made a 2-year study of cosmic noise at
the Sterling field station, largely following Herbstreit's measurement technique, with the
addition of automatic recording [6]. They chose, however, to orient their dipole antennas in
an east-west direction only for stronger radiation from both constellations, Sagittarius and
Cygnus. Measurements were made at 25, 35, 50, 75, and 110 MHz. They found that the
intensity in terms of temperature of equivalent black-body radiation in kelvins varies as the
2.3 power of the frequency, and as the 0.15 power in terms of the electric field strength.
The normal cosmic radio noise constant level. However,
is characterized by its
occasionally it is affected by sudden bursts of solar radio noise that
is manifested by sudden

ionosphere disturbances (SID). Cottony and Johler concluded that normal cosmic radio
noise may be the limiting factor to communication in the VHF band up to approximately
200 MHz.
By the spring of 1952 the galactic radio noise study was phased out. Studies of solar
radio noise w ere to continue for many years within the CRPL.
4
Later, in the Annual Report of the NBS, 1948, a fuller statement was made that embraced the growing field of
radio astronomy.
Cosmic and solar radio waves reaching the earth from outer space are manifested audibly as
frying or hissing noises in a receiver at the higher frequencies. These forms of radio noise limit
the range and minimum usable signal levels for frequency-modulation broadcasting, television,
and communication and radio navigation services in the very-high-frequency range. In order to
obtain a more complete understanding of these phenomena, a program in radio astronomy has
been instituted.
For the study of radio propagation conditions, it is important that the characteristics of cosmic
radio noise be determined in regard to its directional properties, absolute magnitude, and
frequency dependence. In addition these determinations will undoubtedly provide valuable
information regarding the nature of the universe.

Author's notes (WFS): See appendix D, footnote 40, for a realization of the prognostication in this concluding
remark.
By convention, the term cosmic radio noise sometimes includes both the solar radio noise from the Sun and the
galactic radio noise from interstellar space.
'
Herbstreit and Johler reported on "Frequency variation of the intensity of cosmic radio noise" in the April 3, 1948
issue of Nature. Measurements had been made at 25 and 110 MHz. Their measurements were expressed in terms of
an external noise factor, EN, a term suggested by Norton in the previous year (1947).

The volumes on Advances in Electronics is a continuous annual publication by Academic Press and was
series of
edited for many years by Dr. L. Marton of NBS. Herbstreit and Kenneth Norton were selected to write sections of
the first volume. Norton's paper, entitled "Propagation in the FM broadcast band" was cross-referenced with
Herbstreit's paper, as the two papers had intertwining subject matters.

597
4. An engineering viewpoint
In the First Annual Report of the Boulder Laboratories (FY 1955) the subject of
absorption of cosmic noise in the ionosphere was examined in view of investigation by
methods of radio astronomy measurements. 7 Significant, were statements on the importance
of increased knowledge of the magnitude and characteristics of the absorption. It was stated
that:

Quantitative knowledge of ionospheric absorption, its temporal and

geographical variations, besides having considerable worth in contributing
to understanding of the physics of the upper atmosphere, merits pursuit by
the laboratory (CRPL) as one of the three basic ingredients involved in the
solution of practical radio propagation problems in engineering of
communication systems and frequency allocations. 8

Such was the engineering viewpoint of cosmic noise absorption in FY 1955 by the CRPL.

Solar radio noise 9

1. Preparations for a study program

Credit is usually given to George C. Southworth and to Grote Reber as the first
observers of solar radio noise. Southworth, a research engineer of the Bell Telephone
Laboratories, observed radiation from the Sun at three microwave frequencies at
wavelengths between 1 and 10 centimeters. This was reported in January 1945 [7]. He stated
that the energy appears substantially that predicted by black-body radiation theory. Later,
in December1946, Reber reported on the observation of solar radiation at 480 MHz (0.63 m),
apparently independently of Southworth, although he was in communication with
Southworth [8]. These observations were with his radio telescope at Wheaton, 111. Reber
10
attributed the radiation to a presumable temperature of about one million K. On several
occasions he observed radiation of considerable intensity due to sunspot activity. Later, in
January 1948, Reber reported additional observations in the Proc. IRE.
On January 20, 1947, the Experimental Ionospheric Research Section made its first
attempt of measuring the intensity of solar noise. Two types of collectors were used: a half-
wave dipole used in the cosmic noise measurements, and an SCR-270 radar antenna (for a
mobile Signal Corps early warning radar at about 106 MHz). With the radar antenna
beamed toward the Sun, 17-percent more noise power was observed than when directed
away from the Sun. On January 25, an 8-fold increase in power was observed. Later, it was
learned that this observation coincided with a period of high solar activity.

'
Although cosmic noise was stated in the Report, as a deterrent to communication systems, equal magnitude of
cosmic or solar noise would have approximately the same deleterious effect.

The other two principal aspects of predicting frequency-utility relationships in radio engineering were stated as
being: "the practical relationship of oblique-incidence MUF to critical frequency at vertical incidence, and the
intensity and distribution of atmospheric radio noise and its limiting effects on intelligibility of reception."

The study of solar noise was assigned and projects within the CRPL from 1947 to 1965. It
to various sections
started within the Experimental Ionospheric Research Section in January 1947, which soon assimilated a project
from the Basic Microwave Research Section (see app. C, footnote 17), named "Radiometer at 1000 Mc." Upon entry
of Grote Reber to the Section in the spring of 1947, the name "Radio Astronomy" was assigned to a general project
under Reber, with a subtitle of "Radiometer at VHF," and then an added "UHF Radiometer." During a
reorganization of the CRPL on February 1, 1949, the cosmic radio noise and solar radio noise projects were
transferred to the Upper Atmosphere Research Section.
Reber resigned from NBS in September 1951 and the Radio Astronomy project was continued under the
leadership of Vernon H. Goerke until 1956. With the move to Boulder, the Radio Astronomy project became a part
of the Ionosphere Research Section. In 1956 the project was headed by Robert S. Lawrence, and by 1959 the project
was absorbed into the Radio Astronomy and Arctic Propagation Section under C. Gordon Little. Thereafter, studies
in radio astronomy continued within the Ionosphere Radio Astronomy Section under the leadership of Lawrence
until the formation of ESSA in 1965.
10
In 1944 Reber reported that he had observed some evidence of solar radiation at 160 MHz but he was hesitant to
accept his observations as fact. He had to wait two more years before he would be certain he was observing solar
radiation at radio frequencies.

598
 During the spring of 1947 the CRPL procured two antennas from the Signal Corps that
were components of captured German Wurzburg radars. The paraboloidal "dishes," with
specialized receiving and recording equipment added, were to serve as radiometers for
11
observation of solar noise. The first installed equipment operated at 480 MHz, the second
at 160 MHz. Later, a third Wurzburg radar was installed for operation at 53 MHz. These
operational frequencies were changed slightly from time to time.

11
These 8-ton paraboloidal antennas, of 25-foot diameter, were mounted on 70-ton concrete bases at the Sterling
The paraboloids operated on an equatorial mounting so they could track the Sun automatically in its
field station.
path across the sky. Specially designed equipment for recording solar noise completed the installation.
Later, a third Wurzburg (Giant) radar antenna was added to the installation at Sterling.

Two of the three Wurzburg (Giant) antennas installed at the Sterling,

Va., field station, northwest of Washington, D.C.
The 25-foot diameter paraboloidal "dish"
antennas were developed by the Germans during World War II for long-
range search radars. The antennas were brought to Sterling for a study of solar radio noise.

Late in the spring of 1948, the 480-MHz radiometer was in operation, and the first
observations of solar radio noise at this frequency were made at the Sterling field station. A
regular measurement schedule was initiated. Soon the other two radiometers were in
measurement operation.
Reber's radio telescope, purchased by NBS, completed the radio astronomy equipment
at the Sterling field station.
In 1952 the three Wurzburg antennas, with associated measurement equipment, were
disassembled and shipped to Boulder. At Boulder they were installed on leased land, in an
area known as Gunbarrel Hill, to the northeast of Boulder. The antennas were painted, one
in red, one in white, and one in blue.

599

I
During 1952 the three Wurzburg (Gian{) antennas were moved from Sterling, Va., to Colorado and installed on
Gunbarrel Hill, northeast of Boulder. They served for many years as "collectors" for the study of solar radio noise.
Such an antenna is geared to track the Sun in its daily path across the sky.

2. Observing the 1950 total eclipse of the Sun

Reber and Emanuel A. Beck participated in the Naval Research Laboratory Expedition
to Attu Island, Alaska, to observe the total eclipse of the Sun on September 11, 1950
Observation was by a small radio telescope during a severe rainstorm (see ch. VII, year 1950
for details) [9].

3. A theory of solar noise bursts

By 1951 observations were in progress to study the nature of solar "pips" as observed on
one or more of the solar radiometers. These pips result from solar bursts or flares of greatly
increased activity in radiation at radio frequencies. This initiated a theoretical study of the
origin of solar noise bursts.
At the time, there was general acceptance that the steady background of solar noise
was thermally produced at temperatures approaching one million K. But this would not
account for the solar radio noise bursts of a magnitude several orders greater. Dr. Joseph
Feinstein of the CRPL came up with an acceptable explanation of the source of radiation for
the solar bursts, which he published in the January 1, 1952, issue of The Physical Review. A
more popular account was published in the Bureau's Technical News Bulletin [10]. 12
'"
Feinstein theorized that streams of high-velocity ionized gases emanated into the Sun's corona as a plasma with
the result that the kinetic energy of motion is converted into radiant energy at radio frequencies. The mechanism

was analogous to the electrical oscillation produced by the interaction of two electron beams in the then newly-
developed traveling-wave tubes.
Over a period of several years Dr. Hari K. Sen, also of the CRPL, published several papers that followed in the
footsteps of Feinstein's studies of solar bursts. These related to "enhanced radiation" by plasma oscillations
emanating from sunspot areas and causing radio waves with circular and elliptical polarization. Sen developed a
theory of shock-wave propagation in the ionized solar gases reacting with a superposed magnetic field. This could
be characterized in the solar radio noise.

600
4. A long series of solar observations
By 1951, under the leadership of Vernon H. Goerke, a 5-day per week schedule was
begun on recording the measurement of solar radio noise intensity at 53.160 and 480 MHz. 1
''

This constituted a routine "solar patrol" from sunrise to sunset. A daily report was given to
the CRPL Radio Warning Service (see ch. XI, pp. 453-455) to note any unusual solar activity
that might disrupt communication sevices. 14 The information was also reported to the Inter-
national Astronomical Union for its Quarterly Bulletin of Solar Activity.

13
In 1958 Goerke received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service as a participant in a
group award "for infrasonic systems and research." The project was not directly related to research in the CRPL.
14
Activities of the CRPL solar patrol on solar noise began in 1947 and continued until 1959 (at end of IGY program),
thereafter on a reduced scale. On a larger scale, the solar patrol furnished information on solar-flare activity and
sudden ionosphere disturbances (SID) obtained from various sources. This information was published in the CRPL-
F series on Ionospheric Data. The series began in 1944 (with IRPL) and continues to the present time as Solar-
Geophysical Data, a service now provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Recording equipment in the Solar Patrol building on Gunbarrel Hill, northeast of Boulder, Colo. Radio waves
received from the Sun at two frequencies (167 and h?0 MHz) are amplified and recorded on continuous charts.
Wesley I. Nodine is the observer.

During the International Geophysical Year, this equipment was in an "alert" status for unusual solar activity.
The alert information was transmitted to the CRPL's North Atlantic Radio Warning Service, stationed at Fort
Belvoir, Va., for the IGY Warning Service Agency to alert IGY scientists the world over on periods of unusual solar
activity.

601
Following the IGY Program, there was opportunity for simplifying operations of the Solar Patrol facility. Solar radio
waves were observed at one frequency only (approximately 108 MHz). The Table Mountain field site, north of
Boulder, was selected for the newly equipped facility. A simple, equatorially mounted Yagi antenna, shown in the
photo, replaced the large Wiirzburg antennas formerly used at the Gunbarrel Hill site. Receiving equipment
requiring less maintenance and less frequent calibration was an added feature.

On June 9, 1959, an unusual solar event occurred. Later, the Technical News Bulletin
reported in its August 1960 issue that:
The unusual solar event of June 9 (1959), completely at variance with the
experience of many years, has caused the Bureau to question the validity of
some of what were considered to be established relationships.

As soon as the severity of the blackout of June 9 became apparent, radio

and optical observations were intensified. [11]
Although there were large radio noise outbursts at a number of frequencies,
accompanied by a severe radio blackout, there was no solar flare. Heretofore, NBS had
observed that prominent solar flares normally accompanied such radio disturbances. Indeed,
10
here was an anomaly!

5. Matters of publication
Grote Reber was quite productive in published papers relating to radio astronomy in
periods before joining theNBS, during his 4 years at NBS, and after leaving NBS. lb These
papers were published in a variety of journals. In the September 1949 issue of the Scientific

' '
Location of the ionizing emission and the optical emission (H-alpha spectral line) areas were accurately located on
the Sun's disc, but there was no solar flare. The absence gave rise to a number of problems concerning the
understanding of solar-terrestrial relationships. The disturbance was not followed by the usual geomagnetic and
ionospheric storms. Other manifestations of a solar disturbance were also lacking.

Many of his publications, but not all, are referenced in his paper entitled "Early radio astronomy at Wheaton,

111.," in the special issue on Radio Astronomy published in the Proc. IRE for January 1958 (Vol. 46, No. 1).

602
 17
American was a paper by Reber, entitled "Radio Astronomy." The paper was translated by
the State Department in seven languages and published in its Voice of America booklets.
Interestingly, no papers by Reber are found in NBS publications.
18

"TWINKLING" STARS

1. Early observations of star scintillations

During the early 1950's there were a number of papers published on the scintillation of
19
radio stars, especially in British journals. At the Xth General Assembly of URSI, meeting
in Sydney, Australia, in 1952, the British National Committee reported on British work in
radio astronomy since 1950. A large segment of the work was on observations of the
characteristics of radio stars. The report spurred further interest on the subject.
The scintillations, observed as perturbations in extraterrestrial radio noise, are
and of position that were attributed to
fluctuations of intensity (or flux) irregularities in
electron density during passage of the radio waves through the ionosphere to ground level.
The phenomenon analogous to the twinkling of visible stars. The early investigators
is

believed that careful observation of the scintillations could be an important method of

studying irregularities in electron density of the ionosphere. However, questions on various
characteristics of the scintillations remained unanswered. This was the situation in 1956
20
when the CRPL initiated its own program of investigating scintillations of radio stars. The
project was sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, with Robert S. Lawrence of the Ionospheric
Research Section as the project leader.

2. A method of observation

Equipment for observation of scintillation of radio stars called for the construction of a
Ryle-type radio interferometer at the Table Mountain field site. This equipment served as a
phase sweeping interferometer. Two 40-foot, equatorially mounted paraboloidal reflecting
antennas were mounted at the ends of a 475-m base line in an east-west direction. Specially
designed equipment, including digital data-recording systems, was used to observe
"amplitude scintillations" and "phase scintillations" (for position
(for intensity fluctuations)
fluctuations). Reception of extraterrestrial noisewas at 53, 108, and 470 MHz. An ionosonde
for sweep-frequency, vertical-incidence soundings was located at Ellsworth, Neb., 300 km
from Boulder. Here the ionosphere could be observed at a geographical location where it
would affect the scintillations of the intense radiation from the star, Cygnus-A, as well as
from other radio stars, that could be observed in Boulder.

17
Reber gave a popular account of his work and that of other pioneering studies in radio astronomy. The article was
illustrated with large pictures of Reber's own radio telescope at Wheaton, 111., and a "German Wurzburg" radar
used as a radio telescope at the NBS Sterling field station.

with the CRPL Radio Astronomy project, write any papers

1!<
Nor did Goerke, during his many years of association
for NBS publication. He wrote one paper on the subject,the result of a lecture given at Yosemite, Calif., before the
Seventh Western Amateur Astronomers' Conference entitled, "Solar Radio Astronomy at the National Bureau of
Standards." It was published in the Proceedings of the 1956 Convention.

No
copy of this lecture (in the Proceedings) could be found in library listings of the United States. After
considerable searching by Jane Watterson of the Department of Commerce Library, Boulder Laboratories, a copy
was located in private hands in Stockton, Calif. A reproduced copy is now in the Department of Commerce Library,
Boulder Laboratories, Call No. QB479.U5.N2.1955.
19
Among these papers were several by C. Gordon Little of the University of Manchester who joined the CRPL in

1958 and, later, to become chief of the CRPL.

The immediate specific objective of the project was "to determine the frequency dependence, zenith-angle
-'"

dependence, and statistical properties of radio-star scintillations." There was a need for predicting the effects of the
ionosphere upon radio signals traveling between the ground and high-flying vehicles.

603
Two hO-ft diameter paraboloidal antennas at the Table Mountain field site, north of Boulder. These two "dishes" are
mounted at the ends of a 475-m base line to form a Ryle-type radio interferometer for studying signals emitted by
non-terrestrial radio sources, especially from Cygnus-A and Cassiopeia-A. The project mechanic, standing to the
right of the nearby support structure, indicates the large size of the steerable antennas.

3. Interruptions by Sputniks

Hardly had the equipment been in operation when the program was interrupted by the
launching of Sputnik I on October 4, 1957. Quick modifications on one of the radio telescopes
permitted "listening in" on Sputnik I (for details, see ch. XI, p. 499), and later on Sputnik II
and Sputnik III. 21 The high angular velocity of satellites, such as the Sputnik series, makes
them particularly useful for studies of intermediate-sized irregularities in the ionosphere.
Interest in "twinkling" stars would move on to studies of the ionosphere by means of
satellites.

J1
With the launching of Sputnik II, Lawrence and
his group observed its passages over Boulder with the radio
interferometer at the Table Mountain field Recordings were made of the 20- and 40-MHz signals emitted by
site.

the satellite. A digital method was used to analyze a single passage on November 8, 1957, at a height of 214 km.
Without accurate information of the satellite's path, only limited deductions could be made of the ionosphere's
structure. In summary, it was concluded that the ionospheric irregularities observed occur in a thin layer and are
not strongly aligned along the Earth's magnetic field.
James W. Warwick of the High Altitude Observatory, University of Colorado, teamed up with Lawrence in the
analysis. They reported their work to the Vth General Assembly of the CSAGI (Comite Special de 1' Annee
Geophysique Internationale! at Moscow in July 1958. Their paper was titled, "The use of interferometer
observations of satellites for measurement of irregular ionospheric refraction." It was published in Vol. XH-Part I,
of the Annals of the International Geophysical Year.
The 20-MHz transmissions of Sputnik III were recorded for about a year. Four parameters of the signal, viz:
Frequency, amplitude, polarization, and direction of arrival, were measured as a function of time throughout a
satellite pass over the Boulder area. This study prompted the addition and use of vertically- and circularly-polarized
antennas to the equipment at the Table Mountain field site for observation of signals from satellites.

604
 A paper, which could be classed as "preliminary," was written by Lawrence for
publication for the special issue on Radio Astronomy in the January 1958 issue of the Proc.
22
IRE [12]. Very few observations of scintillations were noted at this time.

4. An observational program by the CRPL

After the Sputnik episode of observing high heights of the ionosphere, the radio star
group (later to be the Ionosphere Astronomy Section) began an intensive
scintillation
measurement program covering the period from February 1958 through February 1959.
Observations were recorded at 53 and 108 MHz. The result was an extensive paper
published in the summer of 1961 by Lawrence, James L. Jespersen, and Robert C. Lamb
23
[13]. It was a study of the correlation between scintillations recorded at Boulder and
various parameters scaled from the ionograms taken at Ellsworth, Neb. The experimental
relationship between amplitude and phase scintillations was used to determine the
approximate distance to irregularities in the ionosphere that cause the scintillations. They
found correlation between amplitude scintillations and sporadic -F regions, but no significant
correlation with sporadic-E regions. They found that slow irregular variations in the
apparent position of Cygnus-A were due to large lens-like ionospheric irregularities as large
as 200 km in extent. Variations in electron content of vertical columns in these
24
irregularities were estimated at a few percent. Edward R. Schiffmacher, Howard H.
Erickson, and Richard F. Carle conducted the observations.
Using three pairs of Yagi antennas, at stations in a triangular arrangement, Jespersen
and George Kamas observed scintillations of signals from a navigational satellite (Transit
4A) during passages in the vicinity of Boulder [14]. These signals were at frequencies of 54
and 150 MHz. The objective was to study F-region irregularities of the ionosphere.
Observations made in 1962 showed that the average height of the irregularities changed
with magnetic latitude. They found that, in agreement with other observers, the intensity of
scintillations increases to the north, due to increasing thickness of the layer containing the
irregularities and to an increase in the electronic density variations in the layer. It could be
said that a manmade earth satellite served as an "artificial star." In the course of such
studies, the refractive index of the ionosphere along the path of radio waves emitted by a
satellite could be determined. Also, absorption of the radio waves in the ionosphere could be
measured.

"SIGNALS" FROM JUPITER

1. Early observations
Radio emission from the planet Jupiter was discovered by Burke and Franklin of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1955. This influenced Roger M. Gallet, a newcomer to
25
the CRPL in 1955, to make further investigations.

22
A short account of the CRPL program was given by Lawrence at a Conference on Radio Noise at the Harvard
College Observatory in April 1958. It was published as a chapter, waves
entitled "Ionospheric scintillation of radio
of extraterrestrial origin" in a report of the Conference, entitled The Radio Noise Spectrum, edited by Donald H.
Menzel, and published by the Harvard University Press, 1960.
u The same authors wrote a corollary paper, published in conjunction with the referenced paper. Itwas entitled,
"Digitalmethods for the extraction of phase and amplitude information from a modulated signal." They described
three methods how this could be accomplished.
24
The reader is referred to chapter XI, footnote 273, for a very short account of the same observation and the
deductions associated with the radio interferometer method of probing the ionosphere.
25
The Second Annual Report of the Boulder Laboratories (FY 1956) stated:

At the suggestion of R. M. Gallet, a project to observe radio emissions from the planet Jupiter
was initiated late in November 1955. Gallet had pointed out that the emissions from Jupiter
would prove an interesting method of studying ionospheric phenomena under conditions
somewhat different from those on earth. Thus, the observations would both add to knowledge
about Jupiter and the physical processes causing the emission and would lead to a better
understanding of the earth's atmosphere.
The project was started in the Upper Atmosphere Research Section.

605
 Gallet enlisted Kenneth Bowles to design a pair of phase-shifting interferometers to be
placed with their antenna arrays in very close proximity to each other. One interferometer
received at 18 MHz, the other at 20 MHz, with the two equipments operating simultaneously
during reception of Jupiter's "signals." Two types of recordings were made, one at slow
speed for synoptic records, the other at high speed to delineate fine structure of the pulse-
type signals emitted by Jupiter.
Observations over a period of 2 years yielded new information on Jupiter [15]. Analysis
of the data showed that Jupiter has an ionosphere with a critical frequency in the
neighborhood of 15 MHz. Its ionosphere appears to change with the solar sunspot cycle in
much the same way as the Earth's ionosphere. The data indicated that Jupiter's rotational
period is 9 hours, 55 minutes, 29.7 seconds. Also, that a rigid core exists beneath the
optically opaque atmosphere and is the source of the radio emissions. Speculation existed on
the true cause of the emissions.

2. Observations of emissions at 8.9 and 10 MHz

In 1963, the Ionosphere Radio Astronomy Section, under Lawrence, initiated a project
to survey the northern sky at a relatively low frequency (for radio astronomy), that at 10
MHz. The objective was actually a multifold one. The initial main objective, that of a survey
of the northern sky for sources of cosmic noise, was never completed nor were some of the
other objectives completely pursued. One objective, that of a further study of the "signals"
from Jupiter at 8.9 and 10 MHz, received considerable attention and effort. Two doctoral
students of the University of Colorado, Thomas A. Clark, employed by NBS, and George A.
Dulk of the University of Colorado, were engaged in the project. Out of this study each
achieved a Ph.D. dissertation.
The Table Mountain field site was equipped with a Mills cross antenna array with
accompanying electronic circuitry to perform different functions with the array. 26 27 '

The further study of radio emissions from Jupiter was carried out at two frequencies,
8.9 MHz and 10 MHz. The 8.9-MHz observations were made with a radio interferometer with
a base line of 932 m, the property of the High Altitude Observatory of the University of
Colorado, and located near the Table Mountain field site. The 10-MHz observations were
made with the Mills cross antenna at the Table Mountain field site. The project resulted in
a published paper by Dulk and Clark, plus several papers presented by Clark at scientific
28
meetings [16].
Dulk and Clark, in reporting on their observations of Jupiter from July 1964 to April
1965, stated that the radio emissions were dependent upon Jupiter's longitude (field line)
and upon Io's (Jupiter's innermost satellite) position. At both 8.9 and 10 MHz the emission
was almost continuously present at low intensity levels (flux level sensed by high sensitivity
29
levels of the sensing equipment).

26
The Mills cross antenna is a large-aperture, scanning radio telescope antenna with very high resolving power,
consisting of two dipole arrays arranged in a cross. The fan-shaped response pattern of each dipole array results in
a pencil-beam response for the crossed array. (See ch. I, year 1953.)

"'
The Mills cross antenna used at the Table Mountain field site was designed for operation at 10 MHz. It consisted
of several configurations of dipoles in a north-south and an east-west arrangement in order to accomplish several
types of observations.
28
Two papers given by Clark at the 120th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, December 27-30, 1965,
Berkeley, Calif., were entitled: "Observations of Jupiter at 8.9 and 10 MHz," and "Flux measurements on several of
the brighter radio sources at 10 MHz."
Another paper by Clark was entitled, "Electronic scanning for large radiotelescopes," presented at the 1963
PTGAP International Symposium on Space Telecommunications, July 9-11, 1963, Boulder, Colorado (see p. 615).

29
Dulk and Clark found that the satellite, Io, affects the 8.9- and 10-MHz emissions probabilities and intensities to a
lesser extent than at higher frequencies. It appeared that the excitation of the Io-related emission is controlled by
the satellite, while the frequency and beaming of the emission is controlled by the set of Jupiter's field lines on
which radiation is generated.

606
 Ionospheric absorption in conjugate regions

1. Early stages of the program

Studies by many investigators during the 1950's, and especially during the IGY
program, revealed much new knowledge of the upper ionosphere and the exosphere.
Probably most noteworthy was the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts that extend
into the exosphere.
This outer region is the rendezvous of whistlers, VHF emissions, and other radiations,
also, several types of particles entrapped in one way or another by the Earth's magnetic
field (see ch. XI). By 1960 much of the phenomena was observed and explained, but fertile
areas of investigation remained.
Before joining the CRPL in 1958, C. Gordon Little (and a colleague, H. Leinbach) at
College, Alaska, made measurements of high latitude ionospheric absorption characteristics
of the Arctic ionosphere in a region of abundant aurora [17]. The team was associated with
the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska. Two methods of measurement were
used, involving both fixed and continuously rotating antennas. They found regions of
anomalous absorption to be more than 100 km in extent. The absorption was confined

i0
The term conjugate in expressions such as conjugate regions and conjugate points has usage in geomagnetism in
denoting the point of contact with the Earth of each end of a magnetic field line. In the more specialized usage,
hereunder, the term applies to the simultaneous observation of radio waves at both ends of a magnetic field line.
One station of a pair of conjugate points would be to the north of the magnetic equator, the other to the south.
31
To inform the reader of certain terms used in this section as well as throughout the chapter, usage of the
following expressions is explained:

(1) Cosmic (or galactic) noise has the same meaning as first used, historically, by Jansky and by
—
Reber noise from radio waves generated by constellations, galaxies, and more specifically by
radio stars.

(2) Solar noise has the same meaning as first used by Southworth and by Reber, and later by
others — noise from radio waves generated by thermal production by the Sun, and accompanied
with other electromagnetic radiation including x-rays, ultraviolet light, and visible light. The
production is much enhanced by solar flares accompanied further by cosmic ray particles and
magnetic storm particles consisting of protons and electrons (see below).

(3) Extraterrestrial noise has the meaning, generally, of all noise generated by radio waves
from all sources in the Universe, including radiation of electromagnetic waves from the Sun.
However, and frequently, this same meaning is given to cosmic noise alone as being all inclusive,
regardless of the sources of radiation.

By 1960it was generally accepted that solar radio waves impinging upon the Earth's atmosphere from outside

were alsoaccompanied by charged particles of a wide range of energies thrown off by the Sun. The Sun
continuously emits a stream of low energy protons and electrons that constitute the solar wind. Solar flares give an
enhanced emission of charged particles, often with extremely high energy content. When these particles reach the
vicinity of the Earth they are influenced by its magnetic field and tend to travel along the lines of the terrestrial
magnetic field. They move along the magnetic lines in spirals that become tighter with translational movement of
the particles as they approach the surface of the Earth. Finally, the spiral movement reverses and the particles
move back along the magnetic field lines and with increasing speed. The action repeats itself as the particles
approach the other ends of the field lines. This action will continue itself many times as the particles oscillate back
and forth from conjugate points. One can consider that the particles are entrapped by the Earth's magnetic field
and this is the case for the Van Allen radiation belts. But during solar disturbances the solar wind brings dense
streams of high energy particles into the Earth's atmosphere at high latitudes, accompanied by the production of
aurora and other phenomena, including radio blackouts.

Author's (WFS) note: In a coverage of the CRPL conjugate point program in this chapter, the author has taken the
occasion to use the term "extraterrestrial noise" where, otherwise, most of the CRPL participants have used the
term "cosmic noise." He has taken this liberty due to the fact that the antennas generally used by the CRPL in the
more or less remote regions of the Earth were types that had fairly large beamwidths (for example, 60° at half
power points) as radio-noise collectors, and they were zenithally directed and were not steerable. Such antennas
normally receive both cosmic noise and solar noise (during the daytime) and, although the ratio is very small, it
could change throughout daytime reception in response to the antenna position in relation to the Earth's rotation
(i.e., the Sun's position). Nevertheless, such antennas could be subject to fairly high noise levels of radio waves from

the Sun during strong solar disturbances.

As a passing remark of a somewhat whimsical nature, it was during the preparation of this chapter in the
latter part of 1982 that the little-used expression "extraterrestrial" suddenly took on far-flung usage. Coincidental,
was the popularity of the movie "E.T.," the title simply being the initialism for "The Extra Terrestrial."

607
mainly to E region. The team believed that the absorption was associated with
the
bombardment of the upper atmosphere by the corpuscular streams emitted by the Sun that
produce the aurora.
Out absorption study, the duoteam developed the riometer (rio relative
of this —
ionospheric opacity-meter) [18]. (Also noted in ch. XI, p. 442.) The instrument provides for
routine measurement of ionospheric absorption by cosmic-noise measurement and was used
32
in the IGY program. Later, a transistorized model of the riometer was developed and
evaluated in the CRPL by Edward R. Schiffmacher. Redesigned, the instrument had greater
reliability, much less power consumption, and simpler operation.
Following the IGY program much worldwide interest continued in learning more about
the ionosphere and the exosphere. Included in this interest was that by the CRPL. 33 Both
theoretical and experimental studies of the ionosphere by the CRPL came in abundance.
The auroral zones came in for much investigation. Among these was a conjugate point
installation between New Zealand and Alaska for observation, by VLF signals, of the effects
of high-altitude nuclear tests and solar-magnetic storms.

2. A fortuitous start in the conjugate point program

After several years of ionospheric observations in the Arctic region, with much effort
given to studies of absorption of radio waves, operations of the IGY program permitted
continued utilization of the Antarctic Continent as an enormous "laboratory" for further
geophysical investigations. As a huge area it was the Earth's last great "frontier." As a part
of Antarctic programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the CRPL set up a
facility in the Antarctic to study ionospheric absorption in the southern auroral zone. With
the acceptance by the U.S.S.R. of the suggestion that America undertake this absorption
program at their Mirnyy Base on an exchange scientist basis with the American Byrd Base,
the facility was fitted with a 30-MHz riometer. The Mirnyy Base was 10° inside the
Antarctic auroral zone and 23° from the South Pole.
C. Stewart Gillmor, Jr., served as the observer, measurements being taken with the
riometer during 1961. Out of this project came three published papers by Gillmor (including
co-authors), plus a book chapter by Hugh J. A. Chivers that included Gillmor's observations.
After a year's observation of extraterrestrial noise absorption at the Mirnyy Base, it was
learned that the Norwegian Telecommunications Administration had operated similar
equipment during the same period at Longyearbyen on the island of West Spitzbergen,
about halfway between Norway and the North Pole. The two stations, one in the Arctic, the
other in the Antarctic, were within about 400 km of geomagnetic conjugacy. Both stations
were within auroral zones. Unknown to each other, the two stations had similar types of
observations over a common period, a circumstance that was, indeed, a fortuitous one.
In his first published paper, Gillmor reported that the (1961 polar cap) absorption of
extraterrestrial (cosmic, by Gillmor) radio waves, measured by the radio-noise technique,
was nearly the same at the two stations when they were under similar conditions of solar
illumination [19]. This would indicate similarity of the incoming particle flux at conjugate
points. Using data from both stations, the day-to-night ratio of absorption was found to have
a median value of 5.3 during magnetically-quiet periods.
Gillmor's second paper was co-authored with John K. Hargreaves of the CRPL [20].
They found much similarity in the short-duration absorption events at the two stations. The

The riometer is a self-balancing receiving system in which a local noise source is continuously made equal to the
noise power from the antenna. In the absence of ionospheric absorption, a condition that approached with a
is

"quiet" ionosphere, the riometer indicates the intensity of cosmic noise incident to regions beyond the ionosphere.
However, as is the case of several other methods of measuring ionospheric absorption by cosmic noise, the riometer
has its limitations. During times of severe solar flares that are accompanied by the emission of radio waves (usually
in the frequency range of 30 MHz to 10 GHz) from the Sun, these strong "signals" can override the noise power of
the more constant but weak cosmic noise. Unfortunately this can occur at the very occasion when one desires to
learn more about the absorption phenomenon. There are methods of minimizing this shortcoming of the
measurement technique, primarily, by the directional properties and orientation of the antenna. Other limitations
are of less consequence.

A plethora of published papers and books on many aspects of the ionosphere followed for a period of a number of
years after the IGY program. These were not found wanting in numbers by those prepared by CRPL personnel.

608
diurnal distributions of the absorption events were found to change with the season, the
majority occurring by night in the winter, but by day in the summer. Most of the events
occurred simultaneously at the two stations. Other comparisons of less significance were
reported also.
In a combined authorship with K. W. Eriksen of the Norwegian Telecommunications
Administration, Gillmor and Hargreaves published a paper related to their previous one
[21]. Again it was reported that some of the absorption events occur in both the northern
and southern hemispheres but others in one hemisphere only. They were reconciled to the
situation that their data were too few to support any general conclusions on global
34
movement of absorption-producing disturbances.

3. The conjugate point program in the making

In October 1962 Chivers became Chief of the High Latitude Ionospheric Physics Section,
a newly formed section to expand the investigation of radio propagation in the Polar and
35
near-Polar Regions. The observations made at the U.S.S.R. Mirnyy Base in the Antarctic
stimulated further research on a conjugate point program. The first phase of an extended
program was a conjugate point project with a station in the Antarctic and a conjugate point
3b
station in Canada. The program was supported by the National Science Foundation.
The station set up in the Antarctic was 15° from the South Pole. It was given the code
name Eights station. The conjugate point selected was just to the north of the city of
Quebec, Canada, and was given the code name, Quebec Center. For the purpose of checking
experimentally the calculated conjugate point in the vicinity of the Quebec Center station,
two extra stations were placed, respectively, north and south of this station at distances of
80 km. All four stations were equipped with 30-MHz riometers, fitted with zenithally-
directed antennas with half-power bandwidth of 60° in both the E and H planes [22].
37,38

34
Their conclusion stated, in part:

(1) The existence of two kinds of absorption events at high altitude in the ionosphere, each
exhibiting distinct diurnal distribution, with dependency on season.

(2) Apparent changes in longitudinal extent of absorption activity could be explained by the
rotation of the Earth.

(3) There was evidence of time delays between the occurrence of related events at different
places.

35
This section came within the Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division, headed by E. K. Smith, and
formerly headed by Little, who became chief of the CRPL at the time of the October 1962 reorganization. Gallet
continued as chief of the Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics Section, within the same division.
36
It had been stated in the 1962 Annual Report of the Project that the objective was:

To conduct a series of related observations at magnetically conjugate points in order to study in

a comprehensive manner variations in the ionosphere occurring at the two ends of a high-
latitude magnetic field line. The primary experiment will involve the riometer (cosmic noise
absorption) technique to study the ionospheric absorption at the two sites.

On the importance of the project it was stated, in part, that:

The disturbed nature of the high latitude ionosphere is primarily due to corpuscular
bombardment effects. As yet, no attempt has been made to determine, in detail, the relationship
between the upper atmosphere phenomena occurring simultaneously in the two hemispheres.
This project envisions a coordinated, systematic program employing three of the important
observational techniques for studying these ionospheric perturbations.
37
All stations were equipped with magnetometers to monitor magnetic activity during the program. In addition, the
Eights station and Quebec Center station were equipped with receivers to observe VLF emissions, and with
ionosondes for vertical sounding of the ionosphere.
:ls
Two Canadian stations, fitted with riometers, operated by the Defense Research Telecommunication
Establishment, made their records available to the CRPL during the observational program. These stations were
located quite some distance from Quebec in a southwesterly and in a northeasterly direction.

609
 The program was in operation for a 54-day period in December 1961 and extending into
February 1962. 39 Enough was learned in this preliminary program to encourage setting up a
more extended program.

4. The conjugate point program on a grander scale

Early in 1963 the conjugate point program expanded from one pair of conjugate stations
40
to three pairs of stations. This lar ger program was also supported by the National Science
Foundation, along with the cooperation of several Canadian groups, plus the U.S. Navy
Support Force in the Antarctic. 41
The program was carried through much of 1964 and resulted in a number of papers
being published on the research. A popular account was published in the February 1964
issue of the Technical News Bulletin [23]. Two short papers by Chivers and Hargreaves had
42
early publication in Nature [24, 25].
The program was not yet completed. Nor was the program completed when Chivers
reported on its progress at the Eighth Meeting of the AGARD (NATO Advisory Group for
Aeronautical Research and Development) Ionospheric Research Committee, meeting at
Athens, Greece, in July 1964. This paper appeared in the Proceedings as a chapter in a book
43
entitled, Arctic Communications [26].
Not added features of the Baie St. Paul station in the Province
to be overlooked are the
antenna of 60° half-power point beamwidth,
of Quebec. In addition to the vertically-directed
was a four-way corner reflector antenna with beams inclined to the vertical in order to

39
Sufficient observations were made to indicate that correlation of conjugate points changed from absorption event
to event. Movement of conjugate areas was believed
be due to changing latitude of the location at which particles
to
from solar emanations enter the Earth's atmosphere. Magnitude of absorption was greater in the winter
hemisphere even under similar conditions of solar illumination in the two hemispheres.
40
The Antarctic Eights was retained for the expanded program. The conjugate
station of 15° geographic latitude,
point was selected at Baie Paul on the St. Lawrence River about 100 km northeast of the city of Quebec. These
St.

two stations were each fitted with a full complement of instruments including: 30-MHz riometers (5 at Baie St.
Paul), a receiver for reception of VLF emissions, a magnetometer, instrument for observing magnetic
micropulsations, and a photometer for measuring the intensity of optical emissions of the sky.
The Byrd station, about 10° latitude in the Antarctic, and its conjugate point location near the village of Great
Whale River on Hudson Bay, were near the maxima of the two auroral zones. The third pair, with the South Pole
station at one point, had its conjugate point at the village of Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island near Hudson Strait.
These four stations had less instrumentation, but each had a riometer with its accompanying antenna.
41
In the May 1963 issue of The Bureau Drawer and the June 1963 issue of The NBS Standard were short articles
describing the expanded conjugate point program with the following notice by Chivers:

The problem we now face is to find new qualified people to take over the duties of operating the
Antarctic and Canadian stations during 1964. We need physicists with a knowledge of electronics
who are willing to take training for several months in Boulder before leaving on their one year
assignments. Given such people, we may expect to continue getting worthwhile results from our
conjugate point research program in 1964.

These new recruits were to be replacements for personnel at the Antarctic stations, plus personnel to man the
Canadian stations.
Stephen S. Barnes of the Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division became the Coordinator for all
programs in the Antarctic. Robert T. Frost, Administrative Officer for the CRPL, was appointed CRPL Coordinator
for Antarctic and for the IQSY program.

42
In their first paper, Chivers and Hargreaves found that the ratio of absorption at the northern hemisphere site to
that at the southern site, for each of the three conjugate pairs, was not constant throughout the day. They also

observed rapid fluctuations of the absorption ratio on which, at the time, they had to speculate as to the cause of
—
the fluctuations they could be attributed to oscillations in the magnetosphere (in the exosphere).
In their second paper, three months later, Hargreaves and Chivers commented further upon the fluctuations in
ionospheric absorption events. Their observations were in reasonable agreement with those of other investigators
who attributed the cause of absorption fluctuations to hydromagnetic oscillations in the exosphere.
Note: These two papers in Nature are referenced and commented upon in chapter XI, p. 443, in relation to auroral
blackouts and polar-cap absorption in the Antarctic.
43
In this paper, which is partially a progress report, Chivers summarized the earlier Mirnyy station program on
ionospheric absorption, then the first conjugate point project, and, third, a progress report on the conjugate point
program involving three pairs of stations.

610
study ionospheric absorption patterns at locations in four different directions. Comparisons
of the four simultaneous observations indicated the extent and movement of absorbing
44
irregularities or patches in the ionosphere.
This phase of the conjugate point program was reported by Chivers and Hargreaves at a
Symposium on High Latitude Particles and the Ionosphere, at Alpbach, Austria in 1964. The
paper appeared in the Proceedings of the symposium as a chapter in a book entitled with the
4
symposium title [27].
In a later paper, published in March 1966, Chivers and Hargreaves commented on the
4I '

fluctuation characteristics of auroral absorption in the ionosphere [28].

The exosphere
1. An introduction

The conjugate point program, related in the previous section, is associated with the
physical realm that encompasses the Earth's magnetic field the realm of the exosphere.
47
—
To a limited extent the exosphere, per se, was studied by the CRPL. As a title for a project
CRPL organizational structure the term, Exosphere, was not used until the
within the Sixth
Summary Report of Boulder Laboratories for the Fiscal Year 1960. The project, titled
Exosphere Physics, was one of six projects within the Upper Atmosphere and Plasma
Physics Section, headed by Gallet who also served as the leader of the project.
Research in the CRPL previous to the Exosphere Project was probing the exosphere by
remote sensing techniques. These research projects related to the study of whistlers, VLF
propagation, VLF emissions, hiss, conjugate points, and observations of the upper
atmosphere by the incoherent scatter technique developed by Bowles. (See ch. XI for details
on these subjects.) In 1959 Gallet used the term exosphere in the title of a paper on VLF
48
emissions [29].

44
This unusual four-way antenna was designed by Louis D. Breyfogle of the Ionosphere Radio Astronomy Section.
The corner reflectors were of parallel wire construction, and fed by half-wave dipoles. The composite antenna fed
four riometers. The radiation reception beams were directed to be geographic north, south, east, and west at an
elevation angle of 45° with a 90° half-power point beamwidth. Along with the nearly vertically directed antenna
and its riometer, five absorption records could be taken simultaneously to observe irregularities in the ionosphere
overhead.
40
The authors stated that the absorption over Baie St. Paul often indicated large horizontal gradients in the
ionosphere, and that absorption to the north to the south. To the north would be
was three times greater than that
in the direction of the auroral region. An appendix
paper explained the connection that is necessary for
to their
absolute values of absorption for riometer observations for antenna beamwidth and the obliquity in the use of the
specifically designed four-way antenna.

V]
This paper is best summarized in the author's own words, as follows:

In summary, we would say that the slow fluctuations

in auroral absorption observed between
conjugate points are a common feature at times of large absorption, though with some
preference for night and for the higher latitudes. They appear to be evidence for an inter-
hemispheric phenomenon, sometimes becoming so strong that the absorption alternates between
the conjugate stations. The scale of coherence is neither very large nor very small. These and

other features of absorption in conjugate regions are being further investigated.

By publication date, March 1966, the CRPL had become a part of ESSA.
47
The exosphere was considered (and defined) in 1960 by the CRPL to be a region of the Earth's atmosphere above
the F, layer of the ionosphere, beginning at an elevation of about 500 km and extending out to a level of 6 to 8
Earth radii (about 50,000 km). At lower levels the exosphere consists largely of helium ions and at higher levels of
hydrogen ions and electrons. Most of the gas within this region is influenced by the Earth's magnetic and
gravitational fields. As an alternative, the exosphere is called the magnetosphere.

it was generally accepted that the VLF emissions are somewhat

48
By 1959, when Gallet published this paper,
similar to whistlers, in that they have the same propagation mode— that is, produced in the ionized exosphere and
the Earth's magnetic field. Gallet likened the excitation mechanism in the production of VLF emissions to that of
the operation of a traveling-wave tube. He used several models to explain the VLF emissions theory. (Also, see ch.
XI, p. 481, in reference to the same paper.)

611
 The Seventh Summary Report of Boulder Laboratories for the Fiscal Year 1961
delineated a rather extensive program of studies of the exosphere and their importance to a
greater knowledge of the region of space that surrounds the Earth. 49

2. An experimental project at the Sterling station

An experimental phase to the Exosphere Project was reported by Gallet and William F.
Utlaut in 1961 [30]. This was a cooperative project that bridged two divisions. In the
preliminary experiment the duoteam learned of some interesting phenomena of the
exosphere. There was evidence that the exosphere has a propagation mode whereby radio
waves are guided along magnetic lines of force by a relatively small gradient of electron
—
density transverse to the magnetic field showing a laminar nature of the exosphere. 50

3. Reporting on the exosphere to URSI

Research on the exosphere became a matter of interest to the many-faceted interests of
URSI. At the XII General Assembly of URSI at London in 1960, James M. Watts of the the
Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division reported on The Exosphere, a portion of the
report of U.S. Commission 4 for Radio Noise of Terrestrial Origin. In turn, this report came
within the Report of the United States of America National Committee. The report covered
studies on "Theories of the Exosphere," and projects on "Experiments in the Exosphere," all
being conducted in the United States.
At the XIII General Assembly of URSI at Tokyo in 1963, Commission IV had been
renamed Magnetosphere. On this occasion Gallet reported on VLF and ELF noise in the
Report of the U.S. National Commission for Commission IV, Magnetosphere. The report
covered research in the United States on "The VLF Emissions Their Relations with —
Whistlers and High Energy Particle Phenomena."

4. Phenomena associated with the exosphere

The exosphere includes the entire region in which whistlers are greatly dispersed; and
in which VLF emissions, hiss, and geomagnetic micropulsations are considered to originate.
It is also a region where the Earth's trapped radiation tends to linger. Some of these

41
The Seventh Annual Report stated:

The objective of this project is to develop the knowledge of the physics of the earth's atmosphere
above the ionosphere and up to six or seven earth's radii, in a realm where until now our
knowledge has been slight. Emphasis is placed on plasma properties: Wave propagation,
production and motions of high speed electrons and ions through the plasma, interaction
between the particles and electromagnetic waves, the structure of the magnetic field in this
region, and its relation to the plasma properties of the medium. The existence of the program is
based primarily on the need for an understanding of the physical phenomena in the exosphere.
With the increasing development of satellite and space probe experiments, a theoretical
understanding of this region is becoming more and more important. Since the IGY, very rapid
progress has been made in this expanding field, and much new experimental information is
being produced. As a consequence, new problems are arising at a very high rate.
50
This experiment was performed over a period of 2 months in the spring of 1961 at the Sterling, Va., station. Use
was made of a radar with 100-kW peak-pulse power output at a frequency near 14 MHz. To aid identification of the
signal in its long distance of travel and its many reflections at the Earth, the radar was pulsed as a pulse group of
two one-millisecond pulses separated in time by 8 milliseconds at a group repetition rate of 2.5 Hz. The magnetic
conjugate point of reflection was in the South Pacific. A very sensitive specially designed receiver was used to
observe the signals. Two antennas of Yagi configuration were used, one for transmitting, the other for receiving,
each slanted 71° to the horizontal for alignment with the Earth's magnetic field. The total traverse or total
propagation path distance of a pulsed signal received at Sterling was estimated at more than 55,000 km. Echoes of
the signal were recorded for a period of more than 50 minutes on occasion. It was estimated that the transmission
loss for the train of echoed signals was greater than 200 decibels.
The experiment revealed interesting characteristics of the exosphere and pointed out techniques for
observation of associated phenomena that were unanticipatingly revealed. But the experimental project came to a
close. The land of the Sterling station became the Dulles International Airport and the radar transmitter was
dismantled. Although the project was reestablished at Boulder, it did not have the former success and the guided
exospheric propagation project was discontinued beginning July 1963.

612
phenomena are treated in an earlier chapter — chapter XL 81
In total, these manifestations of
Nature, that can be observed with specially developed equipment, were studied by the CRPL
in different organizational units, and occasionally in cooperative projects. In several
instances, outside groups took part in the investigations.
To a limited degree, a program was initiated to explore, theoretically, the nature of
ionosphere regions on some of the planets of the Solar System. Several papers on the subject
resulted from this program.

Space communication 52

1. The matter of frequency selection

The progression from rockets to satellites to space vehicles brought on the urgent need
for communicating in space. With the launching of Sputnik I by the U.S.S.R. on October 4,
1957, the World entered the Space Age (see ch. I, year 1957). In 1959 the CRPL entered upon
53
a program that was modestly geared to space communication and space travel.
As a very early contribution to the program was a paper published by George W.
Haydon, entitled "Optimum frequencies for outer space communication," [31]. The paper
)4
resulted from an earlier pioneering study by Haydon. To engineer the design of a space
communication system, Haydon's study indicated the necessity of arriving at a set of
compromises in order to optimize for an operating frequency, at a frequency based upon the
choice of an operation condition among several operating conditions. 05
In June 1961 the Joint Technical Advisory Committee (JTAC) of the IRE and the EIA
(Electronic Industries Association) published a report in the Proc. IRE on the subject of
51
In chapter XI the reader will find the subjects of whistlers located on pp. 479-482, VLF emissions on p. 480, and hiss
on p. 480. In chapter XV the reader will find the subject of laboratory plasma investigations treated on pp. 625-626, that
were, in part, related to the exosphere.

1,2
This section of chapter XIV narrates engineering features of CRPL projects that were "BEYOND THE
IONOSPHERE." It is closely related to the subject matter of chapter XIII.

03
In a reorganization of the CRPL in January 1959 a new division was formed, to be known as the Radio
Communication and Systems Division, with Richard C. Kirby as Chief. The Systems Analysis Section, one of eight
sections within the division, was organized to:

. provide analytical studies of overall radio system problems, especially development of

. . new
radio system concepts, frequency utilization, and system performance studies. . . .

More specifically, in relation to space communication:

The objectives of the program have been to investigate the problems of communication between
space vehicles and between space vehicles and earth, as they apply to communication system
design and to the allocation of frequencies for space communication use.

Initially, Donald W. Patterson served as the acting chief of the new section, followed later by William C. Coombs as
chief.
The space communication study program was to provide fundamental propagation and modulation information
for exploiting new bandwidths of channel space, and new regions of the frequency spectrum for space vehicles and
relay systems. The first phase of the extensive program was a literature survey, plus a national effort to determine
the state-of-the-art in a broad field of space communication. But by FY 1962 there were changes in emphasis in the
program structures within the Division and the Systems Analysis Section with its extensive program was phased
out. The modulation research portion of the broad program became the primary project.

>4
Haydon joined the CRPL in June 1959 to serve as a consultant in the newly formed Radio Communication and
Systems Division. Previously, he was a member of the U.S. Army Radio Frequency Engineering Office, Office of
Chief Signal Officer. It was in this association that Haydon had made a study of the optimum frequencies for space
communication. His report was adopted by the International Radio Consultative Committee in April 1959, and
designated as CCIR Report 115, "Factors affecting the selection of frequencies for telecommunication with and
between space vehicles."
" For communication between Earth and a space vehicle, the choice of an operating frequency lay within the band
of 70 to 6000 MHz (above the upper limit of ionospheric propagation frequencies and below the lower frequency
limit of absorption by rain and snow in the troposphere). The selection of an operating frequency within this band
was dependent upon: background noise levels of cosmic and receiver noise, and the requirements of transmitting
and receiving antennas to assure tracking. Beyond the Earth's atmosphere, the environmental conditions for
communication between space vehicles was largely unknown at the time of the study but would not be affected by
the Earth's atmosphere. Tracking problems would be the principal concern.

613
 "

"Frequency allocations for space communications. 56 Herbstreit of the CRPL served on the
Ad Hoc Subcommittee of the Joint Committee in preparation of the report. In compiling the
many sectors of the report, the Subcommittee relied extensively on the services of the
CRPL, also on the services of the Stanford Research Institute.
Development of space communication systems, with the accompanying problem of
frequency allocations, was also accompanied by the problem of radio interference. A project,
sponsored by the Joint Technical Advisory Committee (noted above), was conducted by
William J. Hartman and Martin T. Decker of the Radio Propagation Engineering Division.
Although completed by Nov. 1961, their NBS Technical Note 126 was not published until
August 1963 [32]. 57

2. Toward a decision of historical significance

On April 20, 1961, President Kennedy wrote a memorandum to the Vice President,
Lyndon Johnson, that stated:

In accordance with our conversation I would like for you as Chairman of

the Space Council to be in charge of making an over-all survey of where we
stand in space.

Financed by the Congress, the wheels of American technology at the frontiers of science
were put to spinning and on July 20, 1969, somewhat more than 8 years after Kennedy's
memorandum, the first human stepped on the surface of the Moon from the landing vehicle,
Eagle. The peoples on the Earth watched and heard Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin,
during their rendezvous on the Moon. Navigation of the mothership, Columbia (command
module), and the landing vehicle, Eagle (lunar module), plus communication with the Earth,
was a supreme achievement in telecommunication technology. The flight of Apollo 11 was a
realization far beyond that of Jules Verne's dream and story, From the Earth to the Moon
(1865).

3. Radio communication on the Moon

Spread about the CRPL in the early 1960's were various projects relating to space
communication and space flight. One of the projects, in the Radio Propagation Engineering
Division, was titled, "Point-to-point communication on the Moon." Lewis E. Vogler and his
associates tackled the problem on how best to communicate on the Moon between a base site
and an exploring party, possibly in situations beyond line-of-sight. The earlier stages of
development of this project were well delineated in the September 1962 issue of the
Technical News Bulletin [33]. The project was sponsored by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(Pasadena, Calif.) and became the source material for several publications [34,35].'*
Vogler's first paper, in the NBS Journal of Research, was a preliminary study of point-
to-point communication systems on the surface of the Moon. The mode of propagation was
assumed to be by ground wave over a lunar model that was a smooth sphere of homogeneous
material in free space. The result was an engineering conception of a communication system
59
that would be adequate for use on the Moon.

Two major sets of recommendations emerged from this report: (1) Findings and recommendations of the JTAC
,,h

regarding frequency allocations for space communications, (2) Recommendations for experiments and investigations
needed to provide technical data for satellite communication relays.
7
Refer to chapter XII, p. 547, for a fuller account of this project.

Vogler's paper published in the NBS Journal of Research was akin, in large measure, to one published as a
°8

chapter in the book, Technology of Lunar Exploration (Academic Press, 1963). The book contained a selection of
papers presented at the American Rocket Society Lunar Missions Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, July 17-19, 1962. The
book was Volume 10 of the series, Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics.
59
Design consideration for the system called for a Beverage (or wave) antenna for transmitting toward a vertical
dipole on the receiver. The Beverage antenna can be as simple as a single conductor laid on the Moon's surface
with its far end terminated in its characteristic impedance by means of a resistor. Such an antenna is quite
directive, thus increasing its gain in a selected direction. Assuming a relative dielectric constant of near unity (near
4
that of free space) and a very low conductivity (10~ mhos/m) as parameters for the Moon's surface material, and an
operational frequency of 100 kHz, with a modulation bandwidth of 6 kHz, Vogler arrived at a 16-W power input to
the transmitting antenna to cover a distance of 100 km with an adequate signal-to-noise ratio.

614
 In NBS Monograph 85 [35], published in 1964, Vogler reiterated much of the
considerations of his first paper [34], and then added discussions on the effects of layered
materials in the Moon's subsurface, and the effects on propagation of possible lunar
ionospheres. The monograph was amply illustrated with 94 sets of graphical representations
of the relation of various parameters. Vogler indicated a series of further studies, both
theoreticaland experimental, for more exact information on the Moon's natural features
and on engineering choices for optimum performance of a communication system.

4. An international symposium
By mid-1963 the Nation's space program was well into the progressive steps. On May 16,
1963, Mercury Faith 7 (Astronaut Cooper), a manned space vehicle was launched and
completed 22 orbits of the Earth. On July 26 Syncom 2 was launched, to become the first
synchronous communication satellite, taking a fixed location 22,300 miles (35,680 km) above
the Earth. This U.S. satellite was fitted with microwave equipment to receive signals from
Earth-based transmitters, amplify the signal, then transmit it back to the Earth at another
frequency. Between these two events, radio scientists and engineers of the IEEE
Professional Technical Group on Antennas and Propagation (PTGAP) held an International
Symposium on Space Telecommunications at the Boulder Laboratories during the period of
July 9-11, 1963. Over 400 were in attendance and 61 technical papers were presented, with 9
papers by NBS personnel. Gordon Little and James Watts chaired two of the nine technical
60
sessions.

5. A tutorial paper appears

As a result of increasing interest in, and the application of, earth-space communication,
Lawrence, Little, and Chivers published a tutorial paper in 1964 on the ionospheric effects
upon earth-space radio propagation [36]. 61 Based upon the findings of many investigators (62
literature citations), the authors, primarily, showed the frequency dependence and order of
magnitude for various ionospheric effects upon radio waves from sources beyond that
62
penetrate the Earth's ionosphere.

SAFETY IN SPACE TRAVEL

1. Evaluating the hazard of solar cosmic rays

During the early years in planning for space exploration, and particularly for space
travel by man, there was considerable concern over the probable hazards to both the
instrumentation and the well-being of humans on board space vehicles. The concern
centered around possible ill effects caused by solar cosmic rays during periods of intense
solar flares. At the time it was accepted fact that solar cosmic rays consist almost entirely of
protons covering a broad range of the energy spectrum.

60
To indicate the scope of the symposium, the subjects of the technical sessions were: Space communciations,
propagation, feeds and reflectors (antennas), surface waves, broad-band antennas, aperture synthesis (antennas),
electromagnetic theory, antenna arrays, and plasmas.
Jack Herbstreit served as chairman of the Steering Committee, assisted by Ernest Smith as vice chairman.
Herman Cottony served as chairman of the Technical Program Committee.

61
In 1964 C. Gordon Little was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service with the
citation,

for highly distinguished contributionsand leadership in the physics of radio propagation and the
organization and administration of significantly important research programs in radio science.
62
In summary, the authors found from their survey that: (1) Although absorption in the ionosphere does occur
above the usually considered frequency of penetration (very approximately, 15 MHz), the effect upon amplitude
diminishes rapidly with increased frequency and becomes unimportant above 100 MHz. (2) Irregular structure of
the ionosphere does produce amplitude scintillation effects and other more subtle effects upon the radio waves. (3)
Angle of arrival of radio waves at the Earth's surface is modified by stratification and masses of irregularities in
the electron density of the ionosphere. (4) Due to Faraday rotation of radio waves by the ionosphere, there can be a
marked effect upon propagation by a communication system that uses linear polarization.

615
 In view of his investigations associated with radio propagation in high latitudes as
affected by solar cosmic radiation, it became a natural for Dana K. Bailey, consultant to the

Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division, to make a study of radiation hazard in
space.The result was a 1962 publication [37]. 63 Bailey concluded that the peak radiation
hazard had been over-estimated previously by a factor of several hundred times or more.
The conclusion is borne out during the past 2 decades of manned space flights.

2. Safeguarding the orbital flights of Mercury spaceships

On September 17, 1960, NBS and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) signed a Memorandum of Agreement to enter into an arrangement for a period of
time whereby NBS
would furnish special forecasts of radio propagation conditions for the
coming Mercury flights. This service became known as Project Mercury Radio
orbital
Warning Service operated by the CRPL's Ionosphere Research and Propagation Division
and, more specifically, by the Radio Warning Services Section. For the next few years
Martin E. Nason served as the project leader.
The center of operations for the warning service was located at Fort Belvoir, Va., the
location of the already established North Atlantic Radio Warning Service, operated by the
CRPL (see ch. XI, p. 455). The nature of the project was well stated in the objective:

Systematic forecasts of short time variations in the ionosphere will be made

specially for the ProjectMercury ground communications network. Prior to
a launch, the communications officer in charge of the network will be given
special forecasts and interpretations of the forecasts as may be required.
Advice regarding the more likely periods for undisturbed conditions will be
made available to NASA officials charged with setting dates for launching.
The purpose of the warning service was to secure reliability of radio
communications within the Mercury network which was worldwide in
scope. A riometer and other special equipment were installed at the Fort
Belvoir station for the most advanced means of observing potential
disruption of radio communication in the frequency bands used in the
network system.

The successful performance of Project Mercury during 1962 and 1963 orbital flights was
reported in a summarized form in The Annual Report 1963 of NBS. 04 The CRPL was very
much a part of the system of NASA's Mercury program.
63
A summary of Bailey's paper can best be stated by quoting from The Annual Report 1962 of NBS, which stated:

An understanding of the variation with time of the energy spectrum of solar cosmic rays near
the earth is essential for estimating radiation hazards in nearby space. A study based on the

results of continuous radio observations of the effect of solar cosmic radiation on the very low
ionosphere at high latitudes was completed and published. These observations were combined
with the direct determinations of the solar cosmic-ray fluxes and energy spectra made with
balloons, rockets, and satellites during the past three years. This investigation indicates that
solar cosmic radiation near the earth is not the severe hazard predicted by earlier estimates.
Such studies have a significant impact on the design of the radiation shielding used in
spacecraft.

'"'
We will let Project Mercury Radio Warning Service give its report as was stated in 1963, under the title,

"Assistance of Project Mercury:"

During the orbital flights of Astronauts Shirra and Cooper, special efforts were made by the staff
of the North Atlantic Radio Warning Service located at Ft. Belvoir, Va., to keep Project Mercury
headquarters informed of current and anticipated radio propagation conditions. Special forecasts
of radio propagation conditions were issued every hour during the flights, specifically for the
high-frequency circuits which comprise the Project Mercury ground communications network.
The forecasts were made available to the NASA Communications Director and the Propagation
Analyst at the Goddard Space Flight Center Communications Center. During the periods
between orbital flights, forecasts were issued by the Warning Service staff weekly, with daily
updating as necessary. Reliable forecasts were made possible by associating reports of observed
propagation conditions on each Project Mercury circuit with reports of observed solar,
geomagnetic, and ionospheric activity occurring at the same time.

616
 References
[1] Karl G. Jansky, "Directional studies of atmospherics at high frequencies," Proc. IRE, Vol. 20, No. 12, Dec. 1932,
pp. 1920-32.
[2] Karl G. Jansky, "Electrical disturbances apparently of extraterrestrial origin," Proc. IRE, Vol. 21, No. 10, Oct.
1933, pp. 1387-98.
[3] Grote Reber, "Cosmic static," Proc. IRE, Vol. 28, No. 2, Feb. 1940, pp. 68-70.
[4] Grote Reber, "Cosmic static," Proc. IRE, Vol. 30, No. 8, Aug. 1942, pp. 367-378.
[5] Jack W. Herbstreit, "Cosmic radio noise," Advances in Electronics, Vol. I Academic Press, New York, 1948.
[6] H. V. Cottony and J. R. Johler, "Cosmic radio noise intensities in the VHF band," Proc. IRE, Vol. 40, No. 9,

Sept. 1952, pp. 1053-60.

[7] G. C. Southworth, "Microwave radiation from the Sun," J. Franklin Inst., Vol. 239, No. 1, Jan. 1945, pp. 285-
297.
[8] Grote Reber, "Solar radiation at 480 Mc/sec," Nature, Dec. 28, 1946, p. 945.
[9] "Alaska eclipse expedition," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 35, No. 2, Feb. 1951, pp. 17-19.
[10] "Solar radio noise bursts," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech News Bull, Vol. 36, No. 5, May 1952, pp. 65-67.
[11] "Unusual solar disturbance," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech News Bull., Vol. 44, No. 8, Aug. 1960, pp. 138-139.
[12] Robert S. Lawrence, "An investigation of the perturbations imposed upon radio waves penetrating the
ionosphere," Proc. IRE, Vol. 46, No. 1, Jan. 1958, pp. 315-320.
[13] R. S. Lawrence, J. L. Jespersen, and R. C. Lamb, "Amplitude and angular scintillations of the radio source
Cygnus-A observed at Boulder, Colorado," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D, No. 4, July-Aug. 1961,
pp. 333-350.
[14] J. L. Jespersen and George Kamas, "Satellite scintillation observations at Boulder, Colorado," J. Atmospheric
and Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 26, April 1964, pp. 457-473.
[15] Roger M. Gallet, "Radio observations of Jupiter," Chapter 14, Planets and Satellites, pp. 500-533, Vol. Ill of The
Solar System Series, G. P. Kuiper, Editor, University of Chicago Press, 1961.
[16] George A. Dulk and Thomas A. Clark, "Almost-continuous radio emission from Jupiter at 8.9 and 10 MHz,"
Astrophysical J., Vol. 145, No. 3, Sept. 1966, pp. 945-948.
[17] C. G. Little and H. Leinbach, "Some measurements of high-latitude ionosphere absorption using
extraterrestrial radio waves," Proc. IRE, Vol. 46, No. 1, Jan. 1958, pp. 334-348.
[18] C. G. Little and H. Leinbach, "The riometer — a device for the continuous measurement of ionospheric
absorption," Proc. IRE, Vol. 47, No. Feb. 1959, pp. 315-320.
2,

[19] C. S. Gillmor, Jr., "The day-to-night ratio of cosmic noise absorption during polar cap absorption events." J.

Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 25, May 1963, pp. 263-266.
[20] C. S. Gillmor and J. K. Hargreaves, "The occurrence of short-duration cosmic noise absorption events inside
the southern auroral zone," J. Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 25, June 1963, pp. 311-318.
[21] K. W. Eriksen, C. S. Gillmor, and J. K. Hargreaves, "Some observations of short-duration cosmic noise
absorption events in nearly conjugate regions at high magnetic latitude," J. Atmospheric and Terrestrial
Physics, Vol. 26, Jan. 1964, pp. 79-90.
[22] C. G. Little, E. R. Schiffmacher, H. J. A. Chivers, and K. W. Sullivan, "Cosmic noise absorption events at
geomagnetically conjugate stations," J. Geophys. Res. Vol. 70, No. 3, Feb. 1965, pp. 639-648.
[23] "Conjugate point phenomena," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull. Vol. 48, No. 2, Feb. 1964, pp. 34-36.
[24] H. J. A. Chivers and J. K. Hargreaves, "Ionospheric absorption in conjugate regions and possible oscillation of
the exosphere," Nature, Vol. 202, May 30, 1964, pp. 891-893.
[25] J. K. Hargreaves and H. J. A. Chivers, "Fluctuations in ionospheric absorption events at conjugate stations,"

Nature, Vol. 203, Aug. 29, 1964, pp. 963-964.

[261 H. J. A. Chivers, "Conjugate point observations at a variety of high geomagnetic latitudes," Chapter 2, Arctic
Communications, Proceedings of the Eighth Meeting of the AGARD Ionospheric Research Committee,
Athens, Greece, July 1933, Pergamon Press, London, 1964.
[27] H. J. A. Chivers and J. K. Hargreaves, "The use of multiple antennas in studies of absorption at conjugate
points," a chapter in book, entitled High Latitude Particles and the Ionosphere, a Proceedings of a
Symposium of the same title, held at Alpbach, Austria, March 19-26, 1964, pp. 257-264, Logos Press,
London, 1965.
[28] H. J. A. Chivers and J. K. Hargreaves, "Slow fluctuations between conjugate points in the auroral absorption
of cosmic noise," J. Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 28, March 1966, pp. 337-342.

(Continued)

The propagation forecasts supplied by the North Atlantic Radio Warning Service enabled the
Mercury ground communications center to anticipate problems that might be encountered and
unbroken communications. This reliability of
select alternative frequencies or circuits to insure
communication was required in obtaining information from the astronaut and spacecraft
equipment, which was telemetered to the tracking stations and relayed to the Mercury Control
Center at Cape Canaveral. The same reliability was required for transmission of decisions from
the Mercury Control Center to the tracking stations and the capsule itself, to insure the safety of
the astronaut and the success of the mission. The staff of the North Atlantic Radio Warning
Service received congratulatory telegrams from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration for its role in making the missions successful.

617
[29] Roger M. Gallet, "The very low-frequency emissions generated in the Earth's exosphere," Proc. IRE, Vol. 47,
No. Feb. 1959, pp. 211-231.
2,

[30] R. M. Gallet and W. F. Utlaut, "Evidence on the laminar nature of the exosphere obtained by means of guided
high-frequency wave propagation," Phys. Rev. Letters, Vol. 6, No. 11, June 1, 1961, pp. 591-594.
[31] George W. Haydon, "Optimum frequencies for outer space communication," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
Vol. 64D, No. 2, March-April 1960, pp. 105-109.
[32] William J. Hartman and Martin T. Decker, Mutual Interference between Surface and Satellite
Communication Systems, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 126, Aug. 1, 1963, 50 pages.
[33] "Lunar radio communications studied," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull. Vol. 46, No. 9, Sept. 1962, pp.
124-125.
[34] L. E. Vogler, "Point-to-point communication on the Moon," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 67D, No. 1,

Jan.-Feb. 1963, pp. 5-21.

[35] L. E. Vogler, A Study of Lunar Surface Radio Communication, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Monograph 85, Sept. 14,
1964, 126 pages.
[36] R. S. Lawrence, C. G. Little and H. J. A. Chivers, "A survey of ionospheric effects upon earth-space radio
propagation," Proc. IEEE, Vol. 52, No. 1, Jan. 1964, pp. 4-27.
[37] D. K. Bailey, "Time variations of the energy spectrum of solar cosmic rays in relation to the radiation hazard
in space," J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 67, No. 1, Jan. 1962, pp. 391-396.

618
 Chapter XV

EXIT RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS, ENTER QUANTUM

AND PLASMA PHYSICS

Introduction
1
1. Microwave spectroscopy for measurement standards
a) The ammonia atomic clock
Soon after the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory was established, a program of
"microwave spectroscopy for measurement standards" was started in the newly organized
Microwave Standards Section. The purpose was to investigate microwave spectral lines that
might be used in a microwave frequency standard and in an "atomic clock."
The 23,870.1-MHz absorption line of ammonia was being investigated by Harold Lyons
and his associates, but it appeared that the atomic and molecular vibrational states of a
number of other chemical substances might be useful for frequency standards. (For example,
the possibility of using deuterated ammonia instead of ordinary ammonia was proposed and
a quantity of pure ND 3 was obtained from the Texas State Research Foundation.) Work on
the ammonia clock progressed rapidly, and on August 12, 1948, the World's first atomic
clock was given its initial run and on January 6, 1949, a public announcement was made to
the press.
Professor Charles H. Townes of the Radiation Laboratory at Columbia University was
engaged by the Microwave Standards Section as a consultant in microwave spectroscopy and
continued with NBS until after the move to Boulder (see ch. VIII, p. 298, footnote 87).
Townes presented an invited paper entitled "The Confluence of Spectroscopy and Radio
Engineering" at the Dedication Scientific Meetings (Radio Conference), held in connection
with the dedication of the NBS Boulder Laboratories, September 8-14, 1954. He emphasized
the remarkable application of atomic and molecular resonance to the precise control of
radio frequency and thus to highly accurate time standards. Townes was also chairman of
one of the four Conference sessions on Microwave Techniques and Applications.

b) Spectral lines of deuterated ammonias

The deuterated ammonias were never used in the atomic clocks, but the research
provided approximately 125 lines of ND 3 ND 2 H, and , 2 in the NDH
region from 2000 to 17,000
MHz. The results were published in the Physical Review in 1951 [1]. Deuterated ammonia,
however, was used in the gas cell or absorption-line filter of a frequency standard as well as
in a frequency divider in the range of 3000 to 9000 MHz.

c) Stark-cell microwave spectrograph

In connection with this work, a Stark-cell microwave spectrograph was developed and
constructed for operation over a frequency range of less than 900 MHz to above 17,000 MHz.
Although some features had been developed by others, this spectrograph was adapted for
the lower frequencies by incorporating coaxial equipment [2]. A further modification was
reported about a year later [3].

Most of the contents of this section have been covered in somewhat greater detail in various sections of chapter
VIII, but they are repeated here for continuity of the chapter.

619
2. Microwave spectra tables

a) Circular 518 ( 1952)

As a microwave spectroscopy program, Townes, with co-worker Paul A.

project in the
Kisliuk, a graduate student at Columbia University, made a compilation of all known
molecular microwave spectra lines, which was published first in the NBS Journal of
Research [4]. Later the compilation was expanded and published as NBS Circular 518 [5].
Microwave spectra are useful in identification of compounds and in qualitative and
quantitative chemical analysis.

b) Monograph 70 ( 1964-1969)

More than a decade later, after the advent of modern computer techniques, the tables
were brought up to date and published as a five-volume set over a period from 1964 to 1969
{NBS Monograph 70, Vols. I-V) [6- 10]. 2 Volumes I and II were completed under the
supervision of Paul F. Wacker. Later, L. Yardley Beers assumed general supervision of the
project and Marian S. Cord was appointed project leader for the remaining three volumes.
The original volume by Townes and Kisliuk included 99 molecules (as distinct from isotopic
species). Monograph 70 listed 296 molecules.

3. Experiments with oxygen line

line which offered promise and seemed to have some advantages over
Another spectral
ammonia as a frequency standard was the oxygen line of 60,435 MHz. Because the move to
Boulder was already in the planning stages, an oxygen spectrometer was built by John M.
Richardson and set up first in temporary quarters in the National Guard Armory at Boulder
3
[ll]. When
the Radio Building was completed in 1954, the spectrometer was one of the first
pieces of equipment moved into the new quarters. It was of such a size (25 feet long) that the
laboratory occupied the space of several normal-sized rooms, and the end of the instrument
extended through an opening in the wall into an adjacent room. The oxygen line was never
used experimentally to control a frequency standard because of advances with another
—
technique the cesium beam frequency standard.

4. Cesium beam atomic clock

Shortly after the ammonia-cell clock was announced, work began on an atomic-beam
clock which used a beam of cesium atoms. This clock was completed and operated in
Washington, then disassembled and moved to Boulder. Several years later it became the
NBS-I Atomic Frequency Standard (see ch. VIII, p. 299).
A Model 2 ammonia clock was constructed in Washington, and a Model 3 ammonia
clock was in the planning stages when the move was made to Boulder. The Model 2 clock
was disassembled for the move and was never reassembled. In view of advances with the
cesium beam as an atomic-frequency standard, the limitations of accuracy did not warrant
further study of the ammonia clock.

J
Volume I of Monograph 70 was one of the most complex works prepared up to that time for printing from a
computer output. The data were first prepared on cards which were sent through a card reader, then through an
IBM output writer which produced photo-ready tables for printing. Volumes II-V were prepared for printing from
punched paper tape. The Seventh Summary of Research at Boulder Laboratories (FY 1961) included the following
explanation of procedures involved:

Input and output formats for the tables were devised, and programming for intensity
computations was begun. An electric typewriter was modified to read punched paper tape. (Data
are to be recorded first on magnetic tape and then transferred to punched paper tape.)
1
The Scientific Research Society of America (RESA), affiliated with the Society of Sigma Xi, established a chapter
at NBS-BL in 1955. One of RESA's first activities at BL was
the establishment of an award, to be made each year,
for the best paper reporting original research in physics in the Boulder area. John M. Richardson received the first
RESA publication award for his paper, "Experimental evaluation of the oxygen microwave absorption as a possible
atomic frequency standard," published in the Journal of Applied Physics (see [11]).

620
 Millimeter-wave research
1. Purpose
The purpose of this research was described in the Third Annual Report of the Boulder
Laboratories:

to develop techniques for. measurements in the millimeter and

. . .

submillimeter wavelength region and to explore and exploit applications of

the shorter microwaves to precision measurements such as time, length,
certain molecular resonances, and the velocity of light.

Earlier Boulder Laboratories Annual Reports had used the title "Extreme High
Frequencies" for this research.
Another change in title appeared in later Reports, "Millimeter- Wave Interferometry."
With this change came an expanded statement of objectives:
(1) to investigate and develop the special techniques required for the
transmission, generation, detection, measurements, and use of millimeter
wavelengths with particular reference to the development of radio
standards for these wavelengths; (2) to explore and exploit the unique
applications of such short wavelengths to research problems such as atomic
and molecular resonances; and(3) to develop more precise methods such as
millimeter-wave interferometry for highly accurate and precise
measurements of physical constants such as the velocity of light, and for
the measurement of length.

Microwave versions of the Michelson and Fabry-Perot optical interferometers were

developed and studied at the NBS Boulder Laboratories with a view to providing such
highly accurate and precise measurements [12]. Microwave interferometry forms an
effective bridge between conventional radio and electronic methods, and purely optical
techniques.
Original work was carried out by Richardson and George E. Schafer. Later, William
Culshaw, Ramon C. Baird, and staff assistants joined the project.

Millimeter-wave Fabry-Perot interferometer.

621
2. Microwave Michelson interferometer
a) Pilot model
A pilot model of the Michelson interferometer was set up and operated at 6 to mm
study the errors in such an instrument. After satisfactory experience with this pilot model,
design and construction of a final instrument followed.

b) Construction
The design of the instrument involved a number of unique features. The reflector was a
2
block of aluminum 5 ft with an extremely smooth surface, fabricated by the Naval Gun
Factory, Washington, D.C. The Gun Factory also fabricated the carriage which allowed the
reflector to be moved approximately 1 m
on ball bearings. Displacement of the reflector was
measured by a meter bar supported by ball bushings on a steel rod, which could be swung
into position to measure the displacement. All of this was mounted on a block of granite for
4
stability.
Electromagnetic horn radiators with matched dielectric lenses provided stable radiating
2 2
apertures of dimensions 60 cm and 30 cm .

3. Microwave Fabry-Perot interferometer

The design of the microwave Fabry-Perot interferometer began about 1957, with
initial
particular attention being given to the reflector design. Various designs were tried and
improved reflectors were developed [13]. This work resulted in improved performance, ease
of adjustment,and convenience of fabrication [14]. By 1961 the instrument had been used to
measure the length of millimeter waves to accuracies better than 0.04 percent.

4. Diffraction computations

In the application of precision microwave interferometry to the determination of the

speed of light and to metrology, a diffraction correction to the wavelength measured on the
interferometer must be considered. David M. Kerns and Edward S. Dayhoff made a detailed
study of diffraction theory in microwave interferometry and derived a rigorous
mathematical treatment of formulas for deriving diffraction corrections to be applied in
measurements made with the microwave Michelson interferometer [15].

THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS

1. Solar atmosphere studies

A program entitled "Solar Atmospheric Studies" was initiated in Fiscal Year 1956 for
the purpose of providing a strong representation of this area in the general NBS program on
Measurements and Standards in Plasma Physics and Astrophysics. It was in the Office of
the Director, Boulder Laboratories, under Richard N. Thomas.
The objectives of the project were given in the Fourth Summary Report of the Boulder
Laboratories:

(1) Research and consulting activities in studies of the solar atmosphere and
general stellar atmospheres, and (2) the relationship of these studies to
phenomena in high-temperature gaseous ensembles. In addition to these
activities, the aim of the program is to provide extensive working liaison in
the field between Boulder Laboratories, the High Altitude Observatory, the
Sacramento Peak Observatory, and other groups in this field, both in the

4
When this assembly arrived in Boulder, a portion of the outside wall of the Radio Building was removed for its
installation.

622
 5
United States and abroad. The work is partially supported by the Air
Force Cambridge Research Center.

The program continued into a second year with the same title. Joining the project
6
during the year were John T. Jefferies (on leave from the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organization of Australia) visiting the NBS-HAO-SPO group, and guest
workers from several cooperating laboratories and observatories who took part in a variety
of research investigations.
Projects included a collaborative investigation by Jefferies and Thomas of the behavior
of the radiative source function in a non-confined gaseous atmosphere (see [16]) and the
distribution of emergent energy in spectral-line profiles. In general, results of these studies
differed very appreciably from those obtained under the assumption of Local
Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE), this assumption having been frequently and incorrectly
applied in other solar work.
Two guest workers, John H. Waddell III from the Sacramento Peak Observatory in New
Mexico, and Anne B. Underhill of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada, computed f-values for the first-order Stark components of the
Lyman, Balmer, Paschen, Pfund series of hydrogen, using the IBM 650 computer. This work
was published as NBS Circular 603 [17].

2. A change of project title — Theoretical Astrophysics

a) Expanded objectives
In the next year, the title of the project was changed to "Theoretical Astrophysics: Non-
Equilibrium Phenomena in Gaseous Atmosphere," and in following years to "Theoretical
Astrophysics." The statement of objectives was also expanded:

(1) research and consulting activities into the study of the configuration of a
gaseous atmosphere where cyclic processes in the energy balance occur, so
that significant departures from a configuration of Local Thermodynamic
Equilibrium exist; (2) investigation of the interrelation between such non-
LTE configurations of the gaseous atmosphere and the field of aerodynamic
motions which may exist in the atmosphere, with particular interest in the
relative importance of energy and momentum from such velocity fields to
the state of the atmosphere; (3) particular application of these studies to the
solar atmosphere and, conversely, utilization of the detailed data from solar
atmosphere studies to gain general insight into the general theoretical
problems posed by these studies; (4) to provide a strong representation of
this area of study in the general NBS program on Measurements and
Standards in Plasma- and Astrophysics.

b) Research projects
Jefferies and Thomas continued the investigation of the behavior of the radiative source
function in a non-LTE gaseous atmosphere [16]. They also made a study of the effect of
applying a theory of a source function which does not include non-LTE effects on the
interpretation of observed spectral-line profiles in terms of velocity fields. An application of
these methods to the general problem of ionization equilibrium was initiated, and the case
forhydrogen was solved in collaboration with Stuart R. Pottasch [18]. Extension to helium
and more highly ionized metals was undertaken and application to the analysis of the

This explanatory note, not a part of the quotation, was inserted at this point by the author (CLB). The High
Altitude Observatory (HAO), with facilities at Boulder and Climax, Colo., was operated by the University of
Colorado until 1960, when it became a unit of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder (NCAR).
NCAR is operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
The Sacramento Peak Observatory (SPO) is a facility of the U.S. Air Force at Sunspot, N. Mex. (near Holloman
AFB, Alamogordo).
6
Jefferies and Thomas acted as thesis directors for S. R. Pottasch, who received the first Ph.D. granted in the
Department of Astrogeophysics, University of Colorado (June 1958). Pottasch then joined the BL staff full-time in
the Sun-Earth Relations Section of the Radio Propagation Physics Division of CRPL.

623
structure of the solar chromosphere was made in collaboration with Pottasch and others. A
general methodology was developed for treating radiative dissipation of energy in the non-
LTE atmosphere and its variation through the atmosphere.
Additional research effort was conducted with guest workers from organizations in the
United States and abroad. Some of these programs, those taking part, and the laboratory or
observatory with which they were affiliated, included: studies of negative atomic ions with
Harold R. Johnson, HAO, and Fritz Rohrlich, University of Iowa; the general problem of
line-formation in non-LTE configurations and its effect on interpretation of observed
spectral-line profiles from stellar atmospheres with Jean-Claude Pecker, Observatoire de
Meudon; general methodology for treating radiative dissipation of energy in non-LTE
atmospheres and its variation through the atmosphere; and a study of atomic cross-sections
with Rohrlich and S. N. Milford, St. Johns University, Queens, N.Y.; H. Mendlowitz, NBS
Washington; and Harold R. Johnson, HAO [19]. Milford served as a consultant on the study
of hydrogen Balmer lines in the Sun with Charlotte Pecker, Institut de Astrophysique,
Paris, and E. V. P. Smith, SPO, thus linking NBS with his program at St. Johns University
of computations of inelastic collision cross-sections between excited levels of hydrogen.
William A. Rense, University of Colorado, with consultants Rohrlich and Charlotte
Pecker, conducted an investigation of spectroscopic configurations found in rocket
ultraviolet observations of the Sun. J. B. Zirker (SPO) collaborated in the study of a link
between the methodology of these problems and that of source-function studies. Work was
done with D. C. Morton and K. G. Wilding (Naval Research Laboratory) in connection with
NRL rocket observations in the ultraviolet.
Zirker and Thomas conducted investigations on an atmospheric shell of finite capacity,
such an atmosphere being the kind producing the solar rocket spectra.
A strong collaborative program existed with groups at Institut de Astrophysique
Observatoire de Meudon and on atomic parameters of astrophysical interest applied to
stellar atmospheres with a group at University College, London.
J-C. Pecker investigated the application of source-function methodology to an
atmosphere containing a system of aerodynamic motions; and Zirker, the application of the
same methodology to a discussion of the solar atmosphere.

3. Technical Note 30: Aerodynamic Phenomena in Stellar Atmospheres

A bibliography of aerodynamic phenomena in stellar atmospheres was prepared by
collaboration of astrophysicists from Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, the
USSR, Japan, and the Scandinavian countries, and edited by Thomas. L. L. House of the
Department of Astrogeophysics, High Altitude Observatory, assisted in the program. This
bibliography was published September 15, 1959, as NBS Technical Note 30, to provide a
working bibliography for particular use in preparation for the Fourth Symposium on
Cosmical Gas Dynamics, Aerodynamic Phenomena in Stellar Atmospheres [20].

4. Physics of the Solar Chromosphere — a book

Thomas and R. Grant Athay (High Altitude Observatory) collaborated on a book,
Physics of the Solar Chromosphere, published in 1961 by Interscience Press, New York [21].

PLASMA PHYSICS
1. Introduction
The interaction of radio waves and plasma has been a subject of much theoretical and
practical interest. Therefore a study of radio plasmas was initiated in the Director's Office of
the Boulder Laboratories in 1959. The goal was to develop precise measurement techniques
and basic data on the fundamental properties of ionized gases.
A major initial project was the radio probing of a dense, highly magnetized, and
bounded plasma by using the British thermonuclear machine ZETA. A detailed description
of this program is given in section 2 below.
Other work in this field included the development of diagnostic methods based on
microwave techniques and the development of stable and uniform plasmas.

624
2. A team from Boulder goes to England to use the British thermonuclear
machine ZETA
In the summer of 1958, Roger M. Gallet suggested to the International School of Physics
at Varenna, Italy, that the "whistler" mode of propagation might be reproduced with the
dense plasmas of a thermonuclear research machine such as the British ZETA. At the same
time, he held preliminary discussions with the director of the British Atomic Energy
Research Establishment at Harwell, England, for using the machine. After formal details
were completed, a team of five (consisting of Roger M. Gallet, John M. Richardson, Bernard
Wieder, Gray D. Ward, and Malcolm M. Anderson) spent several months at Harwell
performing a series of carefully designed experiments.
A large amount of equipment (about 2 tons) was assembled at Boulder and shipped to
Harwell. It included microwave transmitters and receivers, antennas, and auxiliary
equipment. One member of the team (Anderson) was a microwave technician who went
along to install and operate the equipment, and to keep it in working order.
Gallet had previously done work with the naturally occurring phenomenon known as
"whistlers," a mode of propagation which originates at very low frequencies in the Earth's
7
exosphere and travels over paths several Earth radii long. His theory was that the
"whistler" mode could be established in the laboratory if conditions were right.
Previously, all attempts at radio-wave probing of the dense plasma of thermonuclear
machines had tried to use frequencies above the natural plasma frequency. This required
equipment operating in the millimeter portion of the microwave spectrum at the extreme
upper frequency limit of the techniques of the time. Probes at these frequencies were still
unable to penetrate the densest regions of the plasmas.
However, studies of the atmospheric "whistlers" had shown that radio waves would
propagate through a plasma at frequencies below the natural plasma frequency of electrons
in the magnetic field which is present. For "whistlers" in the Earth's exosphere, this means
that frequencies of the order of 10 kHz will propagate; for a large thermonuclear machine
such as ZETA, the corresponding frequency is of the order of 3000 MHz.
It was demonstrated that the radio waves do propagate successfully as predicted, and
interference effects were demonstrated between the outputs of two receiving antennas
spaced along different paths from the transmitting antenna. The time variation of the
internal magnetic field was also measured from the onset and cessation of the propagation
mode. The demonstration of interference effects showed that interferometer techniques can
be used to measure the wavelength of a radio signal in the plasma.
Through making such measurements on varying frequencies, and because the
propagation of the radio signal is confined to a narrow cone along the line of force of the
magnetic field, it became possible to measure the local electron density within the plasma,
to map the internal magnetic field in intensity and in direction, and to determine the local
temperature of the electrons. The results also indicated that Cerenkov radiation could be
8
used to detect high-velocity particles moving through the hot plasma [22, 23].
This project was supported by the Air Force Cambridge Research Center.

3. Upper atmosphere plasma physics

In Fiscal Year 1960, a new division was formed in CRPL, the Upper Atmosphere and
Space Physics Division. A section within this division, the Upper Atmosphere and Plasma
Physics Section, was headed by Gallet. A series of experiments in plasma physics was
performed under his direction to duplicate in the laboratory the phenomena occurring when
bursts of plasma enter and perturb the media surrounding the Earth. The radio properties
of similar perturbations can be studied in detail in the laboratory by controlled and
reproducible experiments using diagnostic techniques.

7
See chapter XI, section entitled, "The sounds of radio waves at very low frequencies," p. 479.
8
A report by Wieder, entitled"Microwave propagation in an overdense bounded megnetoplasma," was submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado.

625
a) Cylindrical shock waves from exploding wires
Shock waves from exploding wires were used in the laboratory by Donald L. Jones,
Kenneth B. Earnshaw and associates to produce a dense, highly ionized plasma [24]. The
objectives of the project were the production and study of the ionization, temperature, and
velocity of high-energy blast waves. The principal purpose of the project was to obtain and
study interaction between electromagnetic waves and the plasma in the blast wave.
The systematic study of shock waves from exploding wires in air involved a wide range
of wire sizes, pressures, and energy inputs. Quite critical optimum conditions were found in
which nearly half of the energy available from the capacitor bank went into the shock.
Unexpected ionization, far in advance of the shock front, was detected and studied.
Hydromagnetic interactions were observed between the expanding shock front and a strong
magnetic field parallel to the wire axis [25,26].

b) Radiation produced from a plasma

Plasmas produced by a high-velocity shock wave traveling at speeds in excess of Mach
100 in helium were studied in the laboratory in the presence of a transverse magnetic field
by Earnshaw and associates [27,28]. Radio frequency radiations resulting from the
hydromagnetic interaction between the shock wave and the magnetic field were observed.
Creation in the laboratory of electromagnetic radiation from plasmas was considered a
major step towards duplicating under controlled conditions electromagnetic processes which
occur in the upper atmosphere.

c) High-speed camera for plasma physics research

A high-speed framing-type camera was perfected for use in connection with the
experiments in laboratory plasma physics. The work on this project was performed by
Earnshaw and associates in the Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics Section, "with very
important help in camera design and photographic techniques from Charles M. Benedict,
Thomas L. Theotokatos, and Felix H. Dunbar of the Photographic Laboratory." (Quoted
from Seventh Summary of Research at Boulder Laboratories.) The original design of a
camera developed by M. Sultanoff at the Army's Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground was
modified and improved to enable the camera to be used for streak photographs, stroboscopic-
effect photographs, and single-exposure photographs [29].

This high-speed camera was developed for photographing shock waves in a plasma tube. The camera was adapted
from a design originally described by Sultanoff of the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground.

626
 .

The and flexibility of this laboratory instrument permitted diagnostic analysis

precision
of the behaviorand characteristics of the luminosity front in a strong shock wave. These
studies were basic to understanding of shock-wave effects in a hot plasma and the
mechanism leading to the generation of radiofrequency radiation by a plasma.

4. Radio Plasma
A Plasma was formed in the Radio Standards Physics Division
section designated Radio
Radio Standards Laboratory, was first called Radio Physics). The
in 1962 (the division, in the
section incorporated projects that had previously been in a group formed under the chief of
the Radio Standards Laboratory as a part of an NBS program on Measurements and
Standards for Plasma Physics and Astrophysics. Karl-Birger Persson was named chief of the
section.

a) Brush-cathode plasma
A novel cold-cathode discharge — the brush-cathode plasma — was developed by Persson ',

who conducted an extensive investigation of this plasma, with assistance from members of
the section. He stated in a report in the Journal of Applied Physics, Oct. 1965, [30]:

The field plasma physics has need for a well-behaved

of experimental
plasma. A
well-behaved plasma is a plasma whose parameters such as the
electron density, electron temperature, and significant collision frequencies
can be varied in a controllable manner The plasma should. be . .

sufficiently stable to study under steady-state conditions. . . .

The brush-cathode plasma is both stable and uniform, and is characterized by a

distinctive negative glow. This negative glow constitutes a well-behaved medium (no
instabilities and no striations) which makes it ideal for a whole series of investigations in
plasma-physics spectroscopy.
The name brush-cathode plasma comes from the design of the cathode, which resembles
a brush. It consists of a collection of metal wires that are brazed end-on to a common base
plate. The wires do not touch each other and are electrically as well as mechanically
connected only through the base plate. The free ends of the wires were etched
electrolytically, producing a set of very sharp needle-like points located in essentially the
same plane. The set of brushes used in Persson's investigation were made of 0.025-inch
tungsten wires, 1-3/4 inches long and spaced 1/16 inch apart, soldered to an invar base
plate.

Joint institute for laboratory astrophysics

1. Organization
The National Bureau of Standards and the University of Colorado (CU) collaborated in
the establishment in 1962 of the Joint Institute of Laboratory Astrophysics JILA) on the CU (

campus in Boulder, Colo. 10 JILA was established as a unique permanent academic unit
v
Karl-Birger Persson was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service on Feb. 14,
1967. Persson was recognized
for contributions to the study of plasma mechanisms and the technology of plasma
measurements
10
The historical background of JILA goes back to 1960, when the Space Science Board of the National Research
Council adopted a resolution stating, in part:

The Board foresees that a strong limitation to progress in physical interpretation of experiments
and observations of the terrestrial, planetary, solar and stellar atmospheres is the lack of
sufficientunderstanding of basic physics of atoms and molecules in the environment which they
encounter in these atmospheres. The Board feels that basic work on atomic cross sections,
reaction rates and interaction with radiation fields both individually and cooperatively should be
encouraged wherever interest exists or may be stimulated.
NBS responded to this need by establishing a coordinated group of laboratories (in both Washington and
Boulder) for astrophysical and plasma research, which encompassed the activities of about 100 senior staff
members. JILA's initial staff was drawn from this group.

627
devoted to research and advanced training of students in areas of physics and astrophysics
vital to the U.S. space program. Laboratory astrophysics emphasizes laboratory research
and theoretical investigations rather than the acquisition of astronomical observations via
observatories, rockets, balloons, and other means.
Lewis M. Branscomb, chief of the Atomic Physics Division of NBS Washington, was
largely responsible for the concept of JILA and worked closely with authorities of the
University of Colorado and of the National Bureau of Standards to perfect details of this
University-Federal Government cooperative activity. He transferred to JILA when it was
organized and was named chief of the NBS group in the Institute.
JILA is closely allied with the CU Physics Department. A number of CU faculty
members are Fellows of JILA. A group of CU scientists, headed by Wesley Brittin, then
Chairman of the Physics Department, became part of the initial professional staff. Several
areas of CU research fit into the Institute program, including plasma physics, space physics,
astrogeophysics, and nuclear physics. Academically, JILA, in cooperation with the CU
Physics and Astrogeophysics Departments, trains graduate students in atomic physics,
astrophysics, and astrogeophysics.
JILA an integral part of the NBS Boulder Laboratories. It works in close cooperation
is

with extensive research programs in astrophysics, atomic and molecular research, and
plasma physics in both the Washington (Gaithersburg) and Boulder laboratories. The initial
11
staff consisted of nine atomic physicists from Washington and two from Boulder (Thomas
and Jefferies).
JILA, as explained above and as its name implies, is a joint operation of NBS and the
University of Colorado. However, for administrative purposes within NBS, the NBS group
1J

of employees was established in 1962 as a technical unit of the Boulder Laboratories. In 1964
the Bureau was restructured into four institutes and the JILA group of NBS employees was
designated as the Laboratory Astrophysics Division (JILA) in the NBS Institute for Basic
Standards. Branscomb remained as chief of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division and
continued in that position until he became director of the National Bureau of Standards in
1969. In 1977 the name was changed to Quantum Physics Division (in the Institute for Basic
Standards).
JILA is housed in its own 10-story building on the campus of the University of Colorado,
a part of the Duane complex of buildings. The Duane complex also houses the University's
Department of Physics and Astrophysics and the Department of Astrogeophysics, as well as
the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). In addition to the 10-story tower,
the JILA building includes a laboratory wing with a large isolated underground research
bay and an auditorium. Offices and laboratories for staff and students, a reading room,
workshops, and other support facilities are located in the building.
JILA maintains a support staff11 to provide assistance in the design and fabrication of
research equipment, and for numerical analysis and computer programming. JILA has a
high-speed terminal to the University's computer and access to the computing facilities of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Department of
Commerce.

11
Richard N. Thomas was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service on Feb. 14,

1963. Thomas was recognized

for pioneering a new approach to our understanding of the atmosphere of stars as well as for his
delight in scientific daring and intolerance of mediocrity, and for his vision and enthusiasm
which led to the creation of JILA last year.

'
Arthur R. Hauler, Executive Officer, Laboratory Astrophysics Division (JILA), was awarded the Department of
Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service on Feb. 15, 1965. Hauler was recognized

for contributions of great value to administration in the development of new patterns of Federal-
State cooperation in research, through service as Executive Officer of the Joint Institute for
Laboratory Astrophysics of the National Bureau of Standards and the University of Colorado.

"Carl E. Pelander of the support staff was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious
Service on Feb. 15, 1966. Pelander was recognized

for a high order of originality and competence in developing and operating a system of technical
support for a large experimental research program at the Joint Institute for Laboratory
Astrophysics of the National Bureau of Standards and the University of Colorado.

628
The building of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) on the campus of the University of Colorado
at Boulder. JILA is a joint operation of the National Bureau of Standards and the University of Colorado. The
view is looking northeast through an arch of a neighboring campus building.

2. Research activities

A wide variety of research programs at JILA, both experimental and theoretical, are
directed primarily toward basic problems in atomic and molecular interactions, linear and
nonlinear radiative processes of atoms and molecules, radiative transfer, spectral line
broadening, and the determination of fundamental physical constants. Substantial attention
is also given to the development of applications, including, for example, the search for more

efficient combustion and chemical processes, the development of stabilized laser systems,
and their application to precision measurements for solid earth geophysics.
Astrophysical research at JILA is directed largely toward the observation and
understanding of atomic and molecular spectra of astronomical objects, including solar and
stellar chromospheres, stellar interiors, interstellar matter, cosmic x-ray sources, and
quasars.

629
3. Atomic Collision Data Center
JILA maintains an AtomicCollision Data Center whose mission is the collection and
critical evaluation of data on low-energy collisions of electrons, photons, ions, atoms, and
14
molecules. Evaluated data and critical reviews are the major products. These are issued as
JILA Data Center Reports, as NBS publications, or as publications in recognized technical
journals. The JILA Data Center is affiliated with the National Standard Reference Data
System, coordinated by NBS.
The Center provides evaluated data for modeling ionized gases in the areas of
astrophysics, gas discharges including gas lasers, CTR (controlled thermonuclear reaction)
and MHD
(magnetohydrodynamic) plasmas, atmospheric physics, and aeronomy. The Center
is compiling and evaluating low energy transport cross sections and rate data, and atom-ion

transfer collisional energy transfer rates.

4. Measurements of excitation of multiply charged ions

Measurement techniques and apparatus developed at JILA have been combined with
ion-source facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a collaboration tomake the first-
ever measurements of cross sections for electron-impact excitation of multiply charged ions.
The technique, which uses crossed beams of electrons and ions, was used to measure cross-
+3
section data for triple-charged carbon ions (C ) and four-times charged ionized nitrogen
+4
(N ) [31].
Such data are needed for impurity diagnostics on large-scale controlled fusion
experiments such as with Tokamaks, since the measured cross sections combined with
observations on Tokamaks can tell how much impurity is present. The impurities can lead
to failure of the fusion process by disrupting the conductivity of the plasma and giving rise
to instabilities or by radiating away excessive amounts of energy. Impurity concentrations
near the walls can also stop proper refueling of the fusion reactor.
Carbon and nitrogen are generally the most prevalent impurities present, and metal
ions from wall materials are also commonly present.
Because of the large variety of ions of ultimate use in plasma applications, it will be
impossible to measure all of them, and theory will have to be relied upon. The new
measurements, besides being of direct use, are the first direct tests of theoretical methods
used to calculate cross sections for multiply-charged ions.

5. E. U. Condon closes career at JILA

Edward Uhler Condon, who was director of the National Bureau of Standards (1945-
1951) and who played a leading role in establishing the NBS Boulder Laboratories (ch. XIX,
p. 706), was appointed a JILA fellow in 1963. Upon his retirement in 1970, he became
Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astrophysics at the University of
Colorado and was given the title of "Fellow Emeritus" by his colleagues in JILA.
At JILA he resumed research on the theory of atomic spectra with Halis Odabasi, who
received the Ph.D. from the University of Colorado while working at JILA with Condon.
Frederick Seitz, president of the Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y., wrote in the
Foreword to Topics in Modern Physics A Tribute to Edward U. Condon (Colorado Associated
University Press, Boulder, Colo., 1971, 360 pages),

. .Condon, who never really got the western blood drained from his
. .

veins, .achieved a position of longitude less than one degree east of the
. .

site of Alamogordo, New Mexico, where both he (1902) and the first atomic
bomb (1945) were born. He is nominally retiring.. .as this volume goes to
press. We shall see just what such retirement consists of.

14
A Group Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service was awarded to Gordon H. Dunn, Lee J.

Kieffer, and Stephen J. Smith, Laboratory Astrophysics Division (JILA) on Oct. 21, 1970. They were recognized

for exceptional contributions in the establishment of criteria for valid atomic collision
measurements.

630
 The volume consists of a collection of papers prepared as a tribute to Condon by his
associates in the University of Colorado and in JILA, upon his retirement. It was edited by
Wesley Brittin of the University of Colorado and JILA (sec. 1, above) and by Halis Odabasi
(above, this section), who co-authored one of the papers.

Laser research

1. Development of laser program at Boulder Laboratories

— —
A pulsed ruby laser the first at the Boulder Laboratories was built by Donald A.
Jennings of the Atomic Frequency and Time-Interval Standards Section in 1962. A laser had
not been included in the BL budget and therefore Jennings tapped other funds for its
construction. L. Yardley Beers, chief of the Radio Standards Physics Division, has described
and pointed out that the start of laser work was
this first laser as a "bootlegged" project
delayed because of budgetary problems and conditions in the labor market.
The Annual Report of the National Bureau of Standards for 1962 stated, in essence:
this laser was powered by powerful xenon flash lamps, had a coherent light
output at a wavelength of 6943 A, and can be focused by means of an
ordinary lens to provide a high-energy density of optical radiation, making
feasible experiments that a few years ago were impossible.

Two helium-neon (He-Ne) gas lasers were also reported to be under construction.
The pulsed rubylaser was used in an experiment on anthracene fluorescence, described
in an internal NBS Report not available for general distribution.
In subsequent years, when a program of laser research was funded, Jennings continued
with the development of lasers. As the program expanded, additional personnel joined the
staff and further development of lasers proceeded. Applications of newer and existing lasers
were investigated.
When JILA was established in 1962, several of the first NBS scientists came with
backgrounds in laser technology and a number of laser programs were inaugurated. These
programs and the personnel involved are discussed in sections that follow.

2. Laser intensity stabilizer

A laser intensity stabilizer, developed by John L. Hall and James J. Snyder of JILA,
was listed among the I-R 100 (the top 100 technical products selected by Industrial Research
15
magazine) in 1975 [32].
The laser intensity stabilizerprovides a means of continuously controlling and
stabilizing the intensity of a laser beam within narrow limits. It is built as a separate unit,
rather than being incorporated into the laser itself. Thus, the unit can be used with
practically any laser desired, and subsequently switched to another laser without major
modifications.
The high-speed laser intensity stabilizer uses an extraordinarily fast electronic servo-
system to sense fluctuations in the laser's intensity and rapidly change the transmission
coefficient of an active element to compensate. The result is a beam of laser light that
contains far less broadband noise than before and allows more accurate calibration of power
levels, more sensitive spectroscopy, and elimination of lengthy experimental runs to check
for power-level drift.
Most users of lasers require some degree of stability in power output. Such uses as
precision measurements, laser spectroscopy, and calibration of power meters and transfer
standards require stability (freedom from noise at high and low frequencies) far in excess of
that available from most lasers without the intervention of the operator. The new device
allows the operator to simply set the power level and then concentrate on the measurement,
rather than have to constantly adjust the power output manually.

15
John Lewis Hall, Laboratory Astrophysics Division (JILA), was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold
Medal for Exceptional Service on Oct. 14, 1969. He was recognized
for research on laser technology, with emphasis on stabilization of lasers for ultimate use as tools
in length measurements and in the study of the structure of atoms and molecules.

631
3. Sensitive seismometer housed in abandoned gold mine
One of the World's most sensitive earth-movement detectors, developed and operated by
members of the Quantum Electronics Division and JILA, was housed in the abandoned
tunnel of an old gold mine in the mountains near Boulder, Colo. [33].
The mine, known as the Poorman's Mine, was opened by a prospector in 1878 but was
abandoned in 1953 when the costs of mining exceeded returns. The tunnel was reopened by
NBS about 1961 for studies on the speed of light because that experiment required a quiet,
stable environment.

A laser interferometer, 30 m long, in the Poorman 's Mine (an abandoned gold mine in the mountains west of
Boulder) served as a laser-seismograph to measure vibrations in the Earth 's crust.

The instrument detected infinitesimal vibrations in the Earth's crust using a 30-m (100-
foot) laser interferometer. It was capable of detecting vibrations in the Earth as small as
5xl0"
13
m an inch). The instrument measured
in amplitude (equivalent to 20 trillionths of
these changes at frequencies ranging from 100 Hz down to one cycle per year.
The high sensitivity of the device was due to the highly stable laser beam transmitted
through the unusually long interferometer built especially for use in the mine. The
wavelength of light used was in the near-infrared portion of the spectrum and is not visible
to the eye. The ends of the interferometer were mirrors anchored to the solid rock of the
mine floor by piers. As the rock moved slightly in response to Earth tremors or the passage
of the Moon and Sun overhead, the mirrors also moved, causing the light's self-interference
to vary. The variation was then detected with light-sensitive crystals, which convert infrared
light to electrical currents for amplification and recording. Two independent helium-neon
lasers were operated simultaneously; one to sense the variation in length of the
interferometer, and the second to serve as a standard of frequency/wavelength for
comparison with the first.

632
 The interferometer was an adaptation of the Fabry-Perot interferometer. Its main
characteristicwas that the intensity of infrared laser light transmitted through its partially
transmitting mirrors and emerging from the other end was a periodic function of the
distance between the mirrors; maximum intensity was obtained whenever the mirrors were
separated by an integral number of half-wavelengths. If the mirror separation varied with
time, as when the mirrors were moved by vibrations in the Earth's crust, then the intensity
would vary.
A photodiode sensed this variation in intensity and drove a servomechanism which
tuned the laser's frequency enough to bring the intensity back to maximum. Thus, the
laser's frequency variations were made to "track" the interferometer's length variations.
Frequency variations in the interferometer-laser were measured by comparing the
output with another laser whose frequency was highly stable. This stabilization was
accomplished by locking the second laser's output to the constant frequency of a saturated
absorption line in methane gas. Frequency fluctuations in this stabilized laser amount to
12
less than a few parts in 10 though this was not the ultimate stability one could expect
,

from this type of device. Sensitive enough to detect vibrations in the Earth that change the
12
interferometer spacing by only a few parts in 10 the system was also fast enough to record
,

such changes at frequencies up to 50 Hz, while retaining the stability to measure vibrations
at frequencies of less than one cycle per year.
Laser-seismograph development opens new areas of research in the fields of seismology
and geophysics. One field of investigation concerns the long-term buildup of strain in the
subterranean rocks. If the strain, or deformation, in a particular area accumulates to the
point where it exceeds the elastic limit of the crustal material, an earthquake may be
generated when the crust ruptures or slips to relieve the strain. Thus, monitoring of the
strain buildup as a function of time may provide some indication of where an earthquake
might be imminent.

4. Laser electron paramagnetic resonance

Electron paramagnetic resonance between two levels of ground state oxygen (N = 3,
J — A, M N M
= -4, and = 5, J = 5, = -4) was found to equal the HCN laser frequency of 890
GHz in a magnetic field of about 16.4 kG. A group consisting of Kenneth M. Evenson,
Joseph S. Wells, Herbert P. Broida, and Robert J. Mahler of the Quantum Electronics
Division and Masataka Mizushima of the University of Colorado made the first
paramagnetic resonance absorption between these levels and the first laser electron
paramagnetic resonance (LEPR) absorption in a gaseous sample. The observations were
made utilizing a specially constructed LEPR spectrometer [34].
The technique of the measurement involved focusing of the beam of an HCN laser on a
small hole (0.75 mm) in the mirror of a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The interferometer was
centered in a uniform external magnetic field. The radiation was monitored by a Golay cell
through a 0.75-mm hole in the opposite side of the interferometer. Conventional field
modulation and phase-sensitive detection apparatus completed the spectrometer.
A few torr of oxygen gas was placed in the interferometer and the magnetic field was
swept. Any absorption of energy by the oxygen gas was then detected by the Golay cell.
As the program progressed, Wells and Evenson introduced an impiovement by making
the oxygen absorption cell an integral part of the laser [34].

5. Laser power and energy measurements

The field power and energy measurements presented a wide variety of
of laser
relatively new problems. Among the staff involved in design and construction, as well as
testing and calibration of measuring devices, were Jennings and Evenson of the Quantum
Electronics Section, and Estal D. West, Alvin L. Rasmussen, William E. Case, Leonard B.
lD
Schmidt, and William R. Simmons of the Laser Measurement Technology Section [35].
Measurements were required for wavelengths from 400 nm to 30 jim, for power levels from
" ;

Donald A. Jennings was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service on Oct. 21,

1970. Jennings was recognized

for contributions in quantum electronics and in the development of absolute laser power and
energy standards and measurement techniques.

633
10" 6 to 10 12 3 3
watts (peak pulsed power), for energies from 10" to 10 joules, and for operating
conditions ranging from single pulses through repetitive pulses to continuous wave.
Measuring devices which were relatively insensitive to wavelength were desirable
because the greater the useful range, the fewer the devices which are needed. Calorimeters,
which convert radiant energy to heat and measure the quantity of heat, offered a great
advantage because they could be designed to operate over a large range of wavelengths [35].
The large ranges of power and energy to be measured required a considerable number
of devices because the range of any one device is relatively limited. Large power levels
presented a special problem because of possible damage to the meauring device. Damage
apparently results not only from thermal effects but also from the large electrical fields due
to the coherence of the radiation.
Operating conditions also affect the measurement. Single pulses usually require an
energy measurement. The output of cw and most repetitively pulsed lasers can be measured
either continuously as power or as energy by letting the beam into the calorimeter for a
known time.

Speed of light by laser

1. Speed of light

A new value for the speed of light, announced in 1972, was determined from direct
frequency and wavelength measurements of a methane-stabilized helium-neon (He-Ne) laser
at 3.39 jam (88 THz) [36]. These measurements were made against the respective primary
—
standards the NBS cesium beam frequency standard and the krypton length standard.
The frequency measurements were made by Evenson, Wells, F. Russell Peterson, Bruce
L. Danielson, and Gordon W. Day of the Quantum Electronics Division. The wavelength
measurements were made at JILA by Richard L. Barger of the Quantum Electronics
17
Division and Hall of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA).
Multiplying the values of frequency and wavelength gave a value for the speed of light,
299 792 456.2(1.1) m/s, in good agreement with and about 100 times less uncertain than the
previously accepted value. The uncertainty of this measurement of the speed of light was 4
parts in 10 9 judged by the Consultative Committee for Definition of the Meter (CCOM) of the
,

International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM). See reference [42]. The main
limitation was asymmetry in the krypton line defining the meter.

a) Frequency measurements
Evenson had scored a breakthrough in laser frequency measurements in 1969 when he
and coworkers (Wells, Lawrence M. Matarrese, and Lyman B. Elwell) made the "highest
frequency measurements as yet reported"[37].
18,19
A water-vapor laser was used. A few

17
A Group Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award for Exceptional Service was presented to Richard L.
Barger, Bruce L. Danielson, Gordon W. Day, Kenneth M. Evenson, John L. Hall, F. Russell Peterson, and Joseph S.

Wells on Oct. 30, 1974. They were recognized

for contribution to the wavelength and frequency measurement of the methane stabilized HeNe
laser resulting in 30 times more accurate determination of the speed of light having an impact
on international standards.
ls
In describing the importance of Evenson's achievement, Lewis M. Branscomb, Director of the National Bureau of
Standards, said:
Ever since Albert Einstein showed that time can be considered the fourth dimension of the space
in which we live, scientists have looked forward to the possibility of using one gage —
one
—
"yardstick" so to speak not only for the three dimensions of space but for the fourth dimension
of time as well. To interchange clocks and rulers scientists must know the speed with which light
travels, which is equal to its wavelength times its frequency. With this demonstration that both
the space (wavelength) and time (frequency) dimensions of a single light source can be measured
with prodigious accuracy, this goal is now within our grasp.
19
Kenneth M. Evenson was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service on Oct. 28,
1971. Evenson was recognized
for contributions in infrared frequency measurements and infrared molecular spectroscopy.

634
months later, absolute frequency measurements were extended to still higher values (again
reported as "highest cw frequency measurements as yet reported"), using the C(X laser [38].
These measurements led in turn to the He-Ne laser cited in ref. [36] above [39].
 Measuring the frequency was done in steps. With suitable point-contact mixer diodes
(tungsten-nickel point-contact "catwhisker" diodes), a chain of stabilized lasers and klystron
frequency sources allowed direct harmonic generation and frequency mixing from the NBS
cesium beam frequency standard upward to the carbon dioxide (COJ laser at 29 THz (10.3
jura) and thence upward to the methane-stabilized laser at 88 THz (3.39 jam). Five different

types of lasers and five klystrons were used in the three-step measurement process.

A tungsten-nickel ("catwhisker") diode serves as a harmonic generator and mixer in the three-step measurement of
frequencies. The diode multiplies lower known frequencies to higher unknown frequencies.

A low-frequency infrared hydrogen-cyanide (HCN) laser was compared with the cesium
frequency standard. Harmonics of that laser were then compared to a water-vapor (H 2 0)
laser of higher frequency, and harmonics of the HX) laser to a still higher-frequency carbon-
dioxide (C(X) laser. One of the C0 2 laser lines was measured and compared to the helium-
neon (He-Ne) laser, which was locked to the methane-absorption line (88.38 THz). Thus, the
higher frequency was measured in terms of known lower frequencies, and the chain of
measurements was extended to higher and higher frequencies.

b) Wavelength measurement
The wavelength measurement consisted of an interferometric comparison of the
methane-stabilized He-Ne laser and the krypton (86 Kr) lamp, the International Standard of
Length.
After the 86 transition at 6057 A was adopted as the International Standard of
Kr
Length in 1960,was discovered that this line is slightly asymmetric. Because of the
it

intrinsic asymmetry of the krypton standard line (which is very small), it is necessary to
specify the point on the line profile to which the defined wavelength is applied. Barger and
Hall found that it simplified presentation of their numerical result to adopt the arbitrary
convention that the defined wavelength be applied to the center of gravity of the krypton
line.

636
c) New standards envisioned
The relationship "wavelength times frequency = speed of light (c)" puts equal
emphasis on the measurement accuracy of both components. As the frequency measurement
is about 10 times more accurate than the wavelength measurement, it seems desirable to

improve the length standard, either by replacing it with a stabilized laser or defining the
value of c. The first would permit more accurate determinations of c. The second
alternative, defining c, would enable an experimentalist to use a frequency standard to
accurately establish the length of the meter. The combined frequency-length standard would
suffice for both kinds of measurement. Thus, it would be possible to eliminate the need for a
separate length standard.

d) International recognition
The value for "speed of light" determined by the NBS Boulder group, 299, 792, 458 (1.2)
m/s, was included in the report of the Task Group on Fundamental Constants, Committee
on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), International Council of Scientific Unions,
and adopted by CODATA on August 10, 1973. 20 This Task Group report was published in the
J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data and the full CODATA report in CODATA Bulletin No. 11 (Dec.

1973). A summary was given in NBS Dimensions (Jan. 1974) [40,41,42].

21

Quoting from Dimensions:

The "1973 adjustment" of the fundamental constants is the outcome of a

review and analysis of all the experimental and theoretical data that bear
on determination of their numerical values. In the case of the speed of
light, all older determinations were discarded in favor of the recent
measurements using lasers, whose uncertainty is smaller by a factor of
about 75. The analysis also took into account the uncertainties in the
standards of measurement as maintained by various national laboratories.

At almost the same time (Oct. 1973) another international committee, the Consultative
Committee for the Definition of the Meter (CCDM), recommended consideration of two
wavelengths generated by lasers to the International Committee of Weights and Measures
[43]. One of these was the wavelength of the helium-neon laser stabilized by methane as
developed by the NBS Boulder group; the other, the wavelength of a helium-neon laser
stabilized by locking to absorption lines of iodine-129, developed by a group at NBS
Gaithersburg. The CCDM also recommended the value of the speed of light as determined by
the Boulder group.
The 15th General Conference on Weights and Measures, meeting in Paris May 27 -June
3, 1975, adopted two resolutions pertaining to wavelengths as standards. The first gave
official recognition to the successful efforts to develop gas lasers whose wavelengths are
stabilized to an absorption line. The Conference decided, however, in the second resolution,
that to redefine the meter in terms of lasers that were then available would be premature
because there was a good chance that further research would soon produce even better
lasers for the purpose.

20
The Task Group on Fundamental Constants, E. Richard Cohen (Rockwell International) and Barry N. Taylor
(NBS Institute of Basic Standards, Gaithersburg), made a critical survey and evaluation of the "fundamental
constants" and determined "best values" of the constants on the basis of accumulated experimental data. Financial
support was shared among Rockwell International, the NBS Institute for Basic Standards, and the NBS Office of
Standard Reference Data.
21
The report as published in CODATA Bulletin No. 11 states, in summary:

For the great bulk of physical and chemical data, whose consistency of usage and traceability are
perhaps as important as accuracy (and with the recognition that absolute accuracy is a prize that
will always elude our grasp), these values should serve as a standard reference set for the next
several years.

637
 Lunar ranging experiment (lure)

1. Procedure
Lunar ranging involves measuring the distance between points on the Earth and the
Moon by timing the roundtrip journey of a pulse of light returned to Earth by
retroreflectors on the Moon. This distance has been measured with extreme accuracy, using
a pulse of laser light, by a team of scientists from the National Bureau of Standards (JILA);
Princeton University; the Universities of Texas, California, Hawaii, and Maryland; the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) of the California Institute of Technology. The name of the group was the Lunar
Ranging Experiment (LURE). James E. Faller of JILA was chairman of the team and Peter
L. Bender, also of JILA, was a member.
For the experiment, retroreflectors (mirrors) of a special kind were placed at different
sites on the Moon's face by the astronauts of Apollo 11, Apollo 14, and Apollo 15. These
retroreflectors serve to return the light from a laser beam precisely on its own path back to
Earth. The retroreflectors are not flat like ordinary mirrors, but consist of an array of one
hundred to three hundred corner reflectors mounted in frames.

Retroreflectors were placed on the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11, Apollo U, and Apollo 15. They consist of 100
(as shown) to 300 corner reflectors mounted in a frame and serve to reflect a beam of laser light back to Earth
precisely on its own path.

638
 The laser beam, generated by a high-powered ruby laser, is directed at the
retro reflector array by a large telescope and arrives at the Moon
about 1.25 seconds.
in
When it reaches the Moon, astronomical "seeing" of the beam has a diameter in the range
of 3 to 6 km. It is then reflected toward the sending telescope by the reflector array. By the
time it returns to Earth, it has spread to a diameter of more than 15 km. Because the
reflector and telescope, respectively, intercept only a small portion of the beam, the light
received by the telescope is only a very small portion of the original laser pulse (one part in
a billion billion).
A clock, capable of measuring the elapsed time to a billionth of a second, starts to run
at the instant the pulse leaves and is stopped electronically when the pulse returns. The
pulses are sent once every 3 seconds of a 10-minute period, in order to get enough data to be
statistically significant. By averaging many pulses, more accurate results can be obtained.
Initial measurements were made at the Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, Calif., until
facilities for a long-term program were set up at the McDonald Observatory, Ft. Davis,
Texas. McDonald was responsible for almost all of the data obtained during the first 8 years
of the LURE program, or until a telescope, designed specifically for the program, was placed
in operation.
When the Lunar Ranging Experiment began in 1969, Faller was professor of physics at
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn He moved to JILA in 1972 where he continued
work which he had started at Wesleyan.

2. The lunar telescope

One of Faller's projects was a telescope of special design for receiving the light reflected
back to the Earth by one of the retroreflectors on the Moon. At Wesleyan a senior student
had worked with Faller in designing a telescope that would take maximum advantage of the
2
lunar retroreflectors/ The student worked over the summer in a basement workshop and
developed a mockup of such a telescope, which he submitted as a senior (honors) thesis.
Construction of the telescope began at Wesleyan, with the assistance of the director of
the University's physics machine shop. However, when Faller transferred to JILA, he
brought with him the unfinished "bits and pieces" of his new telescope. With the aid of the
machine shops at JILA, NBS Boulder, and the University of Colorado, the telescope was
completed and assembled in the JILA building on the University campus. 23 24 '

The design of the LURE telescope is quite different from that of the traditional
astronomical telescopes which must accommodate a broad range of astronomical activities
and, as a result, are massive and quite expensive.
The LURE telescope is designed specifically for lunar ranging, that is, to look
which requires a large aperture but only a narrow field of view.
effectively at a point source
Instead of having one large optical element, it has an array of 80 elements (lenses), each 19

" The student was Michael P. Sulzer, the son of Peter Sulzer, a former employee of the Central Radio Propagation
Laboratory at NBS Washington. Peter Sulzer was a member of the Ionospheric Research Section which remained
temporarily in Washington when CRPL moved to Boulder. (See app. C, p. 763, footnote 37). He resigned before the
group moved to Boulder. Michael did not come to JILA with Faller, his professor, and was never employed by NBS.
23
Funds and/or other support for completing the telescope came from NASA, Wesleyan University, the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation (Faller was a Sloan Fellow in 1972), and NBS.
24
The was assembled in a large room on the first floor of the JILA building. The original intention was to
telescope
remove the and end plates from the telescope in order to get it out of the JILA building, but the
front, back,
internal workings became too complex and it had to be moved as a single unit. Faller explained that the 2.5-metric-
ton telescope just barely squeezed through the JILA doors and hallways with the assistance of professional movers.
It was driven to San Francisco in 1976, placed aboard a freighter for Honolulu, taken by barge to the Island of
Maui, and finally trucked to its observatory site on Mt. Haleakala.

639
 20
cm (The lens arrangement resembles, biologically speaking, the eye of a
in diameter. fly; it

has therefore acquired the nickname "fly's eye telescope." [44])

3. The Hawaiian Observatory

A Hawaii, the summit of Mt. Haleakala (3000 m) on the Island of Maui, was
site in
2t>
selected as the location ofan observatory to house the telescope. Hawaii was chosen for
several reasons. At the time, the McDonald Observatory in Texas was the only station
regularly obtaining range measurements from the lunar retroreflectors. A second station at
another location was desirable in order to increase the amount and type of data and to
improve the accuracy of the scientific results by permitting the analysis to take full
advantage of the ranging accuracy (2 to 6 cm).
Hawaii was considered because, among other reasons, it is on the Pacific tectonic plate
rather than the continental U.S. plate. If one or both plates are moving, this could be
determined from differences in the ranging data obtained at the two stations.
Faller said that the purpose of the LURE program is to provide better data on the
relative motions of the Earth and Moon. The information can then be used to study
continental drift, to measure the wanderings of the Earth, and to determine the mass
distribution of the Moon.

The telescope contains an array of 80 lenses, each 19 cm in diameter. At the back is a matching array of 0.13 mm
pinholes (which limits the angular field of view to no more than 11 sec of arc) and a system of mirrors that directs
the 80 beams through a common focus, The resultant beam is then split and detected by 2 photomultiplier tubes.
The output of each tube goes to a dual-channel multievent timer. (A variable pinhole at the common focus can
reduce the angular field to as little as 3 sec of arc.) This minimum field covers an area on the Moon about 6 km in
diameter.
Successful operation of the telescope depends on the various apertures remaining aligned when the telescope
points to different parts of the sky. To ensure this, the front and back plates are solidly connected together by the
side panels and the framework to which these attach. The telescope's construction and light weight give it great
rigidity as it lifts and turns to intercept and follow the Moon.
—
The telescope has so little flexure that aiming it by visual setting is not necessary it should point to within a
few seconds of arc of the direction to which it is set. Lunar ephemeris data have a comparable uncertainty. Thus,
when performing up to the specifications of all its components, the telescope has within its field the lunar
ephemeris coordinates entered on the elevation and azimuth controls.
The capability for "blind" pointing makes possible fully automated operation. Through shaft encoders on the
telescope's elevation and azimuth axes, a computer continuously aims the telescope. The same computer checks the
range electronics, records and stores the data, and corrects the preprogrammed angle ephemeris for possible
flexure and encoder zero error. Running the telescope by computer eliminates operator-related expenses, and
results in a considerable saving over the lunar ranging program's expected 10-year lifetime.
2fi
The laser transmitter was constructed by the University of Hawaii, and the University of Maryland provided the
electronics work.

640
 References
[1] Harold Lyons, L. J. Rueger, R. G. Nuckolls, and M. Kessler, "Microwave spectra of deutero-ammonias," Phys.
Rev. (Letter to the Editor), Vol. 81, No. 4, Feb. 15, 1951, pp. 630-631.
[2] L. J. Rueger, Harold Lyons, and R. G. Nuckolls, "A high-temperature, broad-band Stark cell for microwave
spectroscopy," Rev. Sci. Instr. (Laboratory and Shop Note), Vol. 22, No. 6, June 1951, p. 428.
[3] L. J. Rueger and R. G. Nuckolls, "A broad-band coaxial Stark cell for microwave spectroscopy," Rev. Sci. Instr..
Vol. 23, No. 11, Nov. 1952, p. 635.
[4] Paul Kisliuk and Charles H. Townes, "Molecular microwave spectra tables," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.),
Vol. 44, No. 6, June 1950, pp. 611-641.
[5] Paul Kisliuk and Charles H. Townes, Molecular Microwave Spectra Tables, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Circ. 518,
June 23, 1952, 127 + vi pages. See also "Molecular microwave spectra tables," Tech. News Bull, Nat. Bur.
Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 36, No. 3, Mar. 1952, pp. 44-45.
[6] Paul F. Wacker, Masataka Mizushima, Jean D. Petersen, and Joe R. Ballard, Microwave Spectral Tables, Vol.
1, Diatomic Molecules, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. 70, Vol. I, Dec. 1, 1964, 144 pages.

[7 [Paul. F. Wacker and Marlene R. Pratto, Microwave Spectral Tables, Vol. II, Line Strengths of Asymmetric
Rotors, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. 70, Vol. II, Dec. 15, 1964, 338 pages.
[8] Paul F. Wacker, Marian S. Cord, Donald G. Burkhard, Jean D. Petersen, and Raymond F. Kukol, Microwave
Spectral Tables, Vol. Ill, Polyatomic Molecules With Internal Rotation, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. 70,
Vol. Ill, June 1969, 265 pages.

[9] Marian S. Cord, Jean D. Petersen, Matthew S. Lojko, and Rudolph H. Haas, Microwave Spectral Tables, Vol.
IV, Polyatomic Molecules Without Internal Rotation, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monogr. 70, Vol. IV, Oct.
1968, 418 pages.
[10] Marian S. Cord, Matthew and Jean D. Petersen, Microwave Spectral Tables, Vol. V, Spectral Line
J. Lojko,
Monogr. 70, Vol. V, June 1968, 533 pages.
Listing, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.)
[11] John M. Richardson, "Experimental evaluation of the oxygen microwave absorption as a possible atomic
frequency standard," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 29, No. 2, Feb. 1958, pp. 137-145.
[12] W. Culshaw, J. M. Richardson, and D. M. Kerns, "Precision millimeter wave interferometry at the U.S.
National Bureau of Standards," Proc. Symp. on Interferometry, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington.
Middlesex, England, June 9-11, 1959, pp. 330-349. Also Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Handbook 77, Paper 4-3,
"Precision Measurement and Calibration," Vol. 1, Feb. 1, 1961, pp. 756-775.
[13] W. Culshaw, "Reflectors for a microwave Fabry-Perot interferometer," IRE Trans. MTT Vol. 7, No. 2, Apr.
1959, pp. 221-228.
[14] William Culshaw, "High resolution millimeter wave Fabry-Perot interferometer," IRE Trans. MTT, Vol. 8, No.
2, Mar. 1960, pp. 182-189.

[15] D. M. Kerns and E. S. Dayhoff, "Theory of diffraction in microwave interferometry," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.), Vol. 64B, No. 1, Jan.-Mar. 1960, pp. 1-13.

[16] For continuity of subject matter, this sequential series of four related reports by the same authors is being
listed as a single reference. John T. Jefferies and Richard N. Thomas, "Source function in a non-
equilibrium atmosphere. II Depth dependence of source function for resonance and strong subordinate
lines," Astrophys. J. Vol. 127, No. 3, May 1958, pp. 667-675.

John T. Jefferies and Richard N. Thomas, "Source function in a non-equilibrium atmosphere. Ill The
influence of a chromosphere," Astrophys. J., Vol. 129, No. 2, Mar. 1959, pp. 401-407.

Richard N. Thomas, "The source function in a non-equilibrium atmosphere. IV Evaluation and application
of the net radiative bracket," Astrophys.
J., Vol. 131, No. 2, Mar. 1960, pp. 429-437.

and R. N. Thomas, "The source function in a non-equilibrium atmosphere. V. Character of

J. T. Jefferies
the self-reversed emission cores of Ca + H and K," Astrophys. J., Vol. 131, No. 3, May 1960, pp. 695-704.
[17] Anne B. Underhill and J. H. Waddell III, Stark Broadening Functions for the Hydrogen Lines, Nat. Bur.
Stand. (U.S.) Circ. 603, May 1, 1959, 94 pages.

Author's (CLB) Note: This was the last (and highest numbered) NBS Circular issued. The series began with
Circ. 1 in 1925, and was discontinued July 1, 1959. Circulars were superseded by NBS Monographs, which
are usually contributions to the technical literature too lengthy for publication in the Journal of Research.
They often provide extensive compilations of information on subjects related to the Bureau's technical
program.
[18] Stuart R. Pottasch, "The extent of H II regions," Astrophys. J. (Note), Vol. 132, No. 1, July 1960, pp. 269-271.
[19] S. N. Milford, "Approximate cross-sections for inelastic collisions of electrons with atoms, I Allowed

transitions," Astrophys. J., Vol. 131, No. 2, Mar. 1960, pp 407-412.

[20] R. N. Thomas (editor), Aerodynamic Phenomena In Stellar Atmospheres— A Bibliography, Nat. Bur. Stand.
(U.S.) Tech. Note 30, Sept. 1959, 89 pages.
[21] Richard N. Thomas and R. Grant Athay, Physics of the Solar Chromosphere, Interscience Publishers, Inc.. 250
Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y., 1961.
[22] R. M. Gallet, J. M. Richardson, B. Wieder, and G. D. Ward and G. N. Harding (Atomic Energy Research
Establishment, Harwell, England), "Microwave whistler mode propagation in a dense laboratory plasma,"
Phys. Rev. Letters, Vol. 4, No. 7, Apr. 1, 1960, pp. 347-349.
[23] Bernard Wieder, "Microwave propagation in an overdense bounded magnetoplasma," Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No.
7, July 1964, pp. 964-972.

[24] D. L. Jones and K. B. Earnshaw, A Wire Exploder for Generating Cylindrical Shock Waves in a Controlled
Atmosphere, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Tech. Note 148, May 1962, 6 pages.

641
[25] Donald L. Jones, "Precursor electrons ahead of cylindrical Shockwaves," Phys. Fluids, Vol. 5, No. 9, Sept. 1962,
pp. 1121-1122.
[26] Donald L. Jones and Roger M. Gallet, "Microwave Doppler measurements of the ionization front in cylindrical
shock waves from exploding wires," Exploding Wires, Vol. 2, pp. 127-144, Plenum Press, N.Y., 1962.
[27] Y. Nakagawa and K. B. Earnshaw, "Experiments on self-ionizing shock waves in a magnetic field," Proc. Vlth
International Conference on Ionization Phenomena in Gases, Paris, 1963. S.E.R.M.A., Paris, Vol. IV, 1963,

pp. 303-309
[28] Yolande Boublil and Kenneth B.Earnshaw, "Propagation of a reflected shock wave in a transverse magnetic
field," Phys. Fluids. Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1964, pp. 876-881.
[29] Kenneth B. Earnshaw and Charles M. Benedict, "An ultra-high-speed image dissecting camera for
photographing strong shock waves," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 66C, No. 4, Oct.-Dec. 1962, pp. 297-
311.
[30] Karl-Birger Persson, "Brush cathode plasma —A well-behaved plasma," J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 36, No. 10, Oct.
1965, pp. 3086-3094.
[31] P. O. Taylor, D. Gregory, G. H. Dunn, R. A. Phaneuf, and D. H. Crandall, "Absolute cross sections for 2s-2p
excitation of C :i+ by electron impact," Phys. Rev. Letters, Vol. 39, No. 20, 14 Nov. 1977, pp. 1256-1259.
[32] "The I-R 100 for 1975," Industrial Research, Vol. 17, No. 10, Oct. 1975, pp. 65-66.
[33] J. Levine and J. L. Hall, "Design and operation of a methane absorption stabilized laser strainmeter," J.
Geophys. Res., Vol. 77, No. 14, May 1972, pp. 2595-2609.
[34] K. M. Evenson, H. P. Broida, J. S. Wells, R. J. Mahler, and M. Mizushima, "Electron paramagnetic resonance
absorption in oxygen with the HCN laser," Phys. Rev. Letters, Vol. 21, No. 15, 7 Oct. 1968, pp. 1038-1040.

See also J. S. Wells and K. M. Evenson, "A new LEPR spectrometer," Rev. Sci. Instr., Vol. 41, No. 2, Feb.
1970, pp. 226-227.
[35] D. A. Jennings, "Calorimetric measurement of pulsed laser output energy," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meets., Vol. IM-
15, No. 4, Dec. 1966, pp. 161-164.

D. A. Jennings, E. D. West, K. M. Evenson, A. L. Rasmussen, and W. R. Simmons, Laser Power and Energy
Measurements, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 382, Oct. 1969, 64 pages.

E. D. West, W. E. Case, A. L. Rasmussen, and L. B. Schmidt, "A reference calorimeter for laser energy
measurements," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 76A, No. 1, Jan. -Feb. 1972, pp. 13-25.
[36] K. M. Evenson, J. S. Wells, F. R. Petersen, B. L. Danielson, G. W. Day, R. L. Barger, and J. L. Hall, "Speed of
light from direct frequency and wavelength measurements of the methane-stabilized laser," Phys. Rev.
Letters, Vol. 29, No. 19, 6 Nov. 1972, pp. 1346-1349.
[37] K. M. Evenson, J. S. Wells, L. M. Matarrese, and L. B. Elwell, "Absolute frequency measurements of the 28-
and 78-ju.m cw water vapor laser lines," Appl. Phys. Letters, Vol. 16, No. 4, 15 Feb. 1970, pp. 159-162.
[38] K. M. Evenson, J. S. Wells, and L. M. Matarrese, "Absolute frequency measurements of the C0 2 cw laser at 28
THz (10.6 jum)," Appl. Phys. Letters, Vol. 16, No. 6, 15 Mar. 1970, pp. 251-253.
[39] K. M. Evenson, G. W. Day, J. S. Wells, and L. O. Mullen, "Extension of absolute frequency measurements to
the cw He-Ne laser at 88 THz (3.39 jam)," Appl. Phys. Letters, Vol. 20, No. 3, 1 Feb. 1972, pp. 133-134.
[40] "Specifications of the physical world," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Dimensions, Vol. 58, No. 1, Jan. 1974, pp. 3-6, 15.

[41] CODATA Bulletin No. 11, Dec. 1973.

[42] E. Richard Cohen and B. N. Taylor, "The 1973 least-squares adjustment of the fundamental constants," J.
Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1973, pp. 663-734.
[43] "World Conference updates vocabulary of measurement science," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Dimensions, Vol. 59,
No. 10, Oct. 1975, pp. 225-227.
[44] "The fly's eye telescope," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Dimensions, Vol. 62, No. 4, Apr. 1978, pp. 2-7.

642
 Chapter XVI

IN A CONSULTANT CAPACITY

In the service of the Government

Although advisory services by the National Bureau of Standards to Government
agencies were not specifically stated in basic legislation by Congress until 1950, the Bureau,
from the beginning in 1901, offered its expertise to the Federal Government. By 1911 Rosa, 1

chief of the Electricity Division, increasingly became aware of the rapidly expanding
technology of wireless telegraphy and of the problems being faced by the Bureau of
Navigation of the Department of Commerce (until March 1913, the Department of
Commerce and Labor).
Responsibility of enforcing radio regulations fell to the lot of the radio inspectors of the
Bureau of Navigation (Radio Service Division) and, in turn, this Bureau called upon the
Bureau of Standards for technical assistance. 2 Thus, Kolster, an experienced radio engineer,
was brought into the Electricity Division in December 1911 to meet up with the problems of
wireless telegraphy facing the Bureau of Standards and the Bureau of Navigation. Little
was it realized then, by the Electricity Division, that within another decade, beginning in
1921, the Department of Commerce would increasingly be faced with the much greater
problems created by radio broadcasting.

1. Service to the Department of Commerce

a) In the early years of the Radio Section
Using Kolster's design of the direct-reading decremeter in 1912 (see ch. V, p. 104), the
Bureau of Navigation had a group of the instruments manufactured under Kolster's
guidance. The radio inspectors were now equipped with a combination decremeter and
wavemeter of superior quality that would serve as a useful instrument in their hands until
spark transmitters phased out in the 1920's (the Army and the Navy also equipped their
communication facilities with these superior instruments of the Kolster design). In later
years the Bureau of Navigation strengthened its technical capabilities and became less
dependent upon the Radio Section.
As early as 1913 Kolster, and later others of the Radio Section, took leading roles in a
program with the Bureau of Lighthouses of "radio fog signalling" that would continue for a
decade. By 1920 the system was successfully demonstrated in the Lower New York Bay area
whereby a ship could locate its position in a fog solely by direction finding with radio
signals. The result was a successful method of promoting safety at sea and the development
of the Kolster radio compass.

1
See: Cochrane, appendix C, "Basic legislation relating to organization, functions, and activities of the National
Bureau of Standards," Measures for Progress, p. 550, "Act of 22 July 1950, Sec. 2, (e) Advisory service to
Government agencies on scientific and technical problems."
The Act of 3 March 1901, to establish the National Bureau of Standards (Cochrane, p. 541) did not specifically
note the function of an advisory service to Government agencies.
2
On July 1, 1911, the Radio Service (division) was established within the Bureau of Navigation in order to cope with
the inspection of wireless transmitters and provide a degree of regulation to a fast developing communications
field. In 1927 Radio Service was separated from the Bureau of Navigation to become the Radio Division whose chief
was under the supervision of the Secretary of Commerce. On July 20, 1932, the division was abolished and its
functions transferred to the Federal Radio Commission.

643
 Also, beginning in 1913 and continuing for several years, the Radio Section assisted the
Coast and Geodetic Survey in developing radio communication systems that were useful to
the special requirements of this agency of the Department of Commerce.

b) Broadcasting throttles the Department of Commerce

The early development of wireless telegraphy in the United States is associated with
the first decade of the present century during which period there was no Federal control to
regulate the frequency and power of transmitters. Regulation began with the Act of August
13, 1912, that required operators of commercial stations to be licensed by the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, and required the stations to designate their operating wavelengths.
Control of the regulation came within the dominion of the radio inspectors of the Radio
Service (division) of the Bureau of Navigation.
Dramatically, on November 2, 1920, the Presidential election returns (Harding, Cox)
were broadcast by Station KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pa. A listening public was created and for the
next 6 years the Department of Commerce found itself enmeshed in the problems of station
allocations.By November 1922, 2 years after the "pioneer" broadcast, 584 stations were on
the air in the United States. Interference among the transmitters was creating serious
problems and the situation continued to worsen without apparent remedy. The Bureau and
the Radio Section became enmeshed with the technical problems that were generated.
To cope with the oncoming problems, Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce,
called the Department of Commerce Conference on Radio Telephony (later known as the
First National Radio Conference) at Washington, D.C. for February 27 and 28, 1922. The
Bureau's director, Dr. Stratton, served as chairman of the Conference. (For more
information on this and three successive conferences, see ch. IV, pp. 94-95.) The problems
would not give way to helpful solutions and three more conferences were held, the last being
on November 9, 10, and 11, 1925. Secretary Hoover addressed the 1925 Conference with
considerable enthusiasm for the future of broadcasting. By 1925 the Radio Section was
taking an active part in the technical remedial programs. Dellinger served on the General
Allocations of Frequency Committee, and C. B. Jolliffe on the Interference Committee.
Dellinger was active at all four conferences in preparing agenda and in the writing of
reports.
But the Department's optimism for combating the problems was dimmed in July 1926
by the opinion rendered by the Attorney General that the regulatory powers of the
Department had been exceeded in controlling the situation. As a result of the decision, the
—
situation became more drastic new stations crowded the frequency spectrum and increased
transmitter power caused even greater interference. Finally, Congress reacted and on
February 23, 1927, authorized the establishment of a new agency, the Federal Radio
Commission, to exercise a more effective control of the broadcasting industry.

c) Continuing to serve the Department of Commerce

By the mid-1920's both the Radio Section and the Department of Commerce
increasingly were becoming involved in the aeronautics field; the Radio Section with a radio
beacon navigational system, the Department with the many faceted problems of the aviation
industry and of the airways. The Air Commerce Act led to the creation of the Aeronautics
Branch in the Department of Commerce in July 1926. The research operation of the Radio
Division of the Aeronautics Branch became a facility of the Bureau's Radio Section.
Dellinger served as chief of this operation from 1926 until the development programs of the
Aeronautics Branch were phased out in July 1934.
During the period of 1926-1934 Dellinger served on five Government-oriented
committees that related to research in aeronautics, and particularly aeronautical radio, that
included:

U.S.Government Committee on Aircraft and Fog Flying Research

U.S.Government Liaison Committee on Aeronautic Radio Research
Department of Commerce Executive Committee on Aeronautic Radio
Department of Commerce Special Committee on Air Transport Radio
National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics, Subcommittee on Communications

644
2. Service to the Federal Radio Commission

With the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927, Dellinger was called
upon to serve as its first chief engineer, taking a leave of absence of 4 months from the
3
Bureau, beginning August 1, 1928. His services to the Engineering Division of the
Commission extended considerably beyond the period of his leave of absence. Among his
tasks was reorganization of the Engineering Division. Accompanying Dellinger, and also on
loan to the Commission, was Gerald C. Gross, a junior physicist in the Radio Section. Gross
4
resigned from the Bureau and transferred to the Commission.
In this new yet transient position Dellinger had the opportunity to put his expert
knowledge and his experience to the advantage of a Government agency in helping to solve
a communication problem of national and even international scope. By September 15, 6
weeks after Dellinger joined the Commission, he submitted a manuscript to the Institute of
Radio Engineers for publication. Entitled "Analysis of broadcasting station allocation," the
allocation plan was in accordance with the Commission's Order of September 7, 1928, and in
compliance with the 1928 Amendment to the Radio Act (of 1910 and 1912) [1]. In brief,
Dellinger evaluated the broadcasting situation in terms of the authorized allocation plan.
Ninety channels in the frequency range of 550 to 1500 kHz were available for the United
States. The Order provided for equalization of the number of stations among the zones and
states; also, that no existing station should be abolished. Stations were classed in three
categories of radiated power, with due consideration of reception in rural areas with
substantially free heterodyne interference. Suffice to say, the new allocation became a
workable plan and its basic principles remain in use today.
Within a year Dellinger again published a paper in the Proc. IRE, this time with the
5
viewpoint of reasonable success with the allocation plan inaugurated in September 1928 [2].
6
His paper was one of six of a symposium on broadcasting.
On March 1, 1930, Jolliffe transferred to the Federal Radio Commission, entering the
position of chief engineer. He remained with the Commission as chief engineer until 1935
(then the Federal Communications Commission) when he joined the Radio Corporation of
America, later to become vice president and technical director. On December 16, 1934,
Kenneth A. Norton resigned from the Radio Section to join the Federal Communications
Commission as a radio engineer assigned to the Technical Information Section. He remained

3
Previously, in April, Dellinger had presided at a meeting of the Federal Radio Commission at which time a group
of radio engineers submitted a plan of frequency allocation for broadcast stations. The matter was also the subject
of a hearing before the Commission. Within a few months the allocation plan became effective.
4
Gerald C. Gross entered the Radio Section on July 16, 1926, and resigned August 31, 1928, to join the Federal
Radio Commission. He remained with the Commission until 1945, serving a portion of the 17 years as assistant
chief engineer. During the period 1958-1966 Gross served as Secretary General of the International
Telecommunication Union at Geneva, Switzerland. Later he became president of Telecommunication Consultants
International, Inc., Washington, D.C

The essentials of Dellinger's viewpoint of the broadcasting situation in 1929 can be gained by quoting from his
November 1929 paper:

In order to provide rural service 40 channels are each used by one station exclusively. The
stations on the exclusive channels not only serve very great areas but deliver a more satisfactory
intensity at every point within those areas. Their service is better for all concerned, the greater
power they use. This fact is not commonly understood by other than radio engineers. . . .

There is some hope that the limitations of power and service of the non-exclusive channels may
be overcome. . . .

... In spite of their vagaries, radio phenomena are subject to known engineering principles.
Violation of such engineering principles in radio would sooner or later reduce the service of
radio to the public.

Summarizing, the regulation of radio broadcasting involves extensive and difficult problems.
These arise largely from certain outstanding facts or principles. Finally, radio wave
. . .

transmission is characterized by extreme vagaries. The facts and implications of each of these
principles are subject to constant revision as radio progresses. Such facts constitute the natural
limitations of radio regulation and legislation.

6
A
symposium, entitled "Technical achievements in broadcasting and its relation to national and international
solidarity," preparedby IRE members for the World Engineering Conference, Tokyo, Japan, October 1929. None of
the six authors attended the Conference, the papers being presented by an IRE delegate.

645
with the FCC until 1942 and returned to the Bureau in 1946 to join the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory (CRPL).
The Communications Act of 1934 abolished the Federal Radio Commission and
established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The new agency was authorized
to regulate communications far beyond that of broadcasting and commercial radio to the
extent of:

to make available, so far as possible, to all people of the United States a

rapid, efficient nation-wide and world-wide wire and radio communications
service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges.

Gradually this field, commonly called telecommunications, now covers radio broadcasting,
television, telephone and telegraph systems, and the ever increasing use of computer
networks.

3. Interdepartmental relations in radio

a) In the early years of wireless telegraphy
Within 2 1/2 years after Marconi had successfully spanned the Atlantic with a radio
signal (December 12, 1901), President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a board of five members
representing four Departments

to consider the entire question of wireless telegraphy in the service of the

National Government and submit for the consideration of the board the
7
accompanying papers upon which he desires a report in full. 8 '

A fairly extensive report was prepared by the board under the title of "Wireless
—
Telegraphy Report of the Inter-Departmental Board Appointed by the President to
Consider the Entire Question of Wireless Telegraphy in the Service of the National
Government." It was printed by the Government Printing Office and dated 1904. Such was
the beginning of the important interdepartmental relations in the development and
application of radio communications in the U.S. Government.
The Report was couched in many ramifications of conclusions and recommendations of
areas of responsibility for the several Government departments. Needless to say, the
9
situation has remained fluid and changing after more than 70 years when first approached.

7
The board consisted of one representative each of the Departments of Commerce and Labor, War, Agriculture, and
two of the Navy.
8
The request for a report was issued June 24, 1904, by the White House, signed by Wm. Loeb, Jr., Secretary to the
President.

9
Typical of the many conclusions and recommendations were the following that would influence the future use of
wireless telegraphy:

That the science of wireless telegraphy has been advanced by the able and persistent work of the
Signal Corps of the Army and the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture as well as
by the experimental work of the Navy Department.

That wireless telegraphy is of paramount interest to the Government through the Navy
Department, and that its use by the Signal Corps of the Army for communication between
military posts of the Army and other necessary links will be necessary both in peace and war,
and that such use shall be unrestricted. . . .

That the best results can be obtained from stations under jurisdiction of one Department of the
Government only. . . .

. .the Board concludes that the Government must take the necessary steps to regulate the
.

establishment of commercial wireless telegraph stations among the States and between nations.

. . . the Board believes that the Department of Commerce and Labor should have the duty of
issuing licenses in such cases under such regulations as will prevent interference with stations
necessary to the national defense. All private stations in the interior of the country should also
be under supervision of the Department of Commerce and Labor.

To prevent the control of wireless telegraphy by monopolies or trusts, the Board deems it
any legislation on
essential that this subject should place the supervision of it in the Department
of Commerce and Labor.

646
 Years later, in 1916, Dellinger, in the capacity of a consultant representing the Bureau
of Standards, gave assistance to the Interdepartmental Board on Radio Legislation on
preparing a new bill to regulate communication.

b) A VIGNETTE OF IRAC (INTERDEPARTMENT RADIO ADVISORY COMMITTEE)

By 1911 and 1912 many of the recommendations of the presidential five-man board of
1904 had been put into action and had become guidelines, and were established practice
during the following decade. Then came the broadcast boom spawning many new problems,
such as interference. In such an atmosphere on December 8, 1921, a conference was held at
the Bureau of Standards attended by representatives of the Bureau of Navigation
(Commerce), Post Office Department, Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates (Agriculture),
and the Bureau of Standards. These were Government agencies directly concerned with the
problems of broadcasting, either in their own station operation or in exercising a degree of
control over the operating wavelengths.
After the First National Radio Conference in February 1922, the chairman, Dr.
Stratton, director of the Bureau, suggested to Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, that
a committee of departmental representatives be designated to find means of making
maximum effective use of the wavelengths being used for Government broadcasting.
Dellinger immediately became very active in the formation of the new committee
approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and on June 1, 1922, the first meeting was held
under the name of the Interdepartment Advisory Committee on Governmental Radio
Broadcasting. Twelve representatives of Government departments and agencies made up the
membership during the first year. Dr. Stratton of the Bureau was elected chairman and
Dellinger secretary. Stratton found it necessary to resign the following December when he
10
resigned from the Bureau. Dellinger served on this Committee for 15 years, from 1933 to
1948, as the representative of the Department of Commerce, including two terms as
chairman, 1941-1943 and 1947-1948. During the 1920's he had served intermittently as an
alternate to the representative of the Department of Commerce. Dellinger also served on the
important Subcommittee on Technical Problems, and as chairman at various times.
Dellinger's 26 years of association with this Committee was followed by Kenneth
Norton of CRPL, being appointed as the Department of Commerce representative, beginning
in the spring of 1948 and continuing for a short time.
Within a short time the Committee's scope was extended much beyond the problems of
broadcasting to include all radio communication matters of interdepartmental interest.
Thus the name was changed to the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC),
which is retained to the present time. In 1927, at the request of President Coolidge, IRAC
took the responsibility on behalf of the President of advising him on frequency assignments
for the entire Government.
During the 1930's IRAC became involved in the preparation of proposals for
international conferences. Early in the 1930's IRAC took up the problems of frequency
allocations for television and aeronautical service. World War II brought on the military
need for many new Government frequency allocations and IRAC became an important
committee of the Board of War Communications until after the war. 11
Since World War II the relation of IRAC to the Executive Branch of the Government
12
has been one of a changing nature but always in an advisory capacity. In 1970 IRAC was
10
Dellinger served for 1 year as secretary, followed by Whittemore (formerly of the Radio Section) for 2 years.
Gerald Gross (formerly of the Radio Section) served as secretary during the period 1933-1941 as a representative of
the Federal Communication Commission.
"During 1930 and 1931 Dellinger served on an independent interdepartmental committee, appointed by special
direction of President Hoover, that studied and made recommendations on the reduction of radio service
duplication by the Army and Navy. Known as the Committee on Coordination of Government Communication
Facilities, the group also dealt with the competition between Government communication facilities and private
communication companies.
In 1960 Allen Barnabei, a long-time employee of the Department of Commerce, was appointed Communications
12

Liaison Officer and assigned to the director's office of the NBS Boulder Laboratories, but stationed at the
Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. In this capacity Barnabei served until 1965 as the Department's
representative on IRAC as well as on several subcommittees within IRAC. He also served on other Government
committees relating to telecommunications.
In 1956 Barnabei received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for sustained
outstanding performance for many years in the highly technical and specialized field of telecommunications."

647
designated to assist the Director of the Office of Telecommunications Policy within the
Executive Office of the President, assistance being given to the formulation of long-range
programs for future Federal use of the radio spectrum and in related programs. There has
been a close relationship between IRAC and the FCC in meeting up with common problems,
with much coordination, yet each operating with much independence within its area of
responsibility.

4. Service to the Armed Forces

a) Trials, with some successes
In the early years of development of wireless telegraphy, the Army and Navy were
quite dependent upon the ingenuity of engineers and the products of neophyte
manufacturers for communication equipment. With the introduction of radio technology
into the Bureau's program, the Army and the Navy not only stationed personnel on the
Bureau grounds, but sought assistance of Kolster, Dellinger, and others. Thus, beginning in
1917, and for some years to come, the Navy, the Signal Corps (Army), the U.S. Coast
Artillery (Army), and the Army Air Service, came to the Radio Section for aid. The
information and aid they were seeking concerned: direction finders, location of planes by
radio, underwater antennas, coil (loop) antennas for transmission, and guidance of planes,
all by means of radio waves. Some methods were successful, others came up short (see chs.
Ill and VI).

b) The World War II period

The consultant role of the Radio Section and the cooperative programs with the Army
and Navy that centered in the period around 1920 did not return until the time of World
War II. In the summer of 1942 the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) was
established within the Radio Section by order of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, acting
through the Wave Propagation Committee of the U.S. Joint Communications Board. In the
next 4 years this operation of centralizing radio propagation data and furnishing the
information to the Armed Services was under the direction of Dellinger and Newbern
Smith. A large staff was recruited to perform this operation. Later this staff formed the core
of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) in 1946 (see ch. XI, pp. 415-416).
A year after hostilities opened in Europe that precipitated World War II, Dellinger was
designated a member of Sec. C-l (Communications) of Division C of the National Defense
Research Committee (NDRC). Jolliffe, a former member was chairman
of the Radio Section,
of Sec. C-l (see ch. IX, Harry Diamond and Wilbur Hinman were selected to serve as
p. 316).
13
consultants to a committee on ordnance (Sec. A). Two months later, in December 1940,
Dellinger was appointed Department of Commerce representative on the Radio
Communication Committee of the Defense Communications Board, and served on this
committee until 1947. Thus began the Radio Section's involvement in the technology of
modern warfare that became so important in World War II.
Upon formation of the IRPL in 1942, Dellinger and Newbern Smith were selected to
serve on the Wave Propagation Committee of the Combined Communications Board of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. The IRPL and, later, the CRPL, had close affinity with this committee.

c) The postwar period

World War II brought on a proliferation in design and manufacture of microwave
communication and radar equipment to which certain groups within the Radio Section
became exposed, both during the war period and immediately thereafter. These groups sat
in on a Joint Army-Navy Conference on Microwave Test Equipment held at the Bureau on
January 29, 1946. This exposure helped to spark a standards and measurements program in
microwaves that continues to the present time within NBS.

"Diamond and Hinman, and personnel from other divisions, including Allen V. Astin, Robert D. Huntoon, and
Chester H. Page, became very much involved in the development of the radio proximity fuze within NBS during
World War II (see ch. IX, pp. 319-320).

64S
 Harold Lyons, as chief of the Microwave Standards Section in the newly organized
CRPL (Division 14), sustained liaison with the Aeronautical Board and the Joint
Communications Board and was elected chairman of the Special Committee on
Instrumentation Standardization for Antenna Measurements. Lyons also was appointed a
member of the Panel on Radiating Systems of the Joint Research and Development Board
(Army-Navy). In this capacity he conducted an extensive survey for the panel of methods
used for measurement of performance of radiating systems (antennas).
—
In another area of rapid development that of frequency standards W. D. George, —
chief of the High Frequency Standards Section, was appointed a member of the Sub-Panel
on Frequency Control Devices of the Joint Research and Development Board.

5. Service to Government agencies when radio was newly fledged

a) The Post Office Department's interest in flying the mail
The last week of July 1918 (with the United States in full conflict with Germany) found
Post Office Department officials in conference with Kolster on the possibility of using radio
to land a plane in fog or darkness. The Department was much concerned for the safety of its
Aerial Mail Service. On the day the Armistice was signed (November 11, 1918), Kolster had
a degree of success in simulating the landing of a plane, not by radio waves, but by an
electrical induction method. Success by radio waves had to wait until 1931 when Diamond
and Dunmore, under the general direction of Dellinger, succeeded in the blind landing of an
airplane (see ch. VI). By the late 1920's the Department of Commerce had become vitally
interested in the safety of flight.

b) Market news by radio interests the Department of Agriculture

In the fall of 1920 the Department of Agriculture, through its Bureau of Markets,
sought out the expert guidance of the Radio Section on a means of disseminating market
news via radio. The Section gave early assistance to the Department by setting up a 2-kW
spark transmitter, operating under the call letters of WWV, and sending out the market
news in code for a period of 4 months. Thereafter, for a period of time, the Bureau of
Markets provided news through radio assistance of the Post Office Department (see ch. IV,
p. 78).

c) Expertise for a Federal board

By June 1924 the 65th technical committee had been organized within the structure of
the Federal Specifications Board, this one to be known as the Technical Committee on Radio
Apparatus. As the Bureau's expert in radio equipment, Dellinger was selected to be
chairman of the committee, and remained so until 1934. 14 Of principal concern to the new
technical committee were specifications for the purchase of electron tubes by various
Government groups, and particularly for "standard" tubes (to minimize types of tubes and
maintain quality of operation).
Dr. Jolliffe of the Radio Section took an active part in the testing of electron tubes to
establish performance criteria, and served as chairman of a subcommittee on tube
performance specifications. Although specifications evolved for a "standard" type of
receiving tube, for several types of low-power transmitting tubes, and for a more positive
type of contact for a tube base and socket, nothing appears to have materialized in the form
of widely-used products for Government applications.
With time, the Federal Specifications Board was moved to the Treasury Department,
and in 1949 became an operation within the Federal Supply Service of the General Services

14
By 1925 the operating functions of the Federal Specifications Board (organized in 1921 within the Bureau of the
Budget) consisted of 72 technical committees of which 26 were chaired by staff members of the Bureau of
Standards, each being an expert in his field. The Board itself was composed of one representative from each of the
various executive departments and independent agencies that purchase supplies under specifications. It was a
coordinating board that was responsible to and cooperated with the Bureau of the Budget. The chairman and the
secretary was a staff member of the Bureau of Standards. The Bureau conducted many research programs in
relation to performance specifications for supplies and equipment purchased by the Government. For a time many
Federal Specifications were issued as Bureau Circulars.

649
Administration. Over the years the Military Services became interested in, and absorbed the
function of preparing specifications for reliability and quality control of electron tubes.

d) Service to the State Department

Several decades after the Radio Section began to develop its consulting capacities to the
Government and when radio grew to be an international communication medium, Bellinger
was selected to serve as chairman of a technical committee within the State Department.
From 1944 to 1948 Dellinger was chairman of the Technical Subcommittee of the
Telecommunications Committee, the committee being largely a planning and coordinating
group with interests in international telecommunications.
In 1946 the State Department was instrumental in planning for the establishment of
the Radio Technical Commission for Marine Services. Dellinger was appointed chairman of
the Commission in 1947 and continued in this post until 1957.

A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY RELATION— DELLINGER'S

ROLE WITH THE RADIO TECHNICAL COMMISSION FOR AERONAUTICS
Many of the problems associated with the rapid expansion of aeronautics in the late
1920's and early 1930's were channeled through the Bureau of Air Commerce in the
Department of Commerce, including those related to the application of radio to aeronautics.
To fill a common need, both within the Government and in the aviation industry, the Radio
Technical Committee for Aeronautics was organized by the Bureau of Air Commerce in 1935
as an advisory group for coordinating the activities of all organizations concerned with the
15
applications of radio, electronics, and telecommunications in aeronautical operations.
Dellinger participated in planning the organization and was made a member of the
Committee in August 1935.
After serving for 6 years on the Committee, Dellinger was elected chairman in January
1941, a position that he occupied for 17 years. With a new plan by Dellinger for
reorganization, the name was changed to Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics
(RTCA). Approximately 120 U.S. aeronautical telecommunication organizations became
members of the RTCA Assembly with 14 represented on the Executive Committee.
On January 10, 1950, Dellinger, as chairman, received for the Commission the Collier
16
Trophy for the year 1948, the presentation being made by President Truman. The citation
read:

To the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics for the establishment

of a guide plan for the development and implementation of a system of air
navigation and traffic control to facilitate safe and unlimited aircraft
operations under all weather conditions.

On September 26, 1957, Dellinger was feted at a dinner for the membership of the Radio
Technical Commission for Aeronautics on his retirement as chairman after 17 years of
service in guiding the organization. Among the several gifts and mementos received by
Dellinger was a plaque bearing the inscription:

With sincere appreciation and gratitude to Dr. J. Howard Dellinger from

the membership of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics for his

15
Later, when organized as a Commission, its constitution read:

Its objective shall be to advance the art and science of aeronautics through the investigation of
all available or potential applications of the telecommunication art, their coordination with
allied arts, and the adaptation thereof to recognized operational requirements. . . .

Its activities shall include the study of existing and proposed systems of aids to navigation,
communication, and traffic control to determine their suitability, and the fostering of new
developments to meet aeronautical operating requirements. It shall serve as a means of
coordinating government and industry views on matters within its purview and shall formulate
recommendations on the basis thereof.
16
The Collier Trophy had been awarded each year since 1911 by the National Aeronautic Association "for the
greatest achievement in aviation in America, the value of which has been demonstrated by actual use during the
preceding year."

650
 outstanding leadership and dedicated service as Chairman from January
1941 to October 1957.

On this occasion Dellinger was made lifetime Technical Advisor for the RTCA.

Relations with industry

1. Filling an urgent need

As a result of the Nation's initiation to radio broadcasting in the fall of 1920, by spring
of 1921 the Radio Section was the target of many inquiries seeking information where
receiving sets could be obtained. InJune of 1921 a conference was held in New York,
17
convening to discuss the manufacture of receiving sets. Dellinger was on a European
mission and the conference was attended by Laurens Whittemore and John L. Preston of
the Radio Section. The conference resulted in Letter Circular 66, with the title: "List of
manufacturers and sole U.S. distributors of radio receiving equipment." The publication
permitted the Bureau to answer impartially the many inquiries on sources for procurement
of receiving sets.
Involved as it was, with the public and industry seeking information, the Radio Section
made the effort to supply information and to develop testing methods. The result was the
issuance of four Letter Circulars during the period of December 1922 to September 1923 on
the testing of receivers. Later the material became available as a Bureau Technological
Paper [3]. Testing methods were described for frequency range, vibration tests, sensitivity,
and selectivity. Previous to these publications, back in May 1921, the Bureau had released a
notice whereby industry was encouraged to provide testing facilities in order to relieve the
Bureau as much as possible in performing the more routine types of tests of radio
18
apparatus. The experience described has been fairly common throughout the life of the
Bureau.

2. Radio "standardization"
By the summer of 1923 there was much clamor for "standardization" of radio terms,
nomenclature, testing methods, interchange of components, and the like. Industry and trade
associations looked to the Bureau for aid. A preliminary meeting of many groups was held
in New York City on September 27, 1922, with a much larger and more comprehensive
meeting on January 12, 1923, to thrash out the many problems coming to the fore because of
the broadcasting boom. (The resulting situation is amply discussed in ch. IV, pp. 94-96.)

17
The Radio Section had called an informal conference of manufacturers of radio receiving apparatus to discuss
suitability of equipment for receiving market reports supplied by the Bureau of Markets (Department of
Agriculture) for dissemination in telegraphic code by the Post Office Air Mail Service network of radio
transmitters. Engineersand company presidents of approximately 20 manufacturing firms attended the conference
on June 17, 1921, at the headquarters of the AIEE. Although the conference was called to discuss the testing of
receivers designed for a specific purpose, it would soon result in the Radio Section's interest in the more general

field of receivers for broadcast reception.

"Testing of Radio Apparatus— May 24, 1921

The increase in the use of radio apparatus and the development of methods of testing and rating
such apparatus has resulted in a considerable need for additional agencies to perform such tests
and calibrations. The radio laboratory of the Bureau of Standards is anxious to assist commercial
testing laboratories and other organizations in equipping themselves for performing tests and
making calibrations of wavemeters, condensers, detectors, transmitting and receiving sets, and
other radio apparatus which manufacturers, schools, amateurs, commercial companies or others
may desire to submit. Information regarding the methods and apparatus developed by the
Bureau of Standards is at the disposal of any organization which may desire to undertake the
work. The provision of radio testing facilities outside of the Bureau of Standards will relieve the
latter organization of some routine work, and thus enable it to devote more attention to the
improvement of standards and testing methods.

651
3. Standards for electron tubes
World War brought on an introduction to electron tubes to the Radio Section and an
I

early development of measurement and testing methods, particularly by John Miller. As a

result, came a series of conferences early in 1921 of the Radio Section with representatives
of electron tube manufacturers, the Navy, and the Signal Corps. This cooperative effort led
to much further work in the Section on measurement methods and the study of tube
applications.
In January 1925, Jolliffe was appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on Electron
Tubes of the newly organized Sectional Committee on Radio of the American Engineering
Standards Committee (later to be known as the American Standards Association, and now
19
the American National Standards Institute). Later he was replaced by Dellinger, Jolliffe
becoming secretary of the Sectional Committee.

The Radio Section contributes to technical societies

1. To the Institute of Radio Engineers
Within the Radio Section there was concern over the growing problem of radio
terminology and nomenclature. The matter was discussed at length in May 1919 at a
specially called section meeting. In the following March a trio of section personnel (Kolster,
Dellinger, Whittemore) was appointed to serve on the Committee on Standardization of the
Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE).
20
A reappointed committee in 1922 included only
Dellinger and Whittemore. The committee published its report on definitions of terms and
of standard graphic symbols as a supplement to the Proc. IRE. In 1929 Dellinger was
appointed chairman of the Standardization Committee (later known as the Standards
Committee), a post that he held for several years. During his incumbency two former
—
members of the Radio Section were on the Committee Haraden Pratt and Whittemore.
In the summer of 1925 Jolliffe was appointed a member of the Standardization
Committee's Subcommittee on Radio Telephone Transmitter and Receiver Terminology, an
indication that specialization was becoming necessary for the Committee. Shortly thereafter,
Dellinger was appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on Receiving Sets, followed later by
Harry Diamond as a member of the Subcommittee. This was followed later by a more
specialized committee, this on Aircraft Receivers, of which Diamond became a member.
In 1928 Jolliffe was appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on Vacuum Tubes. In
1929 both Dellinger and Jolliffe served on the Committee on Bibliography.
During the decade of the 1930's the Radio Section entered a "doldrums" period in the
advancement of measurements and standards (see ch. V, p. 110). Also, the broadcasting
boom was over and the spirit of advancing equipment technology seemed to have slackened
—
in the Radio Section those in industry and with commercial interests needed less help from
a Government laboratory. And, thus, activity in committee work slackened, with several
exceptions. In 1937 Dellinger was appointed chairman of the IRE Committee on Radio Wave
Propagation. He, as well as others in the Radio Section, had come to the fore in the study of
radio propagation. In the same year, Diamond was appointed a member of the Technical
Committee on Radio Receivers and on the Technical Committee on Transmitters and
Antennas. The project on radio navigation of airplanes brought Diamond into close company
with this area of radio technology.

2. To the American Institute of Electrical Engineers

Among the diversified fields of electrical engineering is that of communications, be it of

telegraphy, telephony, radio, or television. The Radio Section's association with committee

19
The Sectional Committee on Radio consisted of 26 members, representing various producing, distributing, and
consuming groups associated with radio broadcasting.
20
Upon organization of the IRE in 1912 a standardization committee was appointed on which the three founders of
IRE (Goldsmith, Hogan, Marriott) served. A new committee was formed in 1915, on which Kolster served as a
member (also Louis W. Austin and Louis Cohen), that issued a sizable report published for the IRE.

652
programs of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) came later than with the
IRE. Not until 1926 was there committee membership, when Dellinger was appointed to the
Subcommittee on Telephone, Telegraphy, and Radio of the Standards Committee.
Years later, in 1947, Howard Sorrows was selected as a member of the Subcommittee on
Radiation Measurements above 200 Mc/s. At the same time Harold Lyons, then chief of the
Microwave Standards Section, was appointed to membership on the newly organized
Subcommittee on High Frequency Measurements. He became chairman of the committee
shortly thereafter. Beginning in 1948, this subcommittee carried on a cooperative program
with a comparable group of the IRE as the Joint AIEE-IRE Committee on High Frequency
Measurements to stage a series of biennial conferences in Washington, known as the
Conference on High Frequency Measurements. In 1963 the AIEE and IRE joined forces to
become The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

A MEDLEY OF COMMITTEES
Requests during World War I development of methods of measuring the
initiated
properties of insulating materials. In 1920 John L. Preston was appointed a member of the
Insulating Materials Committee of the American Society for Testing and Materials.
In 1921 Dellinger had an early introduction to committee work related to radio wave
propagation when he was appointed a member of the Committee on Earth Currents and
Polar Lights of the Section on Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity, American Geophysical
Union. Several years later Dellinger became vice chairman of the Committee.
Dellinger was called upon in 1935 to serve on the Science Advisory Board's Committee
on Signalling for Safety at Sea. Promoting safety at sea engaged the early developers of
wireless telegraphy and became a major project in the Radio Section beginning in 1919 (see
ch. VI).
Reentry into the area of definitions came in 1947 when Elmer L. Hall was appointed to
the Committee on Radio Electrical Coordination, within the committee structure of the
American Standards Association. Years before, in 1932, Hall had limited service on the IRE
Technical Committee on Fundamental Units and Measurements.

INCREASED CONSULTANT CAPACITY BY PROLIFERATION OF COMMITTEES

WITHIN THE CRPL
World War II and its aftermath brought on many new developments in
telecommunications with the accompanying need for standards and their adaptation for
both practical use and scientific investigation. Meeting new demands brought on a
proliferation of committees within the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) after
its organization in 1946. Exclusive of the large number of committees of an international
nature, beginning in 1946 and until separation of the radio propagation and related
programs from NBS in 1965, a total of approximately 175 committees had been active in
CRPL. 21 About 50 were added to the radio standards, electromagnetics, and time and
frequency programs at the Boulder Laboratories after 1965, thus making a total of
approximately 225 committees. Over the 30 years, the consultative services given by CRPL
22

and NBS, to be shared with industry, professional societies, and the Federal Government,
bulked large.

"Committees of an international nature, such as within URSI (International Scientific Radio Union), CCIR
(International Radio Consultative Committee), and the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) are treated
in chapter XVII and its accompanying appendix.

22
These committees and the NBS committee members are listed in appendix A, entitled Committee Memberships
relating to the general subject of radio in Technical Groups, Professional Societies, and Government Sponsored
Committees from the time of formation of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, May 1, 1946 to 1975. This
listing was prepared to indicate the magnitude, nature, and diversification of subject matter of committee work of
the CRPL and later work by the Boulder Laboratories of NBS. The listing also offers opportunity to credit
individuals with their committee work.

653
1. Increased service to professional societies
a) AN AMBITIOUS PROGRAM TO KEEP ABREAST OF THE STATE-OF-THE-ART

Although three members of the former Radio Section served on an IRE committee as
early as 1920, it was not until around 1948 that committee activity entered into a variety of

fields. Early in the 1960's, in 1962 to be exact, a rather ambitious committee program and
one of far-flung proportions was initiated within the IRE under the leadership of Myron C.
Selby of the Radio Standards Laboratory. At the time Selby was chief of the High Frequency
Electrical Standards Section. This program evolved out of work of the IRE Subcommittee on
Basic Standards and Calibration Methods of the Measurements and Instrumentation
Committee. The parent group was the IRE Standards Committee, the earliest technical
23
committee of the IRE organization. The objective of the new program was "the collection
and dissemination of state-of-the-art information concerning the accuracy attainable in
electrical measurements" [4]. The program called for the classification of accuracy
determination and statement of accuracy at three levels or echelons, the highest associated
with that obtained by a national laboratory, the lowest associated with the user of a
measurement instrument at the workbench or in field service.
In getting the program into operation the technical backgrounds and qualifications of
about 1000 members of the technical profession were checked. These persons represented a
broad spectrum of measurement activity within industry, government laboratories, and
among professional societies. Approximately 250 were invited to take part in the 22 Task
Force Groups set up to undertake the program. Each Task Force Group would have at least
five members, with each member specially qualified in a certain area of competence; for
example, the research, development, and design of standards and methods of measurement
in one of the three echelons of accuracy. An example of a Group (later called subcommittee)
was No. 3 with the title, "Power, CW, Sinusoidal, Hollow Waveguides."
By 1966 this ambitious program was well underway, although only one technical report
had been published, that on "State-of-the-Art of Measuring Sine- Wave Unbalanced RF
Voltage." By 1971, 20 of the 22 subcommittees were active, with about 100 participating
members, and 5 technical reports were completed. The overall program was one of
considerable magnitude. With a slow phasing out of activity in retiring from NBS by Selby,
leadership of the committee was taken up by George Schafer and Wilbur Anson in 1971, the
two serving as co-chairmen. 24 The committee took on new status within the IEEE and
became known as Technical Committee on Electromagnetic Measurements State-of-the-Art.
25
In 1974 committee leadership passed from NBS.

b) The scope of committee participation

By the very nature of the Institute of Radio Engineers, the CRPL and NBS successor
groups gave more of their expertise and shared more of their information with the large
committee structure of the IRE (later the IEEE) than with any other professional group. The
titles of committees ranged alphabetically all the way from Antennas to Z (impedance). Over
a period of 30 years, beginning in 1946, NBS has been involved with approximately 60
technical radio-related committees within the IEEE. Over this same period the CRPL and
NBS successor groups have had representation on a number of committees within the
American Standards Association (now American National Standards Institute), and within
the American Society for Testing and Materials.

23
The IRE Standardization Committee published its first report in 1913, a year after the Institute of Radio
Engineers was founded.

the Boulder Laboratories in 1970 to become Technical Director of the U.S. Army
24
George Schafer had left
Electronic Proving Ground at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Wilbur Anson was chief of the EM
Technology Information
Center at Boulder Laboratories.

More recently, within NBS and elsewhere, there has been a growing trend toward statistical control and
26

measurement assurance programs in the calibration and achievement of compatability of standards among
laboratories.

654
c) Service to science
The CRPL was active on a number of committees within the structure of the National
Academy of Sciences. Some of these were especially effective in their relation to the
program of the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1959.

2. Service to the country's defense

Over the 30 years, since 1946, of radio research at NBS there has been considerable
consultative activity with the Department of Defense through committee operations. Except
for some specialized committees, these services are channeled through the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, and the Departments of the Army, Navy, and the Air Force. The service given to the
DoD has varied over a wide range of subject matter.

References
[1] J. H. Dellinger, "Analysis of broadcasting station allocation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 16, No. 11, Nov. 1928, pp. 1477-85.
[2] J. H. Dellinger, "Radio broadcasting regulation and legislation," Proc. IRE, Vol. 17, No. 11, Nov. 1929, pp. 2006-
10.

[3] J. L.Preston and L. C. F. Horle, "Some methods of testing radio receiving sets," Tech. Papers Bur. of Stand.,
No. 256, Mar. 26, 1924.
[4] "A program to provide information on the accuracy of electrical measurements," Proc. IRE, Vol. 51, No. 4,
Apr. 1963, pp. 569-574, prepared by Subcommittee 25.1 on Basic Standards and Calibration Methods.

655
 Chapter XVII

ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE

THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION CONFERENCES

1. Early conferences
Radio waves know no national boundaries and the former Radio Section in its early
years became conditioned to the international aspects of radio communication. Among the
first assignments given to Kolster after his entry into the Bureau of Standards was to attend
the (Second) International Radiotelegraph Conference that met in London during June and
July of 1912 (Kolster entered the Bureau on December 18, 1911). 1,2 Kolster served as an
observer and as a technical advisor to one of the U.S. delegates to the conference. The
3
Titanic disaster of April 14, 1912, had a profound effect upon this conference.

2. The Washington Conference of 1927

Eighty countries were represented at the (Third) International Radiotelegraph
4
Conference held in Washington, D.C. during the fall of 1927. Three members of the Radio
1
In 1903 a Preliminary International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy was held in Berlin, Germany. Kaiser
Wilhelm of Germany was concerned with the monopolistic attitude of the Marconi interests and proposed holding
an international conference to counter this pressure. It was followed in 1906 by a second conference, also held in
Berlin, during which the International Radio Telegraph Union was created. These International Conferences,
which continue to the present time, constitute the plenipotentiary conferences of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), an organization that had its beginning with the International Telegraph Union in
1865. In 1932 the International Telegraph Union and the International Radio Telegraph Union (founded in 1906)
combined to form the ITU. Today, the ITU includes more than 140 member countries and is involved with many
and diversified functions, including the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) on which many NBS
personnel have served (see app. B).
A descriptive and illustrative account of the International Telecommunication Union is found in the book,
entitled From Semaphore to Satellite, published in 1965 by the ITU on the occasion of its centenary. It was prepared
under the direction of Gerald C. Gross, Secretary General of the ITU for a number of years (1958 1966) and a
former member of the Bureau's Radio Section [1]. Also refer to G. A. Codding, Jr. [2].
2
Louis W. Austin was 1 of the 12 delegates representing the United States at the 1912 Conference in London. Later
he was to become very active in the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI). Although not a member of the
Radio Section, but closely associated with the Bureau for 28 years, there is reason to believe that Austin first
became acquainted with wireless telegraphy while engaged in research at the University of Berlin during 1901-
1902.
3
A more detailed account of the London Conference will be found in chapter II.

4
Three events relating to radio communication and to functions of the ITU occurred during the period (1912-1927)
between the London Conference and the Washington Conference that were international in scope and largely in
consequence of World War I, with personnel of the Radio Section participating in each event. The first was the
Inter-Allied Radio Conference held in Paris in 1919 and attended by Kolster representing the Bureau of Navigation
of the Department of Commerce. Representatives of the Allied Nations of World War I initiated modifications to
pacts of the 1912 London Conference, largely based upon wartime developments and the growing field of radio
technology.
In the summer of 1921, Dellinger, as a representative of the Department of Commerce, attended a meeting in
Paris of the Inter-Allied Provisional Radio Technical Committee. A preliminary Communications Conference had
been held in Washington in October 1920 in preparation for the 1921 Paris Conference, and on this occasion the
radio laboratory was visited by the British, French, Italian, and Japanese delegations. This Inter-Allied Committee,
with representatives from Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States, gave attention to the
technical problems involved in international agreements since the 1912 London conference.
In the capacity of experts in international use of radio, Dellinger and another member of the Radio Section
were appointed to and served on the technical staff of the American delegation to the Conference on the Limitation
of Armaments, held in Washington, D.C. during the winter of 1921-1922.

657
Section served as technical advisors to the American Delegation. 5 An important action was
setting up the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) on which many NBS
members would serve in the future. The concept of the allocation of frequency bands over
the radio spectrum for specific uses came before these conferences and was well accepted,
but problems remained.
The Radio Section had the rare opportunity on this occasion to exhibit and demonstrate
6
its laboratory facilities to the conference delegation.

5
Reporting to NBS on the Washington Conference, Dellinger stated on the work of the technical advisors:

The Radio Section was represented in the Conference by Dr. Jolliffe, Mr. Pratt, Mr. Gross, and
myself, Mr. Gross serving as one of the interpreters, the other three of us being designated as
Technical Advisors. My work was largely on the Technical Committee of the Conference. Dr.
Jolliffe served as Secretary of the Technical Committee of the American Delegation and also as
Secretary of one of the subcommittees of the Technical Committee of the Conference. Mr. Pratt
kept in touch with all matters affecting aeronautical uses of radio. Dr. Jolliffe and Mr. Pratt
were both active in the preparations by the American Delegation during the summer before the
Conference. Mr. Hall also participated in the preparatory work during the summer on questions
of frequency and standardization. (NN365-25, Box 1)

6
On display in the Radio Building were models of directive beacons under development for air navigation, field-
intensity measuring apparatus and fading recorders, and equipment for precision frequency measurement. In front
of the Radio Building was parked the panel truck that served as a mobile radio laboratory.

Delegates to International Radio Conference, Washington, D.C. in fall of 1927, inspecting the mobile radio laboratory
at the Bureau of Standards. The laboratory truck was used in various parts of the country to make field
measurements of fading and intensity of radio signals.

658
3. The later conferences — After Washington
Dellinger served as technical advisor on the American Delegation to the International
Radiotelegraph Conference held in Madrid, Spain in the fall of 1932. 7 It was at this
conference that the name International Telecommunication Union was selected for the
organization that was formed by combining the International Radio Telegraph Union and
the International Telegraph Union.
No one of the Radio Section was in attendance at the 1938 International
Telecommunication Conference in Cairo, Egypt. However, Dellinger assisted the U.S.
Delegation in preparing for the conference. Both Dellinger and T. R. Gilliland took major
roles in a CCIR Committee in preparation for the Cairo Conference.
In the fall of 1946 Dellinger attended the Five-Power Preliminary Telecommunications
Conference in Moscow that met to prepare for an ITU plenipotentiary conference in 1947.*
During the winter of 1946-1947 Dellinger was kept busy on preparations for the 1947
International Telecommunication Conference scheduled for that summer in Atlantic City,
preceded by the Administrative Radio Conference of the International Telecommunication
Conference. It was at this preliminary conference that Dellinger served as spokesman for
the U.S. Delegation on technical radio regulations in relation to the revision of
telecommunication agreements. Coming from the preliminary conference was the drafting
of the operation of a frequency board, which the later conference approved as a Provisional
Frequency Board and the more permanent International Frequency Registration Board. The
latter board has the power of allocating frequency bands on a worldwide basis. The work of
the CRPL on radio propagation was of much use, particularly in committee meetings, at
both the preliminary and the plenipotentiary conferences, and was accepted as a basic
source of such information. Dellinger served as a delegate of the U.S. Delegation at both
conferences and served on a number of the committees at each conference. Dr. Newbern
Smith served as an advisor to the U.S. Delegation at the preliminary conference. 9

7
Mrs. A. N. Kincheloe ("ANKie"), secretary to the Radio Section, served as stenographer to the American
delegation.

8
The Five-Power countries that emerged from World War II were China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and
the United States.
9
Published during the sessions of the 1947 Conferences were 84 issues of THE MORNING ELECTRON, a small
newspaper that succinctly brought news events and information of the conferences to the participants. The final
issue, dated 3 October 1947, summed up the major accomplishments of the conferences as follows:

We have broken new ground in the radio field in three important respects:
First, we have adopted a world-wide frequency allocation table extending up to 10,500,000
kilocycles.

Second, we have planned practical machinery for putting this new allocation table into effect.

Third, we have provided for a permanent board of experts, the International Frequency
Registration Board which will consider every future assignment to determine whether it will
cause international interference.

Together we have taken another step toward the ultimate goal of successful world-wide
cooperation. Successful international relations between the nations of the earth is a mosaic made
up of good working arrangements in the various specific fields where nations have relations with
each other.

The finis to this last issue reveals the nature of the paper and probably that of its general manager.

THE LATEST NEWS

THE MORNING ELECTRON which, for five months, has been the acknowledged paper of the
happy few, of the an international intelligentsia, has never been the mouthpiece of the
elite of
Trusts, the Banks, or of Big Money. It served ideas, ideals; it never served interests. This may
explain why THE MORNING ELECTRON has been at the same time successful and
unsuccessful.

As the number of its readers has diminished appreciably since last evening, the General
Manager has decided to stop further publication of this remarkable and brilliant daily. It may
reappear in 1952 in Buenos Aires, with the new shining title of "EL ELECTRON DEL
MANANA. "... (NN365-90, Box 24)

659
 wake of the Atlantic City Conference the Provisional Frequency Board moved
In the
into action.The project was set up in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Board was in session for
25 months. The CRPL played a major role in supplying expertise and radio propagation data
to the U.S. Delegation at the Geneva sessions. Newbern Smith, assistant chief of the CRPL,
initiated the trips by CRPL personnel to Geneva, starting at the beginning of 1948. At
various intervals, yet maintaining continuity of service to the U.S. Delegation, others that
served as technical advisors were K. A. Norton, D. K. Bailey, and R. C. Kirby. Dellinger had
been appointed chairman of the Washington Provisional Frequency Board Liaison
Committee, a committee of CRPL staff members serving as the "home team" to provide
technical information to the U.S. Delegation at Geneva.
In 1952 the CRPL gave assistance to the U.S. Preparatory Committee for the
Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU that met at Buenos Aires, Argentina, but no staff
member was in attendance at Buenos Aires. Later plenipotentiary conferences were held at
Geneva (1959) and Montreux, Switzerland (1965), and the Malaga-Torremolinos Conference
was held in Spain in 1973. 10
By the 1950's, relations of NBS with the International Telecommunication Union were
almost entirely through participation in the technical activities of the International Radio
Consultative Committee (CCIR), particularly in the Study Groups (see section below and
app. B).

THE INTERNATIONAL RADIO CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (CCIR) 11

The concept of a technical committee within the structure of the International

Telecommunication Union, to be known later as the International Radio Consultative
Committee (CCIR), originated in 1920. However, it was not until action was taken at the
1927 Washington Conference of the International Radiotelegraph Conference that the
committe came into existence as an organization. Its duties were: "to study technical radio
questions and operating questions, the solution of which depends principally on
considerations of a technical radio character and to issue recommendations on them." The
primary objective was to promote the utilization of the radio spectrum in the most efficient
way by the different radio services. The Netherlands Government was charged with the task
of organizing the first meeting.

1. The CCIR becomes a functioning organization: The first meeting — At

The Hague, 1929
The first Plenary Assembly of the CCIR convened in September 1929 at The Hague,
Netherlands. Preparations by the U.S. representatives for this meeting were conducted
within the structure of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC). The report,
"Material submitted by technical experts of the United States of America for discussion at
the meeting of the CCIR at The Hague in September 1929," was prepared by the Drafting
Committee and approved by IRAC, then submitted by the State Department to the various
governments represented on the CCIR. Dellinger, as a technical advisor, served on the
Drafting Committee and was chairman of the CCIR Committee on Frequency Maintenance.
Jolliffe, also a technical advisor, was chairman of the Committee on Transmitter
Interference. Following World War II the CCIR met in Stockholm, Sweden and the modern
Study Group structure was established. Originally 14, the study groups now number 11, plus
2 related groups that are chaired by the CCIR.

10
George W. Haydon, consultant in the Radio Communications and Systems Division, attended the 1959 Geneva
Conference as a U.S. delegate and the NBS representative to the conference.
11
The abbreviation CCIR comes from the French Comite Consultatif Internationale des Radiocommunications,
French being the original official language of the ITU.

660
2. Meetings after The Hague— Before World War II

The 1931 meeting at Copenhagen, Denmark was attended by Dellinger as the delegate
and Charles G. Mcllwraith as the technical advisor representing NBS for the United States
1213
Delegation.
Dellinger served as chairman of the American Delegation to the Third Plenary
Assembly meeting at Lisbon, Portugal in the fall of 1934. He served as chairman of the
Committee on Definitions and Standards, one of the five committees. Twenty-five subject
categories were discussed at the Lisbon meeting, most of them of a technical nature.

12
Mcllwraith entered the Radio Section on September 15, 1928, and transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey
on December 28, 1931.
13
Initially, the span between plenary meetings was to be 2 years. After the Copenhagen meeting the span was
usually 3 years.

Chairmen of delegations attending Third Plenary Assembly of International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR)
at Lisbon, Portugal in fall of 1934. Photo taken at Belem, a suburb of Lisbon, where delegation was received by
Antonio O. de F. Carmona, president of Portugal (front row, under arch, holding silk top hat). Dellinger is sixth
from right, in formal morning attire, with cane, gloves, and Homburg hat.

Three years later, in 1937, Dellinger again served as chairman of the American
Delegation to the CCIR meeting at Bucharest, Rumania, and as a vice chairman of the
assembly. Again, he served as chairman of the Committee on Definitions and Standards
14
through which the conference functioned. Within a few months Dellinger sailed across the
ocean again, this time to attend a meeting in London as a follow-up to committee work in
Bucharest on radiowave propagation. More of the work was in preparation for the ITU
Conference in Cairo in 1938 and much was based upon the Radio Section's intensive study of
radio propagation. On this occasion Dellinger had the opportunity of visiting several of the
well-known radio laboratories in England.
Early in 1939 Dellinger was designated by the State Department as chairman of the
U.S. Preparatory Committee for the CCIR Assembly to be held at Stockholm, Sweden in
June 1940. For assistance on the various subcommittees, Dellinger enlisted the aid of others
of the Radio Section including H. Diamond, T. R. Gilliland, and E. L. Hall. But war broke

Indicative of the operation of a CCIR meeting in the mid-1930's, the Bucharest meeting was 19 days in session and
14

was attended by approximately 200 delegates from the principal countries of the world. The result was 21
recommendations to be published as a source of information on the understanding of radio propagation and
indicating the best of radio engineering practices; also, as recommendations to the ITU.

661
out in Europe on September 1, 1939, and the preparatory work was stopped shortly
thereafter. There was no 1940 meeting in Stockholm and CCIR activities ceased until after
World War II.

3. Meetings after World War II

The next Plenary Assembly World War II took place in 1948 at Stockholm, 8 years
after
after being initially scheduled. N. Smith and D. K. Bailey represented NBS on the U.S.
5
Delegation. In preparing for the Stockholm meeting a larger number of staff members of
the CRPL, for the first time, began to participate actively in CCIR operations.
After the Stockholm meeting, CCIR Plenary Assemblies were held in Geneva,
Switzerland in 1951, 1963, and 1974. The others were in London (1953), Warsaw (1956), Los
Angeles (1959), Oslo (1966), and New Delhi (1970). 1617
Knowledge of the general nature of the CCIR organization and the manner in which it
tackled the technical problems of telecommunications by 1965 can be gained from the
nature of its Study Group structure. The year 1965 is selected because at that time the
problems associated with radio propagation were phased out of the National Bureau of
Standards following the transfer of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory from the NBS
to the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) in October 1965. However,
ESSA remained with the Department of Commerce. Details of the Study Group structure
18
are given in the footnote below. This structure came in for major changes after 1965 and
particularly in 1970 largely due to the advancing technology of space communications.

THE EXPERT'S ROLE AT INTERNATIONAL AND

INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCES

1. Taking part in an assortment of international conferences

a) TO THE TIME OF FORMATION OF THE CRPL
In 1921 Dellinger made the first of his many trips to Europe. His first trip was to Paris in
relation to the Inter-Allied Provisional Radio Technical Committee. His second trip, during the
summer of 1927, covered a large area of Europe with visits to eight countries during the course

15
Dellinger had retired from Government service on April 30, 1948, and attended the July 1948 Conference of the
CCIR RCA, serving as a consultant
as an industrial counselor. After retirement Dellinger became associated with
with the RCA Frequency Bureau.
At the Stockholm meeting Dellinger was elected chairman of the Study Group on Ionospheric Propagation, a
post he held until 1956. Dellinger attended subsequent Plenary Assemblies of the CCIR in 1951, 1953, and 1959,
missing the 1956 Conference at Warsaw. At the inaugural ceremony of the 1951 Conference at Geneva, Professor
van der Pol, director of the CCIR, in his welcoming address stated:

I recently looked up the lists and I think I am right

of those present at former C.C.I. R. meetings,
in saying, that there are here present this morning three gentlemen who so far have attended all
previous plenary assemblies of the C.C.I.R. They are: Dr. Dellinger of the United States
delegation, Mr. Gross, the Assistant Secretary General of the Union, and myself. Mr. Gross and I
are now on the staff of the Union and so it is to Dr. Dellinger, as a delegate, that it falls to be our
doyen by virtue of service if not yet by virtue of age.
16
Because of the increased participation in CCIR activities by NBS staff members after World War II, detailed
delineation of their participation is noted in appendix B, beginning at the time of organization of the CRPL (May 1,

1946).

17
In 1966, Jack Herbstreit of the CCIR, a post that he occupied for 8 years. This top
was elected director
administrative position of the CCIRwith the ITU at the headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In the
is

reorganization of Boulder Laboratories during October 1965, Herbstreit was transferred from the NBS (deputy
director of CRPL) to the Institute of Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy within ESSA, with the position of
deputy director.
Herbstreit was followed in the directorship of CCIR in 1974 by Richard C. Kirby, who at the time of his election
was an associate director of the Office of Telecommunications, Department of Commerce.
18
The Study Group structure within the CCIR in 1965 was as follows: I, Transmitters; II, Receivers; III, Fixed
services; IV,Space systems and radioastronomy; V, Tropospheric and ground wave propagation; VI, Ionospheric
propagation; VII, Standard-frequencies and time-signals; VIII, International monitoring; IX, Radio-relay systems; X,
Broadcasting; XI, Television; XII, Tropical broadcasting; XIII, Mobile services; and XIV, Vocabulary.

662
 The multiple-purpose trip took Dellinger to radio stations, laboratories, museums,
of 3 months.
Government offices, international conferences, and to many airfields for study of radio naviga-
19
tion of airplanes (see ch. VI, p. 159). In Prague he attended the Third General Meeting of the
International Geophysical Union as a delegate of the United States. This meeting included a
symposium on radio. Again, as a U.S. delegate, he attended a meeting of the International
Electrotechnical Commission at Bellagio, Italy.
In 1928 the Bureau had the opportunity to inform the aviation industry, on an
international scale, of the aeronautical research and airway development being conducted at
NBS. The occasion was the International Civil Aeronautics Conference held in Washington
20
in December. Dellinger served as a representative of NBS at the conference. At a technical
session on aeronautical research, Dr. L. J. Briggs (assistant director, and later, director of
NBS) presented a paper describing aeronautical research at NBS including development of a
directive radio beacon system. At another session, Dellinger described the system in detail
in a paper entitled, "Uses of radio as an aid to navigation on fixed airways." Thus the
aeronautical world was informed of the radio beacon system that had been developed by the
Radio Section and that already was being used on an experimental basis on an airway (see
ch. VI).
During the summer of 1930 Dellinger was occupied with committee work in Denmark,
Sweden, and Norway as a representative of the Institute of Radio Engineers at the Seventh
Plenary Meeting of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). He also served as
a delegate for the U.S. National Committee of the IEC in areas relating to radio. This trip
was a 2-month period of committee work.
During the decade of the 1930's Dellinger's trips to Europe were concerned entirely
with activities in the International Telecommunication Conferences such as CCIR
21
meetings. Then in 1939 came World War II and international scientific meetings ceased for
the duration of the war. However, in 1944, exigencies of the war effort brought on a meeting
in Washington of international scope, at least for the Allies (or United Nations).
Representatives of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, along with a large
contingent of U.S. representatives and observers, attended the 3-week International
Radio Propagation Conference in the spring of 1944. The conference was held on the
Bureau's grounds under the auspices of the Wave Propagation Committee of the Combined
Communications Board (military), with 88 in attendance.

19
Dellinger's trip report (Radio File R080d) reads like Jason, the Argonaut, sailing in the Argo in search of the
Golden Fleece, except that Dellinger sailed on two ships in search of radio ken, the S.S. Leviathan to Southampton,
and returned on the S.S. Roma from Naples. On board the two ships he took the opportunity of studying the radio
equipment. In all, Dellinger visited approximately 40 laboratories, stations, offices, and airfields.
20
This conference was called at the suggestion of President Coolidge "to provide an opportunity for an interchange
of views upon problems pertaining to aircraft in international commerce and trade, and suitably to commemorate
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first flight of the Wright brothers."
21
members of the Radio Section, T. R. Gilliland, S. S. Kirby, N. Smith, and S. E. Reymer, prepared a paper
In 1936,
for the International Association of Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity for the Edinburgh Assembly in
September 1936. This paper, entitled "Averages of critical frequencies and virtual heights of the ionosphere,
observed by the National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C., 1934-1936," was presented at the Edinburgh
meeting but none of the authors was in attendance.

663
International Conference on Radio Propagation held at National Bureau of Standards, April 17-May 5, 1944, under
auspices of Wave Propagation Committee of Combined Communication Board (military). Staff members of the
Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL), who hosted the Conference, that can be identified in the
photograph (taken in frontof Radio Building) are: J. H. Bellinger, F. R. Gracely, N. Smith, S. M. Ostrow, E.
Lundquist, F. F. Craig, M. McGavok, T. N. Gautier, W. E. Owen, M. B. Harrington, L. Gillespie, R. Silberstein, J.
V. Lincoln, A. N. Kincheloe, and M. L. Phillips.
Others in the photograph who later joined the IRPL and CRPL are: D. K. Bailey, A. H. Shapley, J. Herbstreit,
and T. J. Carroll.

b ) After formation of the CRPL

In support of the Provisional Frequency Board set up at the Atlantic City Radio
Conference of 1947 were seven conferences meeting in the period of 1948 to 1951, that were
to formulate a new International Frequency List of operating frequencies in the band of 10
kHz to 30 MHz. It fell to the lot of the CRPL to become actively engaged in several of these
conferences. Assigned as a technical advisor on propagation matters to the U.S. Delegation
to the International Administrative Aeronautical Radio Conference was T. N. Gautier. This
meeting of several months duration was held in Geneva in 1948. J. W. Herbstreit was
designated technical advisor to the U.S. Delegation for the High Frequency Broadcasting
Conference held in Mexico City from October 1948 to April 1949. Sixty-nine countries were
represented at this important conference that wrestled with the problems of broadcast
frequency assignments the world over. In spite of the enormous amount of work expended in
the seven conferences that met from 1948 to 1951, not all was accomplished that had been
—
hoped for and finally the parent group the Provisional Frequency Board was disbanded. —
During the next several years more was accomplished in subsequent conferences that
brought about a degree of harmony in communication services and frequency assignments
among the contending nations. In 1950 the High Frequency Broadcasting Conference
reconvened at Rappolo, Italy and was again attended by Herbstreit as a technical advisor.
By 1949 the United Nations organization was becoming active in many quarters and the
Second National Conference of UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization) was held in Cleveland, Ohio. On this occasion A. H. Shapley represented the
CRPL in a presentation of the radio propagation research being conducted by NBS.
In March of 1959 an important conference of somewhat an international flavor
convened at the Boulder Laboratories. Called the Conference on Arctic Communication, the
objective of the conference was to review the results of recent Arctic radio research and to
discuss current research and operational problems. Forty-six original papers were presented
to the conference, plus the 1 1 papers of the review session [3].
The use of rockets and satellites for space research had advanced far enough by 1959 to
discuss programs on an international basis and the First International Space Science
Symposium was scheduled during the latter part of the year at Nice, France. The

22
Research programs of an international nature involving the cooperation of nations and of scientific groups within
nations are noted in chapters where these specific programs are covered.

664
symposium was sponsored by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) within the
International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). Three staff members of the CRPL
attended the symposium, R. S. Lawrence, A. H. Shapley, and R. M. Gallet, with Lawrence
presenting a paper written by him in collaboration with C. G. Little.
To provide all of the facets of telecommunications in space research required a new look
at the frequency spectrum in order to update frequency allocations for this new service. A.
Barnabei, the Communications Liaison Officer with the Department of Commerce, was
appointed to the U.S. Delegation to the Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference for
Space Telecommunications which met in Geneva in the latter part of 1963 in company with
delegations from 69 other nations. The outcome of the conference was a carefully considered
allocation of frequencies to be assigned for space-related activities.
During the 16 years after the International Aeronautical Radio Conference of 1948, the
aviation industry and the radio navigation of planes had advanced so far that a revision on
a world basis of frequency allocations was in order. To this task was called Barnabei, along
with G. W. Haydon of the Radio Systems Division, to serve for a period of time at the
Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference for the Aeronautical Service held in
Geneva early in 1964. The result was improved frequency allocations to serve aviation on a
global scale.

Attending as a U.S. delegate to the Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference for the Aeronautical Mobile
Service (International Telecommunications Union) at Geneva, Switzerland in early 1964, George W. Haydon (left
front) listens in on the proceedings. At the time, Haydon was a consultant in the Radio Systems Division, with
specialization in frequency utilization.

2. International conferences called for the Americas

Along with taking part in European conferences, beginning in the early 1920's, the
Radio Section became involved in various ways with radio conferences that were staged in
the Western Hemisphere. The earliest of these conferences in which the Radio Section took
part was the Pan American Communications Conference of 1924 held in Mexico City. Under

665
the auspices of an interdepartmental committee appointed by the State Department,
members of the section were active in the preparations for this conference. However, none
attended the meeting in Mexico City. Of primary consideration by the conference was the
allocation of very low frequencies for the high-power radio stations in the Americas.
Nine years after the 1924 Conference another one was held in Mexico City in 1933
under the name of North American Radio Conference. The meeting was called primarily for
the allocation of broadcasting frequencies in North America. Bellinger was appointed
chairman of a U.S. Committee that assisted the State Department and the Federal Radio
Commission studying the problems associated with frequency allocations in the range of 150
to 1700 kHz and at transmitting distances up to 5,000 km. Wave phenomena work by the
Radio Section was the principal source of data on received signal intensities used by the
23
committee in its report.
Between the time of the 1932 Madrid Conference and the 1938 Cairo Conference of the
ITU, a conference was held in Havana, Cuba in 1937 that became known as the First Inter-
American Radio Conference, followed later, in 1940, by the Second Inter-American Radio
Conference in Santiago, Chile. The purpose of these conferences was to resolve questions of
radio communications that especially concerned the two Americas. Although the Radio
Section did not become involved in either of the two conferences, Dellinger was appointed
vice chairman of the U.S. Delegation that took part in the Third Inter-American Radio
Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1945. The conference was attended by representatives
of 22 American nations. The outcome was, in effect, a treaty that formed a basis of
regulating communications among the American nations.
The Fourth Inter-American Radio Conference convened in 1949 in Washington, D.C. T.
N. Gautier of the Upper Atmosphere Research Section, and W. Q. Crichlow of the Frequency
Utilization Research Section, CRPL, served as technical advisors to the U.S. Delegation.

URSI— FULFILLMENT IN INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION 24

1. What is URSI?
The acronym URSI became a familiar "name" to the Radio Section, the CPRL, and NBS
25
over the many years from the early 1920's. It has served almost as a synonym for the
organization whose name is International Scientific Radio Union (later changed to
International Union of Radio Science).

23
The report, entitled "Report of Committee on Radio Propagation Data," was published in the October 1933 issue
of the Proc. IRE.

24
Dellinger, in a paper entitled "The work of the International Union of Scientific Radio Telegraphy" published in
the April 1923 issue of the Proc. IRE, stated in part:

It is believed that radio is unique among the few fields having special adaptability to a large-
scale international research program. The phenomena that must be studied are world-wide in
extent, and yet are in large measure subject to control of the experiments. . . .

It (URSI) is organized:
1. To promote the scientific study of radio communication.
2. To aid and organize researches requiring cooperation on an international scale and to
encourage the discussion and publication of the results of such researches.
3. To facilitate agreement upon common methods of measurement and the standardization of
measuring equipment.
26
Dellinger, in the opening paragraph of his banquet address "Almost Fifty Years of URSI" given at the December
1960 URSI-IRE Meeting at Boulder, said:

URSI — If I were Professor Kennelly, I would automatically say "URSI, the bears". Although a
professor of electrical engineering, being a Harvard professor, Kennelly could not forget his
Latin, so to him URSI was always the bears. That remarkable man was one of the early
presidents of URSI; was the discoverer of the ionosphere (some of you have heard of the
"Kennelly-Heaviside layer") and was the father of the coded Ursigrams [4].

666
 The International Radio Union was established in 1919, shortly after World
Scientific
26
War I, butback to 1913. It was not until 1922 at the General Assembly in
its roots go
Brussels that URSI became organized functionally in the form that has existed essentially
27
the same to the present time.

2. The U.S. joins URSI

On October 26, 1920, a meeting was held in Washington under the auspices of the
National Research Council to organize an American Section of URSI. Eight people attended
this meeting by invitation, including Kolster, chief of (Radio) Section 6b, and Dr. Austin who
was stationed at NBS and headed the U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory located at
NBS. 28 General Gustave Ferrie of France, one of the organizers and the first president of
URSI, was in attendance at the Washington meeting. At a meeting of the Executive
Committee of the American Section on January 19, 1921, Austin was elected chairman and

26
A capsule summary of the origin of URSI can be found in the introductory paragraph to a short article by Millet
G. Morgan entitled "The International Scientific Radio Union — URSI," in the June 1967 issue of the Proc. IRE, p.

742. It reads:

URSI is one of unions organized under the International Council

fifteen international scientific
of Scientific Unions. Its history dates from 1913 when a group of scientists from six European
countries, meeting in Brussels on October 27, decided to establish an International Commission
of Scientific Wireless Telegraphy. World War I intervened before the Commission began to
function, but after the war it was reformed as the International Union of Scientific Radio
Telegraphy and was established in 1919, with three other Unions in astronomy, geophysics and
chemistry, under the auspices of the International Research Council which subsequently became
the International Council of Scientific Unions. In 1928, the Union on radio telegraphy dropped
the word "telegraphy" from its name and took the name International Scientific Radio Union. It
soon became known by the pronounceable acronym, URSI, from the French version of its name
(Union Radio Scientifique Internationale).

In 1969 the English name was changed to International Union of Radio Science.

Note: Louis W. Austin (very active with URSI affairs for many years) in a Communication to the National Research
Council in 1931 stated that:

It (URSI) originated from a conversation in Paris in October 1912, between Dr. R. B. Goldschmidt
of Brussels and Professor H. Schmidt of Halle (Belgium). Their plan was to organize an
international body for arranging and coordinating investigations on radio wave propagation, and
for study of other scientific problems of radio telegraphy.

R. B. Goldschmidt became the first general secretary of URSI.

27
At the international level URSI holds meetings called General Assemblies. Beginning with the Brussels meeting
of 1922, 18 General Assemblies have been held, 2 in the United States, at Washington, D.C. in 1927 and at Boulder,
Colo, in 1957. Many hundreds of participants attend these meetings in different parts of the world at which papers
are presented and symposia are held on the latest developments in radio science.
Technical work of URSI is conducted on a continuing basis by internationally constituted bodies called
Commissions. Four were established during the 1919-1922 period, namely: I, Measurement Methods and
Standardization; II, Wave Propagation; III, Atmospheric Disturbances; and IV, Cooperation with Radio Amateurs.
(The founding fathers apparently valued the observations of propagation made by radio amateurs as did the NBS
Radio Section in the early 1920's. See ch. VII.) Later, Commission IV was called Cooperation with Other Sciences;
then it was dropped as an operating body.
In more recent times (up to 1972) the international commissions have been organized to keep abreast of growth
in radio science as follows:

I. Radio Standards and Measurements

II. Radio and Troposphere Propagation —
III. Ionospheric Radio Propagation—
IV. Radio Noise of Terrestrial Origin
V. Radio Astronomy
VI. Radio Waves and Circuits
VII. Radio Electronics

In the United States a third operational group is the U.S. National Committee of URSI, organized under the
National Research Council. It holds national meetings for discussion and promotion of radio science. Hence, it is
quite common to see the combination abbreviation USNC/URSI, which for sake of brevity is used for United States
National Committee/International Union of Radio Science.
28
In 1920 the Radio Section was divided in two subsections: Section 6a, Radio Research and Testing, headed by
Dellinger; and Section 6b, Radio Development, headed by Kolster (see. ch. rV, p. 71).

667
 29
Dellinger technical secretary, a position he held until 1933. These officers also served the
American Section. Almost immediately the Radio Section (reorganized February 1, 1921)
became active in URSI-related research by conducting experiments "on a method of stray
and atmospheric disturbances especially at short wave lengths." By the summer of 1921
Dellinger was attending meetings of URSI at an international level when he was serving as
a Department of Commerce representative at a meeting in Paris of the Inter-Allied
Provisional Radio Technical Committee. On this occasion the young URSI organization was
taking part in the Inter-Allied Committee (see p. 657, footnote 4).

3. The American Section grows — And matures

By 1923, 2 years after the American Section was organized, six committees or
commissions were functioning within the American Section. Austin was designated
chairman of the Committee on Radio Wave Transmission Phenomena, and Dellinger was
chairman of the Committee on Methods of Measurement and Standards. Gregory Breit,
formerly of the Radio Section, was designated chairman of the Committee on Radio Wave
Direction. These assignments continued for a period of years.
After organization of the American Section, annual meetings were held in Washington,
D.C. in April for presentation of progress reports by chairmen of the technical committees
and for general discussion. Beginning in 1926 these meetings were enlarged in scope,
including the presentation of papers by those taking an active part or interest in URSI. At
the 1926 2-day meeting three members of the Radio Section presented papers.
The Fourth Annual Convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was held in
Washington on May 13 to 15, 1929. 30 Dr. Jolliffe of the Radio Section was chairman of the
Convention Committee. On May 15, the third day of the convention, a joint meeting of the
IRE and URSI was held at the Mayflower Hotel, the convention headquarters. Thus began
the close relationship of the two organizations for joint meetings that has continued over the
years to the present time [5]. At the 1929, and first joint meeting, Dellinger reported on
"Current developments in radio measurement research," and Austin on "Current
31
developments in radio wave propagation research." Over the many years these joint
meetings have been held in the "springtime in Washington" in close time association with
meetings of the American Physical Society, American Geophysical Union, National
Academy of Sciences, and other scientific societies.
Dellinger continued to be technical secretary of the American Section until 1933 at
which time he was elected vice chairman. In 1940 he was elected chairman and held the post
until 1949. Samuel S. Kirby was elected technical secretary and treasurer of the section in
1934 and held the position until his death in 1941. Newbern Smith served as secretary-
treasurer, and later as vice president, beginning in 1947 and continuing to 1953.
At a banquet during the Fall Meeting of the U.S. National Committee (formerly the
American Section) of URSI at Boulder, Colo, in December 1960, Dellinger was presented
with a citation for long and meritorious service to the organization.

4. The American Section stages two General Assemblies

The American Section (later known as the U.S. National Committee) has had the
opportunity of hosting two General Assemblies of URSI, the Ilnd Assembly held in
Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1927, and the Xllth Assembly held in Boulder, Colo., August
22 to September 5, 1957.

29
On January 31, 1921, Kolster took a year's leave of absence from NBS and did not return (see ch. IV, p. 71). He
took no active part in URSI after the initial meeting.

30
Although the IRE was then 17 years in existence, the National Conventions for presentation of technical papers
did not begin until 1926. Formerly, the annual meetings were largely for conducting the annual business affairs of
the organization.

Dellinger in the Radio Section's Monthly Report of April 1934 and the Annual Report of FY 1934 refers to the
31

1934 annual meeting of URSI in Washington as the first joint meeting with the IRE rather than the second.
Dellinger may have taken the viewpoint of URSI inviting the IRE into joint session, whereas in 1929 the IRE had
invited URSI into joint session. Dellinger presided at the 1934 meeting.

668
 Austin and Dellinger were two of the five official delegates representing the American
Section at the 1927 Assembly. Austin, chairman of the American Section, presided at the
opening session on October 10. 32 Five papers were presented by NBS personnel or former
NBS personnel, namely: Dellinger, Kolster (in 1927 chief engineer, Federal Telegraph Co.,
Palo Alto, Calif.), Haraden Pratt, Austin (with Miss I. J. Wymore), and E. B. Judson, the
papers ranging in subjects from frequency standards to vagaries of radio transmission.
By 1957 the CRPL was well established at the Boulder Laboratories and could
effectively stage the Xllth Assembly. Dellinger, an Honorary President of URSI and an
active and long-time member of the U.S. National Committee, was selected to serve as
chairman of the General Arrangements Committee. K. A. Norton and A. H. Shapley served
as chairmen of the Local Arrangements Committee, with about 30 NBS staff members
making up the committee. Approximately 880 people attended the Assembly— including
over 300 family members— making it the largest, at the time, of any General Assembly. The
nearly 500 delegates and observers represented 22 countries. 33

32
The record of this Assembly shows that 35 people attended the opening session and nearly half of this number
were NBS or NBS-related persons. In contrast, nearly 500 delegates and observers attended the 1957 Assembly in
Boulder.
33
The presence of so large a group of scientists was a notable event in Boulder. The Plenary Opening Session on
August 26 was chaired by H. W. Wells, chairman of the U.S. National Committee. A short address by Quigg
Newton, president of the University of Colorado, opened the meeting, followed by a welcome by the Mayor of
Boulder, Leo C. Riethmayer. The assembly was greeted by F. W. Brown, director of the Boulder Laboratories.
Detlev W. Bronk, president of the National Academy of Sciences, addressed the Assembly, followed by a response
by Father Lejay, S.J., president of URSI.

Delegates, observers, and families attending the Xllth General Assembly of the International Scientific Radio Union
(URSI) held at Boulder, August 22 to September 5, 1957. Photo taken in the Mary Rippon Theatre, University of
Colorado, best known as the locale of the annual Shakespeare Festival. Officers of URSI and others associated
with staging the Xllth Assembly can be identified in the center of the front row.

669
 n

Executive Committee of URSI at the Xllth General Assembly, Boulder. Photo taken August 22, 1957, on day of
opening ceremonies.
Sitting, left to right* Standing, left to right

Dellinger Marty
van der Pol Berkner
Appleton Decaux
Burrows Ha rang
Lejay Dieminger
Herbays Sterky
Coutrez 2

Tellegen Wells
McKinley
?

Manneback
Smith-Rose
?

Goldman
Gerber
?

Koga
Ellyett
Ratcliffe

identified by Dellinger (Box I Papers of J. H. Dellinger, NN365-25)

During the Assembly 311 reports and papers were submitted, organized around the 7
major fields of activity (the 7 permanent commissions). Many social events, tours, technical
field trips, and ladies' and children's programs were provided for the Assembly
participants.
34
A banquet was held in Dellinger's honor, at which time he was presented a
citation for his long and meritorious service to URSI.
At the Plenary Closing Session, Lloyd V. Berkner, the incoming president, in his
address of acceptance epitomized the accomplishments of URSI during its 40 years of

34
An item of interest was noted following the Assembly by Dellinger in his letter of October 17, 1957, to the URSI
organization. He stated, in part, in his commendations:

. . . The program for ladies and children was extraordinarily complete in plan and meticulous
in execution; it will be the model (or ideal) for international meetings for a long time to come.

Mrs. Kenneth A. Norton was chairman of the Ladies' Program Committee of approximately 60 ladies.

670
existence:"No one can assume leadership of a really great organization without a feeling of
35
humbleness, and the URSI is great. It has become great for many reasons."

5. Reaching the international level

In 1932 Austin was URSI just a few

elected to the presidency of the international
38 36,37
months before his death on June
a vice president since 1921. 27, 1932. He had been
Dellinger served as a vice president for the period of 1934-1952. In 1952 Dellinger was
appointed Honorary President of URSI, a post that is held for life. Lloyd V. Berkner, a
former member of the Radio Section (1928-1933), was elected to the presidency of URSI in
39
1957 and served for 3 years. He had been a vice president during the period of 1954-1957.
As members of the U.S. Delegations to General Assemblies of URSI, NBS-related
personnel have served at most of the international meetings, beginning with Austin at the

35
In brief, Berkner's enumeration of the many reasons was:

First, we live in great times — times to which the U. R.S.I, and its members have made a
substantial and even major contribution. . . .

Second, U. R.S.I, is great because the subject with which it deals is at the very heart of science.

Radio and electronics provide the nerve systems for scientific observations in essentially every
field of science in our day. . . .

Third, U. R.S.I, is great because of the strength of its organization. . . .

Fourth, U. R.S.I, is great because of its vitality and its ability to evolve with the growth of its

science. . . .

Fifth, U. R.S.I, is strong because it has been the forum that has brought together men of great
intellectual capacity. . . .

Finally,and above all, U. R.S.I, is strong because of the strength and vision of its leaders
throughout the history of U.R.S.I.'s growth. Among the early presidents appear the leading
names in radio science. . . .

36
At its annual meeting on April 27, 1933, the American Section of URSI featured a commemoration of the life and
work of Austin.
37
In the Proceedings of the General Assembly of URSI of 1934 (London), the following was stated under the report
of the Secretary-General, in commenting on Austin's death (by first referring to the death of General Ferrie,
founder and first president of URSI, who had died on February 16, 1932):

. This great
. . loss was suffered by U. R.S.I, and its Secretary-General soon after the 4th General
Assembly.

It was necessary to find a successor capable of taking up his work. The U.S.A., in the high
personality of Dr. L. W. Austin, replied to our appeal. Vice-President of U. R.S.I. , endowed with
the scientific authority which his name evoked immediately throughout the world, Dr. Austin
agreed to be for us a competent guide, full of clairvoyance and solicitude.

Alas, hardly had he taken over the supreme direction of our Union when he fell also, June 27,
1932.

We regret this greatly, not only for himself the most precious of friends of U. R.S.I. but also — —
the profound knowledge which he brought to us and the precision of the far-seeing spirit which
directed his work.

And now, turning again to the U.S.A., we asked Prof. A. E. Kennelly to take over the heavy
responsibility of the double succession. He hesitated a long time, but after our insistence he
acquiesced.

38
Each General Assembly elects an additional vice president.
39
Berkner had the unusual distinction of being president of URSI (1957-1960), president of the International
Council of Scientific Unions (1955-1958), president of the American Geophysical Union (1959-1962), and president of
the IRE (1961).

671
firstAssembly in Brussels in 1922. Dellinger served as a voting delegate to nine of the
Assemblies and was chairman of the U.S. Delegation at the Stockholm Assembly in 1948. 40
During the period of 1950 to 1960 Dellinger was chairman of the Publications Committee for
URSI operations.
During the organizational period of URSI (1919-1922), Austin became the first chairman
41
of the Commission on Wave Propagation, a position that he held until his death in 1932.
During those years much of the work that he carried on in the Laboratory for Special Radio
Transmission Research (a special group within the Electricity Division, NBS) was conducted
in the interest of URSI (see ch. II, pp. 35-38 and ch. VII, pp. 175-176). Following Austin's
death in 1932, Dellinger became chairman of the Commission on Radio Wave Propagation
(slight change in title), a position that he held until 1948 at the time he retired from
Government service. Newbern Smith was vice chairman of the Commission for 1 year in
1948.
As knowledge of the radio transmission medium progressed, other propagation
commissions were established. Thomas J. Carroll, a former member of CRPL (1946-1951),
was secretary of the Radio and Troposphere Commission during 1954-1957. Berkner was vice
chairman of the Ionospheric Radio Commission from 1954 until 1961. In 1963, and
continuing for several terms, Jack W. Herbstreit and Robert W. Knecht became secretaries
of Commission II, Radio and Troposphere, and Commission III, Ionosphere, respectively.
At the time of his retirement in 1948 Dellinger became chairman of Commission I on
Radio Measurements and Standards, a post that he held until 1952. William D. George
became vice chairman of this commission in 1954 and remained so until his death in 1963, at
which time Robert W. Beatty of the Radio Standards Division continued the term of office
until 1964. In 1972 Helmut M. Altschuler of the Electromagnetics Division was elected vice
chairman of Commission I and in 1975 became chairman. From 1963 to 1969 Beatty served
as scientific editor of Commission I. Recently the name of the commission was changed to
that of Commission I-A-Electromagnetic Metrology (including radio standards and biological
reactions).
Beginning in 1951 URSI has been represented at General Assemblies of the CCIR and
has sustained the URSI Committee for CCIR Work for study of questions posed by the CCIR.
Dellinger was the first chairman of this committee, beginning in 1954 and continuing until
42
his death in 1962.

40
A tabulation of voting d< degates to URSI General Assemblies by NBS-related personnel follows:
I Brussels, 1922 Austin X Sydney, 1952 Dellinger
II Washington, 1927 Austin, Dellinger XI The Hague, 1954 Dellinger
III Brussels, 1928 Austin, XII Boulder, 1957 Dellinger
Taintor Parkinson XIII London, 1960 Dellinger
IV Copenhagen, 1931 Austin, Dellinger XIV Tokyo, 1963
V London, 1934 Dellinger XV Munich, 1966
VI Venice, 1938 S. S. Kirby XVI Ottawa, 1969
VII Paris, 1946 XVII Warsaw, 1972
VIII Stockholm, 1948 Dellinger XVIII Lima, 1975
IX Zurich, 1950 Dellinger

Berkner, formerly of the Radio Section, was a delegate to the 1957 Boulder and 1960 London Assemblies, and
was president of the London Assembly.

41
The name "chairman" of a commission is sometimes interchanged with the name "president" in URSI
documents.
42
In a letter to Dellinger dated 5 February 1962, R. L. Smith-Rose, president of URSI, stated in part:

I would like to take this occasion of expressing on behalf of U.R.S.I., our appreciation of the

outstanding work you have carried out over many years in securing a very effective measure of
liaison between U.R.S.I. and C.C.I.R., particularly in the field of radio-wave propagation on
which you have such expert scientific and practical knowledge. I am sure that the close
connection between these two bodies which you have effected will be very beneficial to their
continuing work in the international field. (NN365-25, Box 4)

672
6. International intercomparison of laboratory standards

The acronym URSI connotes most people the gaining of knowledge and the making
to
of observations of radiowave propagation, and to a much lesser extent the use of standards
and conducting measurements in the laboratory. Yet from the beginning of URSI,
Commission I was assigned the cognizance of radio measurements and standards. At the
Vllth General Assembly at Paris in 1946 it was recognized by Commission 1 that
international comparison of standards at radio frequencies would probably have to be
conducted with equipment designed for specific electrical quantities at selected radio
frequencies rather than by the process of derived quantities from the more basic electrical
quantities (such as dc standards). Yet it was not until the Xllth General Assembly at
Boulder in 1957 that a strong resolution evolved from Commission I to proceed with an
international comparison of power standards at specific radio frequencies (3000 to 10,000
MHz). 43
In 1957 Japanese delegates to the General Assembly at Boulder brought with them an
X-band (8.2-12.4 GHz) bolometer unit for comparison with an NBS power standard. There
was initiated a series of intercomparisons of microwave power standards to extend for
several years with Japan and later with the United Kingdom. In the 1960's these
intercomparisons of power standards were extended to Canada, the U.S.S.R., and East
Germany. Close agreement was attained in the intercomparisons indicating sound
approaches in the measurement methods, with an assurance of uniformity in measured
value of radio-frequency power on an international basis. The extensive program was
carried on under the direction of Glenn F. Engen of the Radio Standards Laboratory.
Intercomparisons of attenuation and noise standards and dielectric measurements at
microwave frequencies have also been conducted.

43
The period from 1946 to 1957 was seemingly a decade of vacillation on the part of Commission I through six
General Assemblies in arriving at a specific program of the intercomparison of power standards involving several
national laboratories. At the Zurich Assembly in 1950, Commission I stated:

It isthe general feeling (of Commission I) that to organize and carry out a real comparison
program would not yield new information sufficient to justify the large effort required.
7. NBS contributes to the International Geophysical Year

The Radio Section took a somewhat minor Second International Polar Year
role in the
of 1932-1934 (see ch. VII, p. 220). However, its newly developed multifrequency recorder
had recently become available for measurement of virtual heights of the ionosphere layers
and the measurements made under the direction of S. S. Kirby were a contribution to the
Polar Year program.
At the suggestion made in 1950 by Lloyd V. Berkner, formerly of the Radio Section,
there developed within the next 6 years the program for the International Geophysical Year
44
(IGY), an international scientific project of immense proportions. So vast was the program
that it encompassed the Earth, took in the solar system, and required the cooperation of 66
nations and 30,000 scientists to bring the project to fruition. The result was a tremendous
gain in knowledge of the Earth's environment.
At the Xth General Assembly of URSI at Sydney in 1952 the URSI-IGY Committee was
formed to deal with the radio investigations of the IGY and to work in close cooperation
with the CSAGI (see footnote 44). In 1955 the committee met in Brussels at which time a
subcommittee was formed with Alan H. Shapley of the CRPL as chairman. This committee
became known as the World Wide Soundings Subcommittee and was responsible for the
detailed planning of the IGY vertical ionospheric soundings program. More than 170
stations scattered over the Earth became involved in this project (CRPL became responsible
for the operation of 37 of these stations). Shapley also became one of the three U.S.A.
members to serve on the international CSAGI.
At the national level Shapley was selected to serve as vice chairman of the U.S.
National Committee and was a member of the Executive Committee that was now taking a
major role in development of the IGY program. Shapley became very much of a "world
traveler" as the IGY project accelerated in activity. With time he became more involved in
40
the project and was the international coordinator for the IGY World Days program.
Shapley also served on the Arctic and Antarctic Committees and on Technical Panels on
Ionospheric Physics, Solar Activity, and World Days and Communications.
As the entire project got into full swing an estimated 100 or more of NBS personnel
became involved. Taking a more active part in the committee functions of the U.S. National
Committee were: Franklin E. Roach, vice chairman of the Technical Panel on Aurora and
Airglow; Ralph J. Slutz, a member of the Technical Panel on Ionospheric Physics, and also
46
A. Glenn Jean who served as a consultant on the Panel.

44
This suggestion was made by Berkner, then of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, at a social gathering on
April 5, 1950, at the home of James Van Allen (of Van Allen Belts fame) in Silver Spring, Md., honoring Sydney

Chapman (then a professor of physics at Oxford University). The proposal was that of a Third International Polar
Year and this was submitted to the mixed Commission on the Ionosphere (a group formed in 1947 with
representation of four Scientific Unions, including URSI). At the General Assembly of URSI at Zurich in
September 1950 the proposal was endorsed by the Assembly and by Commission III, Ionospheric Radio. The
proposal also came before the International Council of Scientific Unions out of which was set up the Comite Special
de l'Annee Geophyisique Internationale (CSAGI). It was this special committee headed up by Sydney Chapman, and
with Berkner as a member, that steered the course of the development of the IGY program during the next 6 years.
See: Walter Sullivan, Assault on the Unknown, Ch. 3, "Global Plans," McGraw Hill, New York, 1961.

45
These were special days or intervals selected by NBS to alert scientists around the world to the more frequent
and more intensive observations from a global network of observatories and laboratories. The NBS nerve center for
this warning program was operated at the radio station, Ft. Belvoir, Va., just south of Washington. The
international communication network involved many facilities including military, commercial, and the Bureau's
own WWV and WWVH stations.

46
During the period of July 30-August 9, 1958, a group from the CRPL attended the International Geophysical Year
meeting (sponsored by the CSAGI) at Moscow, Russia and included Alan Shapley, Virginia Lincoln, David Gates,
and Franklin Roach.

674
 IGY as a "year" project covered the period of July I, December 1958. 47 It
1957, through
was a period of maximum sunspot activity which was anticipated and taken into
consideration. At least 15 major scientific programs were planned and pursued. Of theae
NBS became directly involved in ionospheric studies, scatter propagation, radio noise,
whistlers, and airglow. To preserve and provide easy access to the recorded information,
three IGY World Data Centers were Western Hemisphere at
established, that for the
Washington, D.C. However, the actual records for the Washington Center were stored at 15
locations or centers in the United States, each assigned to a particular discipline of the IGY
program. Records for the airglow, ionosphere, and solar activity were stored with CRPL at
48
Boulder.
What was achieved in this greatest of all nonpolitical international cooperative
programs? Certainly the world learned that international cooperation is possible, at least in
the scientific realm. The satellites launched during the program led to the discovery of the
Van Allen Belts, a region of intense particle radiation that surrounds the Earth out at a
considerable distance. It was during the IGY period that the first artificial satellites were
launched, the Russian Sputnik I on October 5, 1957, and the U.S. Explorer I on January 31,
1958. And last, a tremendous amount of information was gathered and slowly digested that led
to a vast increase in knowledge of the physical world and its relation to the solar system.

8. Reflections of URSI
Although the periodical now known as Radio Science began as an NBS publication in
1959, URSI sponsorship in 1964. In July 1959, Section D (Radio Propagation) of
joined in its

the NBS Journal of Research was launched as the fourth section following a trend of
sectionalizing the Journal into broad areas of subject matter. Section D would:

serve primarily as a medium for the reporting of research activities of the

NBS Central Radio Propagation Laboratory relative to its mission of
obtaining, analyzing, and disseminating information on the propagation of
radio waves.

James Wait of the CRPL was selected as the first editor. 49 The periodical became a
R.
joint venture of NBS and the U.S. National Committee of URSI in 1964 with C. G. Little as
the NBS editor and L. A. Manning of Stanford University as the URSI editor. After 1965 the
NBS sponsorship changed to ESS A (Environmental Science Services Administration).
Beginning in January 1969 Radio Science became solely the journal of the U.S. National
Committee of URSI, published by the American Geophysical Union.
On June 1, 1931, NBS entered into a cooperative program with URSI to supply
information on the ionosphere for radio broadcasts and for a weekly publication. This
service became a part of the American URSIgram service, with publication of URSIgrams
by Science Service of Washington, D.C. (For a more detailed account see ch. VII, pp. 234-237,
in relation to NBS preparing ionosphere information for the Nation.)
Action taken at the Xllth General Assembly of URSI in Boulder (1957) led to the
initiation at the London Assembly (1960) of a "series of lectures dedicated to those whose

47
The "year" was extended 1 additional year for some observations and meetings and was known as the
International Geophysical Cooperation of 1959. Five years later solar activity would be at a minimum and another
international project was underway, The International Year of the Quiet Sun, a 2-year project directed by the
International Committee for Geophysics.
Following close in the path of the IGY program was a Conference on Arctic Communication held at the
Boulder Laboratories in March 1959 and sponsored by the CRPL. About 275 persons attended representing
universities, the Department of Defense and other Government agencies, and several foreign countries. The
objectives of the conference were to review results of recent Arctic radio research and to discuss current research
and operational problems.
48
The World Data Center at Boulder was first under the supervision of Walter B. Chadwick and Sidney M. Ostrow.
The solar activity center is now called the World Data Center A for Solar Terrestrial Physics, located at
Boulder, with Virginia Lincoln as the director.
49
For a period David M. Gates, also of CRPL, served as editor and then Wait took over again.

675
works and devotion have contributed to increase the prestige and standing of U. R.S.I." 50 In
1966, at the General Assembly in Munich, the "John Howard Dellinger Memorial Lecture"
was given by Millet G. Morgan, chairman of the U.S. National Committee, in which he
reviewed the many accomplishments of Dellinger. A booklet entitled Dellinger Memorial
51
Lecture was published by the Secretary General of URSI [6].
In 1965 the U.S. National Committee provided for the awarding of the Dellinger Gold
Medal at each General Assembly to a scientist who had distinguished himself in the field of
radiowave propagation. The Gold Medal was first awarded to John H. Chapman at the
Munich Assembly in 1966 for his outstanding achievements in radio propagation, and
especially for his association and observations of the Alouette I spacecraft, a topside
ionosphere sounder. In accepting the Dellinger Gold Medal, Chapman, of the Defence
Research Telecommunications Establishment of Canada, addressed the Assembly on his
work with the Alouette satellite. 52
Dellinger's viewpoint and evaluation of URSI was well expressed in his "History of
U. R.S.I." written as a chapter for the U. R.S.I. Golden Jubilee Memorial published in 1963
after his death on December 28, 1962 [7]. His concluding remarks to the historical account
were:

The history of U. R.S.I, has been one of steady growth, of effort to coordinate
the international scientific foundations of the fantastically extending roles
of radio and electronic applications. Our domain extends over the earth,
throughout the solar system, and out among the galaxies. A historical
account is not the place to examine the future. But we can be sure of one
thing: when man reaches the outermost limits of the observable universe he
will be materially assisted by means of radio for communications,
navigation, and control using the electromagnetic waves envisaged by the
genius of Clerk Maxwell a hundred years ago.

The rapid advances in space communications during the next decade after Dellinger's
assertion more than bore out his prediction.

9. The proliferation of international committees within the CRPL—

Then divergence
After organization of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory in 1946 there was
increasing involvement of its staff members with committee work on an international scale.
This was particularly the case with CCIR and URSI involvement and later with the IGY
program. In total number of international committees and in time given to committee work,

50
The first lecture was given at the London Assembly in 1960 in memory of Robert Goldschmidt, founder and first
Secretary General of URSI. The second lecture was given at the Tokyo Assembly in 1963 at which time the
Professor Balth. van der Pol Gold Medal was first awarded for researches contributing to the development of one of
the fields of URSI activities.

01
The booklet was dedicated to the memory of Dellinger and read:

This booklet is dedicated to the memory of Dr. J. H. Dellinger who has been one of the most
distinguished and devoted supporters of the International Scientific Radio Union. We are
expressing the hope that many young way he has shown in the research
scientists will follow the
and work he has realized and in the fulfillment of the various offices held in URSI as Honorary
President and Vice-President of the Union, as well as Chairman of Commissions and
Committees.

Morgan's concluding remark to the Dellinger Memorial Lecture was:

" . . .Dellinger's interest in radio history, and his energy to delve into it, continued to the end of
his life."

°2
The second award of the Dellinger Gold Medal was to Professor H. M. Barlow of the University of London for his
outstanding work on the development of waveguides and on the characteristics of surface waves.

676
the activity probably peaked around 1960. Then came the very sharp decrease in NBS-
related involvement with radio propagation committees in 1965 with the transfer of CRPL
to the newly organized Environmental Science Services Administration. Thereafter, only a
53
small number of international committees relating to radio projects remained within NBS.

53
The international committees and membership that existed in 1946 and that were formed thereafter within
their
the CRPL are listed in appendix B
"Committee Memberships, relating to the general subject of radio
entitled,
associated with International Organizations and Conferences from the time of formation of the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory May 1, 1946, to 1975." This listing was prepared to indicate the magnitude, nature, and
diversification of subject matter of committee work of the CRPL. The listing also offers opportunity to credit
individuals with their committee work.

References
[1] Anthony R. Michaelis, From Semaphore to Satellite, International Telecommunication Union, Geneva,
Switzerland, 1965.
[2] George Arthur Codding, Jr., The International Telecommunication Union, E. J. Brill, Leyden, The
Netherlands, 1952.
[3] R. C. Kirby and C. G. Little, "Conference on Arctic Communication," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 64D
(Radio Propagation), No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1960, pp. 73-80.
[4] J. Howard Dellinger, "Almost fifty years of URSI," J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Vol. 65D (Radio
Propagation), No. 4, JulyAug. 1961, pp. 317-320.
[5] J. H. Dellinger, "International cooperation in radio research — URSI and IRE," Proc. IRE, Vol. 44, No. 7, July
1956, pp. 866-872.
[6] Dellinger Memorial Lecture (Munich, Sept. 7, 1966), published by Secretary General of URSI, Brussels,
Belgium, 1967.
[7] U.R.S.I. Golden Jubilee Memorial, published by Secretary General of URSI, Brussels, Belgium, 1963.

677
 Chapter XVIII

THE PRECURSOR ROLES

"I'll show thee a precedent"
— Shakespeare
"What was now a path has become a highroad"
—Martial, Epigrams A.D. 90

Taking a professional stance

1. The Bureau's early publications on radio

All of the early publication efforts within the NBS relating to subject matter at radio
frequencies were limited to the Bureau's earliest publication medium, Scientific Papers. Not
1

until a paper by Kolster appeared in Volume I, 1913, of the Proc. IRE did any of the papers
appear in outside periodicals (see sec. 2, below).
The by a staff member of NBS on a radio subject were two
earliest papers published
by Louis W. Cohen entitled, "The influence of frequency on resistance and
Scientific Papers
2
inductance," (December 1907), and "The theory of coupled circuits," (May 1909). Cohen was
a member of the Electricity Division (see ch. II).

Dellinger's doctoral Princeton University, was published as a

dissertation (1913),
Bureau Paper in January 1914 with the title, "High frequency ammeters" (see ch.
Scientific
II). His second paper on a radio subject was published as a Scientific Paper in December 1919

and was titled, "Principles of radio transmission and reception with antennas and coil
3
aerials" (see ch. VI).
Shortly after Dellinger's thesis appeared as a Bureau Scientific Paper, Kolster
published a paper on his development of a direct-reading logarithmic decremeter combined
with a wavemeter, a measurement instrument for which he gained considerable recognition

1
The Scientific Papers were published by the Bureau during the period of November 1904 to July 1928 when the
Bureau's research papers began to appear in the new Journal of Research. Previous to July 1919 the Scientific
Papers were called Reprints, and in bound volumes (previous to volume 15) were known as the Bulletin of the
Bureau of Standards. Beginning with volume 15 and extending to and including volume 22", which last appeared in
1928, the bound volumes were known as the Bureau of Standards Scientific Papers.

2
An important consideration that should not be overlooked in discussing the earliest papers and lectures that
emerged from the Radio Section (Laboratory) by 1918 is the fact that Louis Austin had published 40 papers on radio
subjects by the end of 1918. Moreover, many of these papers, and especially his earlier papers dating back to 1905,
were published as Bureau papers in Bureau publications. However, during this period (1905-1918) Austin was not a
Bureau employee; during most of the period he was an employee of the Navy Department but stationed on the
Bureau grounds (see ch. II).
One other paper that appeared as a Bureau Scientific Paper on the subject of radio was that by A. Hoyt Taylor,
published in November 1919. Again, like Austin, Taylor was not a member of the Bureau staff but was associated
with a Navy installation on the Bureau grounds, the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory. His paper was titled,
"Variation in direction of propagation of long electromagnetic waves," and is a matter of considerable discussion in
chapter VII.
3
Dellinger is credited with two other Scientific Papers between 1914 and 1919 that were related to the overall
program of the Electricity Division. These were titled, "Calculation of Planck's constant c 2 ," and "International
system of electric and magnetic units." The latter is of considerable historic value in view of the Bureau's adoption
of the SI units in the spring of 1964 and the country's more recent acceptance of the Metric System.

679
as an inventor, along with his radio compass of a few years later (see chs. V and VI). The
paper was published in May 1915 as a Bureau Scientific Paper entitled, "A direct reading
instrument for measuring the logarithmic decrement and wave length of electromagnetic
waves."
One other member of the Radio Section, John M. Miller, had two Scientific Papers
published before the close of World War I, titled, "Effect of imperfect dielectrics in the field
of a radiotelegraphic antenna" (March 1916), and "Electric oscillations in antennas and
inductance coils" (October 1918).

2. The Radio Section addresses professional societies and other

groups — And publishes
The first which there is a record) presented before a scientific society by a
paper (of
member was by Kolster in February (probably) 1913, before the
of the Radio Section
Institute of Radio Engineers in Fayerweather Hall, Columbia University (see ch. V, p. 00
and footnote 2). The second paper, also by Kolster, was presented before the newly organized
Washington Section of the Institute of Radio Engineers on February 5, 1914. On this
occasion Kolster described his newly designed direct-reading decremeter and wave meter
(also, see ch. V, pp. 104-105).
The paper on radio by Dellinger (of which there is a record) presented before a
first
scientific was given on March 2, 1918. This paper, entitled "The principles of
society
electrical measurements at radio frequencies," was given before the Philosophical Society of
Washington [1]. The paper was delivered during World War I, and shortly thereafter, on
May 10, 1918, at the request of the Army Signal Corps, Dellinger addressed the Radio School
at College Park, Md. The title of his lecture was "Theory of antennas and closed coil
4
radiators." Later in the year (September 25, 1918) Dellinger addressed the
Interdepartmental Radio Conference at Washington on the same subject matter, but with a
change in title.
In the following spring came the presentation of eight papers by the Radio Section
before the American Physical Society at its meeting in Washington, April 25-26, 1919. This
meeting "was given over entirely to special papers and exhibits of apparatus illustrating the
5
application of physical principles to the solution of problems arising from war conditions."
An event that should not be overlooked was that of the first lecture (of which there is a
record) to be given by a member of the Radio Section beyond the environs of Washington,
D.C. The occasion was a lecture by Dellinger at the Physics Club of Philadelphia on
December 14, 1918. For the title of his lecture, Dellinger selected "The present status of
radio research." A year later (November 29, 1919), John M. Miller read the Radio Section's
first invited paper at a symposium. This event was the 100th meeting of the American
Physical Society in Chicago, the symposium being of "unusual importance on the Electron
6
Tube." Well-known physicists and radio engineers appeared on the program.

4
Records in the Radio File indicate that Dellinger was working with Kolster as early as 1915 on a study of coil

antennas for use as direction finders.

5
This 97th meeting of the American Physical Society was held at the Bureau of Standards. The published account
of the meeting stated:

This meeting which was attended by about three hundred members and visitors, was perhaps the
most interesting and important which the Society has ever held. It is doubtful whether such an
amount of important scientific work has ever before been presented at any scientific meeting in
this country. . . . [2].

Two papers by the Radio Section were given in their entirety, six others were read by title only. Lengthy
abstracts of five of the papers were published in the August 1919 issue, Physical Review. Those of the section
participating in the presentations were: Kolster, Dellinger, Whittemore, Willoughby, Lowell, Preston, Breit, and
Hull. The subject matter of these papers covered a wide range of World War I research at radio frequencies, such
as: apparatus for submarine communication, applications of the cathode-ray oscillograph, and the landing of
airplanes.

6
Among the eight contributors to this symposium "of unusual importance" were those whose names were well
known in radio and in the electron-tube industry, including: Langmuir, Arnold, Hazeltine, Morecroft, and
Armstrong. Miller's paper was titled, "Theory of action of electron tubes as amplifiers."

680
 The theme remained with Dellinger for quite a period of time. After several
of antennas
earlier presentations of the subject he presentedtwo papers on antennas in the same month
(October 1919), one before the Philosophical Society of Washington, the other before a joint
meeting of the IRE and the AIEE in New York City. During 1919 his papers on the subject
of antennas appeared in three publications, the Journal of the Franklin Institute, the
Bureau of Standards Scientific Papers, and the Proceedings of the American Institute of
7
Electrical Engineers [3].

Ten papers by members of the Radio Section were given before the American Physical
8
Society at 1921 spring meeting in Washington. One of these must have been of
its

considerable interest in its day, a paper by Dellinger and Whittemore entitled, "The radio
9
research field." Today, in retrospect, the short paper makes for interesting reading.

The early roles with the Institute

of Radio Engineers (IRE)

1. In the wake of the beginning

Within less than 1 month after the organization of the Institute of Radio Engineers on
May the Electricity Division, joined the IRE on June 3, 1912, as its 57th
13, 1912, Kolster, of
member. A former 10
member of the Electricity Division, Louis Cohen, joined the same
staff
day but was placed alphabetically ahead of Kolster as the 52d member. Austin, then head of

7
In a section of his long Bureau paper, Dellinger took considerable pains to correct the fallacies that existed in
textbooks and discussions over the difference between an induction field and a radiation field. He gave a lucid
account of the distinction between the two fields and the matter of equivalence of the electrostatic and magnetic
fields of a radiated wave.
In his paper before the IRE and AIEE Dellinger stated, in part:

A great many questions and hazy ideas on the behavior of radio waves are cleared up by the
study which was made and here presented.

The investigation has opened up a large and most interesting field for further research and
progress in the utilization of radio waves.
8
These spring meetings in the latter part of April at the Bureau of Standards were always a delight to the Society
members for it is then that Washington is in its finest spring garb and the azalea displays at the former grounds of
NBS were particularly beautiful. Other scientific societies often schedule their meetings in Washington during this
same period.

9
Some of Dellinger and Whittemore's thoughts of 1921 as found in the paper are given below:

Radio communication is a rapidly growing subject both technically and commercially. It was
given a great stimulus by the war and is now becoming widely used for government, commercial
and private communication.

Much has been learned about the principles of radio communication and the behavior of radio
made precision measurements possible. The Radio
circuits since the use of the electron tube has
Laboratory of the Bureau of Standards has been attempting to serve in this connection by the
development of methods of measurement and the study of fundamental principles as well as by
encouraging the use of radio communication and radio methods for many purposes.

During the course of work on this subject suggestions continually arise for further research and
it isobviously impossible for a limited staff to conduct work on all of them. The Bureau has
cooperated with other investigators in the past by suggesting suitable research projects, and has
prepared a classified list of radio research projects with the hope that it may be suggestive to
many who are anxious to contribute to the development of this field of knowledge. Radio
methods offer a convenientavenue of approach to many problems in electric waves outside the
The instruments and methods of radio research are so diversified as to offer a
strictly radio field.
broad training to the research worker.
10
The Institute of Radio Engineers was organized May 13, 1912, in New York City by the joining together of two
engineering wireless societies, the Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers, and The Wireless Institute.

681
the U.S. Naval Radio-Telegraphic Laboratory, yet closely associated with the Bureau and
located on the Bureau grounds, was the 115th member, joining on January 22, 1913.
Bellinger did not join the IRE until 10 years after Austin, on March 1, 1923. 11

2. Taking leading roles in the IRE

Austin became the third president of the IRE, serving the 1914 term. Dellinger was
elected vice president for the year 1924 and president in the following year (1925). 12 Two
other members of the Radio Section were elected to the presidency of IRE but not until a
number of years after they left the section. They were Haraden Pratt who served in 1938,
and Lloyd V. Berkner who served in 1961. Pratt also served a very long term as secretary,
from 1943 through 1962; and as treasurer during 1941-1942. Laurens E. Whittemore, who
transferred to the Department of Commerce in 1923, was vice president in 1928.
Staff members of the Radio Section serving on the Board of Directors of the IRE, either
while active in the section or after they left NBS, are listed below, with their terms of office.

Louis W. Austin 1914-1917

J.Howard Dellinger 1924-1931
Laurens E. Whittemore 1926-1929, 1935-1937
Frederick A. Kolster 1933-1935
Haraden Pratt 1935-1962*
Charles B. Jolliffe 1936-1937, 1944
Lloyd V. Berkner 1957-1963

'Pratt was declared Director Emeritus in 1966.

Those associated with the early work

in radio at the Bureau of Standards soon became
IRE committees. By 1913 Kolster was serving on the Committee on Papers,
active on various
and by 1914 he was on the Committee for Standardization. During 1914, when he was
member of no less than four committees. In 1915
president, Austin served as an ex officio
Kolster was placed on a reorganized Committee on Standardization, along with Austin and
Cohen. A few years later Dellinger and Whittemore joined the committee and, later,
Whittemore became chairman. For several years Austin and Kolster were on the Committee
for Wave Length Standardization.

11
No record of the date of Dellinger 's joining the IRE was found in records at the National Archives or in any of the
Radio Files and other sources of information at NBS. However, upon inquiring of the IEEE headquarters the reply
was, in part, "Our records show that J. H. Dellinger joined the IRE on March 1, 1923." This date came as a real
surprise to the author (WFS) in view of Dellinger's early prominence in the radio field. Within 9 months after
joining the organization Dellinger became vice president (1924 term), within 21 months he became president
—
(1925 term) most unusual in a technical society.
12
first convention of the IRE. Although organized in
Dellinger had the distinction of addressing, as president, the
1912, the Institute had held no annual meeting (or convention) for the presentation of technical papers until the
one that convened in New York City on January 18 and 19, 1926. In later years these conventions, held in March of
each year, became international in scope, with thousands in attendance, and with hundreds of new and novel
products in the radio and electronics field on exhibit.
It was on the occasion of the first convention that Dellinger addressed the Institute as the retiring president. A

few excerpts from his address catch the flavor of the times in the field of radio engineering.

This is the day of the radio engineer. In the past three or four years there has been widespread

popular mystification over how radio is done. People have been inclined to classify it along with
acts of the conjurer or in some cases to link it closely with the deeds of the Almighty. The
miracles of radio, actually and in the truest sense, are produced not from batteries, coils and
electrons, but from the brain of the radio engineer and when the processes of the radio are
analyzed they are no more mysterious than any other familiar process. This is the day of the
radio engineer in still another sense. Progress in radio has been up to the present by empiricism.
Itsfoundations have now been laid. The outlines of its major forms of service to humanity now
appear and the task of perfecting this service and its instrumentalities is the task of the radio
engineer. He must and he can apply the principles of science and technology to advance beyond
the empirical foundations of the subject and obtain from it, by both logical and laborious
procedure, all of its possibilities.

The chief concerns of radio engineering just now are: perfection of broadcasting, and the
penetrating of the mysteries of radio wave propagation. . . . There has been great progress and
fine achievement in both of them during the past year.

682
 After his term as president in 1925, Bellinger became very active on numerous
committees including chairmanship of the Committees on Standardization, on Meetings and
Papers, and on Revision of the Constitution. In 1937 he became chairman of the Committee
on Radio Wave Propagation. Diamond and Jolliffe also took part in IRE committee work
during this period.
It is interesting to note that Bureau authors were among the first to have papers

—
published in the Proc. IRE in the second issue, dated April 1913, and notated as Vol. I,
Part II. Kolster's paper was titled, "The effect of distributed capacity of coils used in radio-
telegraphic circuits." Austin's (as head of the U.S. Naval Radio-Telegraphic Laboratory) was
titled, "The relation between effective resistance and frequency in radio-telegraphic
condensers." A number of pages of published discussion followed each of these papers. These
two papers were the vanguard of hundreds to follow by NBS authors in the Proc. IRE and in
the Professional Group publications.
It would be amiss not to call attention to the names of those that have been associated
with radio work at the National Bureau of Standards that have received IRE (and later
IEEE) Awards, both the earliest of the workers and the more recent workers. Without doubt
the IRE (now the IEEE) has been the engineering and scientific society that is held in the
highest esteem by workers in radio engineering and radio science the world over. To be the
recipient of one of its awards is a distinct mark of achievement. The Awards recipients are
listed in the footnote below, as noted by the IEEE. 13

3. The Washington Section of the IRE

The Washington Section of the IRE was the first local section to be organized within the
IRE, and was organized in January 1914. 14 The early members of the section, and
particularly the early officers, were largely associated with the Navy and War Departments
rather than with scientific or technical organizations. Among the early officers, as chairman
of the section, was Major General George O. Squier who became the Chief Signal Officer of
the Army.
During World War I the Washington Section became somewhat inactive and for a
period of time its technical meetings were supplanted by meetings of the Interdepartment
Radio Conference. By the summer of 1919 the Washington Section of the IRE had revived
itself.

Austin was a member of the executive committee for several years, beginning in 1919.
For 1 an associate of Austin, was secretary-treasurer. Not
year, in 1926, Taintor Parkinson,
until the election of Jolliffe in 1929, as chairman of the Washington Section, did a staff
member of the Radio Section become an officer or a member of the executive committee.
After 14 years of existing as the Washington Section of the IRE this was a rather unusual
circumstance considering the status held of the Radio Section and its staff members in the
field of radio. Dellinger, an adept from his term as president of the IRE, became chairman of
the section for the period 1932-1933.

IRE Award recipients:

Medal of Honor
L. W. Austin, J. H. Dellinger, Haraden Pratt,
George C. South worth, Charles H. Townes
Founders Award
Haraden Pratt
Harry Diamond Memorial Prize Award
Allen V. Astin, William Culshaw, J. W. Herbstreit, W. S. Hinman, Jr.,
David M. Kerns, K. A. Norton, Newbern Smith, James R. Wait

Morris N. Liebman Memorial Prize Award

G. Southworth, C. H. Townes

David Sarnoff Award

Charles H. Townes
14
The New York Section was not organized until 1942. Previously, the New York City meetings were considered to
be Institute meetings and not of local status.

683
 During the formative years the Washington Section found its meeting places in a
variety of locations —
there was no one designated spot. These included: the University Club,
Commercial Club, Washington Public Library, Harvey's Restaurant (famous for its seafood),
the Continental Hotel, and the Department of Commerce Building.

PRECURSOR ROLES IN THE EVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL CONFERENCES

1. Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements (CPEM)

a) The 1949 Conference on High Frequency Measurements
In 1947 and 1948 there existed within the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
(AIEE) the AIEE Subcommittee on High Frequency Measurements, the parent committee
being the AIEE Committee on Instruments and Measurements. Dr. Harold Lyons, Chief of
the Microwave Standards Section of the CRPL, was a member of this subcommittee of nine
members. It was an enthusiastic group that believed the time had come that a national
conference could be staged relating primarily to measurements and instrumentation at high
frequencies (above the audio range), including the microwave range (considered at the time
to be from 300 MHz upwards to the millimeter wavelengths). This subcommittee met in New
York City in the spring of 1948 to initiate planning of a national conference on high
frequency measurements. The result was a joint effort of the AIEE, The Institute of Radio
Engineers (IRE), and the National Bureau of Standards, with the AIEE Subcommittee
assuming the leading role. Washington, D.C. was selected as the location of the conference,
15
with Lyons in charge of the Local Arrangements Committee.
The 3-day meeting, called the Conference on High Frequency Measurements, was held
on January 10, 11, and 12, 1949. Quoting from the conference program, it was stated:
Washington has been chosen as the location for this conference largely on
the basis of the presence of the many Government Laboratories and of the
great interest in the subject in that area. This conference is the first to be
held on a national basis that is devoted solely to the field of high-frequency
measurements and instrumentation. It has been arranged in line with the
current AIEE policy of sponsoring conference-type meetings covering
thoroughly a limited field.

The conference was a success much beyond expectations. The quality of the technical
program was high, and there were 549 registrants in attendance. 16 Thus was initiated the
first of a series of biennial conferences on precision electromagnetic measurements that
continues to the present time, in which NBS has taken a leading role.

15
Frank J. Gaffney of the Polytechnic Research and Development Co. was chairman of the AIEE Subcommittee on
High-Frequency Measurements and served as chairman of the conference.

conference of its kind was held in the auditorium of the New Building of the Department of the Interior
16
This first
in the downtown area of Washington; fortunately so, for the Bureau facilities would have been inadequate to
accommodate the unexpectedly large attendance. Technical papers were divided among four sessions, namely:
Measurement of Frequency, Measurement of Power and Attenuation, Measurement of Impedance, and
Measurement of Noise and Antenna Measurements. Half-day inspection trips were made to the Naval Research
Laboratory, the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, and the National Bureau of Standards. A luncheon at the Roger
Smith Hotel provided for a social gathering.

684
 Conference on High Frequency Measurements
Washington, D.C.
January 10, 11, 12, 1949
Luncheon at Roger Smith Hotel, headquarters

Invited guests, members of AIEE Subcommittee on High Frequency Measurements, and members of Committee on
Local Arrangements.

Seated facing camera, left to right

?

E. U. Condon Director, NBS

F. J.Gaffney Polytechnic Research and Development Co.
Everett S. Lee President, AIEE
Newbern Smith NBS
Hugh Odishaw NBS
Standing, back row, left to right

H. R. Meahl General Electric Co.

E. F. Felch Bell Telephone Laboratories
F. A. Hamburger Johns Hopkins University.
Hugh E. Webber Sperry Gyroscope Co.
Ivan G. Easton General Radio Co.

J. Howard Del linger NBS

E. C. Crittenden NBS
Harold Lyons NBS
Wilbert F. Snyder NBS

b) The 1951 Conference on High Frequency Measurements

The second Conference on High Frequency Measurements was planned well in advance
with a somewhat different organizing structure than the first conference. The IRE
Professional Group on Instrumentation had been organized in March 1950. Thereafter, a
Joint AIEE/ IRE Committee on High Frequency Measurements was organized with
Professor Ernst Weber, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, as chairman. The Joint
Committee consisted of the AIEE Subcommittee that functioned at the first conference.
Lyons was now chairman of the subcommittee. The IRE group of the Joint Committee was
formed from the Professional Group on Instrumentation. Preparing for and conducting the

685
second conference was a combined effort of the Joint Committee and NBS. Again, Lyons was
chairman of the Local Arrangements Committee. The second conference was again held in
Washington, with a repetition of the same dates as the first conference, January 10, 11, and
—
12 2 years later. Attendance was approximately the same as the first conference. 17

c) The Third and Fourth Conferences

Attendance at the Third Conference proved to be greater than either the first or second,
a total of 669 registering for the 3-day meeting. Again, the conference was held in January
(January 14-16, 1953) and the biennial event appeared to be firmly established, with
Washington as the place of meeting. And again the conference was under the joint
sponsorship of the AIEE, IRE, and NBS, and with NBS largely taking care of the local
arrangements. For the first time an international touch was placed on the conference by the
presence of Louis Essen of the National Physical Laboratory located at Teddington,
England. Essen was invited to present a paper on the precise measurement of the velocity of
electromagnetic waves.
The Fourth Conference was held in Washington and again, January (1955) selected as
the time of meeting. However, conditions had changed. Personnel of NBS who had taken
leading roles in staging the earlier conferences had been transferred to the new Boulder
Laboratories in Colorado. Moreover, possibly there was a waning interest in the conferences.
But whatever the reasons, the Fourth Conference was disappointing by comparison with the
earlier conferences, especially so in the fall-off in registration. Rejuvenation would come 3-
1/2 years later in Boulder, Colo.

d ) The Conference moves from Washington to Boulder

With a renewed interest, coming mainly from Boulder Laboratories personnel, in
restaging the High Frequency Conferences, steps were taken in 1957 and early 1958 to plan
for a conference in the summer of 1958. A planning group met in January 1958 at the
Boulder Laboratories and a General Arrangements Committee was organized with Bernard
M. Oliver (Hewlett-Packard Co.) as chairman, representing the IRE Professional Group on
Instrumentation. Ivan Easton (General Radio Co.) represented the AIEE and served as
chairman of the Technical Program Committee. Once again it was a cooperative effort of the
AIEE, the IRE, and NBS. An intensive publicity effort was soon underway to alert
thousands who were considered to be potential attendees of such a conference.
A new name selected for the conference, a Conference on Electronic Standards and
Measurements, covered a wide scope of research and the measurement art. The frequency
range would be less restricted, beginning with direct current (zero frequency) and extending
into the millimeter wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. And the locale would be
shifted from Washington, D.C. to Boulder, Colo. —
a totally new environment from the
preceding conferences.
Unlike the apparent waning interest of the Fourth Conference, meeting in Boulder was
a "shot-in-the-arm" to a renewed interest in the conference. The expected 400 registrants
swelled to more than double, reaching 870. With families, the entire assemblage reached
1200. Combining a vacation with attendance at the conference drew many families to the
Boulder meeting. The logistics of housing the unexpected overflow became quite a problem
but was successfully solved by using additional facilities provided by the University of
Colorado.

"This conference was one of a number scheduled in Washington during 1951 as a part of the celebration of the
Semicentennial of the National Bureau of Standards. A feature of the Second Conference was an evening of
demonstration lectures, staged in the auditorium of the Department of Interior. Two of the three demonstrations
were presented by personnel of the Bureau's Microwave Standards Section, one on microwave spectroscopy, the
other on a recording microwave refractometer, neither lending itself to easy and simple demonstration.
The subject matter of the four technical sessions was much the same as the previous conference, yet showed an
abundance of new research in a fast growing field.

686
 The 3-day conference was held at the Boulder Laboratories on August 13, 14, and 15,
1958. The first morning was given over to the dedication ceremony for the new Electronic
Calibration Center (see ch. X, pp. 351-355). Thereafter followed six sessions of the technical
program. The conference was a marked success and served to continue the four earlier
18

conferences dating back to 1949, and presaged the biennial conferences of a similar nature
to come in the ensuing years.

e) A CONFERENCE SPAWNS ANOTHER CONFERENCE

Embarking on the outstanding success of the 1958 Conference at Boulder, the next
1

conference was held again at Boulder during the period of June 22-24, I960. " Again,
sponsorship was a joint effort of the AIEE, the IRE, and NBS. Ivan Easton, representing the
AIEE, was chairman of the General Arrangements Committee, and George E. Schafer, of
the Radio Standards Laboratory, NBS, was chairman of the Technical Program Committee.
Subject matter of the six technical sessions was much the same as the 1958 Conference
with at least one modification, that of scheduling a session titled, "Current and Future
20
Problems Standards and Electronic Measurements." At this first session, Harvey W.
in
Lance, chief of the Electronic Calibration Center at the Boulder Laboratories, presented a
paper entitled, "The Nation's Electronic Standardization Program: Where Do We Now
Stand?" Most significant of the topics discussed by Lance in his paper, at least when viewed
in the light of the passage of time, was his statement relating to "a serious need for an
association of standards laboratories." (This topic is treated in considerable detail in a
following section, see pp. 690-694.)
As a result of the two highly successful conferences held in Boulder, there emanated
from the 1960 Conference a permanent organizational committee to ensure a continuity for
future conferences. The committee consisted of the chairman of the AIEE Instrument
Division, theIRE Professional Group on Instrumentation, the chief of the Radio Standards
Laboratory (NBS), and the senior and junior past-chairmen of the 1960 Conference.

f) The 1962 Conference becomes international

The 1962 Conference took on a new complexion, that of international participation. The
name changed once "International Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
again, that to,

Measurements," and has remained so to the present time (except that the word
"International" was replaced in 1964 with the year of the conference, and continues to be so
named to the present). An even dozen international papers were presented at the
conference, coming from five countries. Four of the 10 technical sessions were chaired by
registrants from 3 other countries. Partial support of the conference to provide the
international participation came from a grant by the National Science Foundation.
Appearing for the first time in the title of a technical session was the subject of
"Quantum Electronics." It would be a common subject at future conferences.

18
The titles of the technical sessions are indicative of the subject matter covered in the 37 papers presented and
show the increased span of interest that was covered compared to the previous conferences. The session titles were:
The Relationship of Standards to Physical Constants
Frequency and Time Interval Standards
Direct Current andLow Frequency Standards
Radio Frequency Standards
Microwave Standards
The Organization and Operation of Standards Laboratories
The NBS Boulder Laboratories, being host to the conference, were responsible for handling the many details
for such a meeting. The operation was under the skilled guidance of Harvey W. Lance, chairman of the Local
Arrangements Committee, Lance being chief of the Electronic Calibration Center.
For those attendees who were not acquainted with the Colorado Rockies a new experience was offered, that of
attending a chuckwagon dinner held outdoors at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. The evening of Western
atmosphere was given a further touch with an illustrated lecture on "Historic Mining and Ghost Towns of
Colorado," presented by Mrs. Francis Wolle of the University of Colorado. Special events and programs for the
ladies and children were featured throughout the conference.

There was a slight change in name of the 1960 Conference, that from "Conference on Electronic Standards and
19

Measurements" in 1958 to "Conference on Standards and Electronic Measurements" for 1960.

20
A session on "Methods of Measurements for Materials" was also a new subject at this conference.

687
 For the 1962 Conference, as well as for the two previous conferences at Boulder, a well-
organized and large-scale "Open House" of the Boulder Laboratories was staged.
Demonstrations and explanations of measurement techniques were made available to the
conference registrants and visitors in many rooms of the Radio Building and the Cryogenic
Engineering Laboratory. Unlike the guided tours of the previous conferences, this "Open
House" was conducted on the plan of the individual's selection of laboratory exhibits.
John M. Richardson, chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory, was chairman of the
General Arrangements Committee. George Birnbaum, formerly of NBS, was chairman of
the Technical Program Committee.

General Arrangements Committee for 1962 International Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements,
Boulder, Colo.
Left to right: W. D. George, publicity; L. M. Matarrese, treasurer; J. M. Richardson, chairman; C. Peterson (NBS
Washington), international affairs; G. Birnbaum, technical program; J. F. Brockman, executive secretary. All
members of NBS staff (Birnbaum, formerly). G. B. Hoadley (North Carolina State University) not present for photo.

Not all is the digesting of technical papers at a Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements. At the 1962
Conference the conferees and their families line up for a chuck wagon dinner during an August evening on top of
Flagstaff Mountain from which there is a panoramic view of Boulder and its environs. Green Mountain in
background.

688
g) The Conference becomes firmly established
The 1964 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements met in Boulder
during the period of June 23-25. By 1964 Boulder became the accepted locale for the biennial
event. The event also became associated with the alphabet letters "CPEM," thus coining a
new initialism. For the first time since the 1949 Conference, sponsorship of the series of
conferences changed. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) had
formed by 1963 with the combination of the AIEE and the IRE, and the newly formed
Professional Technical Group on Instrumentation and Measurement was now the
organization interested in the affairs of the CPEM. Sponsorship of the 1964 Conference came
from the IEEE Professional Group noted above, the NBS, and U.S. Commission I (Radio
Measurement Methods and Standards) of the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI).
21
At the 1964 Conference papers on lasers first appeared on the technical program.
Electromagnetic measurements were being pushed up into, and being reported on, the
optical region.
For the time there appeared in the program booklet a list of names constituting an
first
Honorary Committee for the Conference. This would be repeated in all later conferences.
The 1964 listing contained 29 persons, most of whom were associated with precision
electromagnetic measurements.
The 1966 Conference was highlighted by the presence of Dr. J. Terrien, director of the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures, Sevres, France, who gave the Keynote
22
Address. Later he took part in an evening program of an informal panel discussion on the
national measurement systems of various countries. The discussion was moderated by Lance
of the Boulder Laboratories. Eleven participants representing nine countries took part on
the panel. John Richardson, chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory, represented the
United States. Each spoke on the national measurement system and the national laboratory
of his respective country [5].
One evening was set aside at the 1968 Conference for a discussion on international
comparisons of standards and measurements. The program was chaired by Dr. Chester H.
Page, chief of the Electricity Division, NBS. Again, Dr. Terrien of the International Bureau
of Weights and Measures took part in the meeting. Three countries were represented in this
special program.
By the time of the 1972 Conference (June 26-29) a cooperating sponsor had been added
to the "old guard" of the IEEE, the NBS (the Institute of Basic Standards), and the U.S.
National Committee (formerly only U.S. Commission I) of URSI. Joining in sponsorship was
the international organization of URSI, the Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale.

h) The Conference goes abroad

After eight conferences, held biennially in Boulder from 1958, and the four earlier
conferences in Washington, D.C., the international step was taken to hold the 1974
Conference in London, England. Added to the sponsors of the 1972 Conference were: the
Royal Society and the Institution of Electrical Engineers; plus three cooperating sponsors:
the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers, the National Physical Laboratory, and
the Scientific Instrument Manufacturers' Association, all England-based organizations.
Of a total of 136 papers presented at the conference, 38 came from the United States,
with 11 each from NBS Washington and NBS Boulder. In all, papers came from a number of
countries scattered around the world.
The 1976 Conference returned to Boulder, Colo, with the salutatory theme:
"CPEM 76 Salutes NBS
National Standards — 75 Years of Progress"

21
A paper on the optical maser was presented at the 1962 Conference.
22
The title of Terrien's address was "The work of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures concerning
electromagnetic units and measurements. "[4]

689
i ) Success breeds success
The unexpected success of the First Conference, in 1949, held in Washington, has
continued through 14 conferences to the present time. By 1960 a permanent committee,
later to be called the Executive Committee, was organized in order to establish continuity
and sound planning from one conference to the next. From the beginning NBS, and
particularly the "radio" (and later the "electromagnetics") personnel, have taken a
prominent role in preparing for and staging the conferences. All but one (the London
Conference) have been within the environs of NBS, and 10 at the Boulder Laboratories.
Throughout its existence the CPEM has been closely associated with NBS. 23

2. A new
conference meets a need — The National Conference of Standards
Laboratories (NCSL)
a) A need— And a new conference is organized

The first session of the 1960 Conference on Standards and Electronic Measurements at
Boulder had for its theme the current and future problems in standards and electronic
measurements. In relating to this theme, Harvey W. Lance, chief of the Electronic
Calibration Center at the Boulder Laboratories, presented a paper entitled, "The Nation's
Electronic Standards Program: Where Do We Now Stand?" As stated earlier, in a
commentary of the 1960 Conference (see p. 687), Lance's suggestion of "an association of
standards laboratories" was a somewhat bold yet wise course to be followed, when viewed in
retrospect. On that occasion he stated:

. there is a serious need for an association of standards laboratories.

. .

This association might be a new and distinct organization or it might be

made a part of an existing professional or technical group. There are many
needs which such an association could fulfill. Specifically, it could take the
initiative in working out and setting up standard procedures in its member
laboratories. In this way a high degree of uniformity could be obtained,
even though the absolute accuracy might be subject to question. Later on,
with accurate standards available, the procedures used to insure uniformity
still would be applicable.

The suggestion by Lance gave rise to considerable discussion which was continued at a
previously unscheduled meeting the following day (June 23, 1960) at a time 1 hour earlier
than the scheduled technical session of the morning. Approximately 125 were in attendance
of the nearly 800 persons that were attending the 1960 Conference, indicating an
enthusiastic interest in such an association as proposed by Lance. After further discussion,
with Lance serving as chairman pro tern, it became the consensus of the group that an ad
hoc committee be appointed by the Conference Committee. The Ad Hoc Committee of
approximately 20 members met on 3 occasions during the next 12 months and then on
September 21, 1961, in a meeting at Los Angeles, a definite course was set up to follow in
organizing an association. The result was a vote of acceptance by the Ad Hoc Committee of a
resolution prepared and presented by Lance who was serving on the committee. A General
Committee was appointed for the newly named National Conference of Standards

2!
The reader may wonder why a comparable conference of staying quality did not develop among the wave
propagation groups within the CRPL in cooperation with outside organizations. Indeed, there was such a start but
did not develop beyond the initial conference. The Quarterly Report for April-June 1947 of the CRPL stated:

. . . the Division sponsored a Radio Propagation Conference on May 8, 9, and 10, attended by
145 persons, including some English and Canadians who are working on radio propagation
problems. The meeting was highly successful — the Conference is but the first of a continuing
series that the Division expects to sponsor.

But there were no more of these conferences. It appears, in retrospect, that the various meetings of URSI sufficed
the need for such conferences.

690
 24
Laboratories (NCSL). Lance became corresponding secretary of the committee. Thus, on
this date (September 21, 1961), a new technical organization came into existence on the
American scene.
Shortly after the NCSL was organized, at its request NBS agreed to be a sponsor of the
organization. This was a practice followed by the Bureau in its relation with a number of
technical groups.

b) What is NCSL? 25
The NCSL defines itself as:

A continuing, nonprofit laboratory-oriented organization to promote

cooperative efforts toward solving the common problems faced by standards
laboratories in their organization and operation. ... Its membership
consists of academic, scientific, industrial, commercial, or governmental
laboratories concerned with the measurement of physical quantities, the
calibration of standards and instruments, and the development of standards
of practice. It provides a liaison with technical societies, trade associations
and educational institutions interested in these activities.

"Great oaks from little acorns grow." So it is that this organization, now of 238
standards laboratories, grew from a "seedling" dropped as a suggestion by Harvey Lance at
the 1960 Conference on Standards and Electronic Measurements.

C) THE NCSL BECOMES A successful organization

The National Conference of Standards Laboratories met at the Boulder Laboratories for
its national meeting during the 3-day period of August 8-10, 1962. More than 600
first
persons representing approximately 200 laboratories were in attendance. Dr. Astin, director
of NBS, was the conference chairman, indicating the desire on the part of NBS to exercise
its sponsorship of the new organization by encouragement and assistance. In his welcoming

remarks Astin indicated the "great interest" of NBS in the work of the conference.A review
of the titles for the nine sessions "indicates the nature of the first NCSL Conference and the
26
subject matter presented and discussed."
Proceedings of the 1962 Standards Laboratory Conference were published by NBS as a
Miscellaneous Publication [6].

24
William A. Wildhack, associate director of NBS, was a member of the General Committee of 12 members, Lloyd
B. Wilson of the Sperry Gyroscope Co. was chairman. The committee membership was well balanced between
leading representatives of industrial standards laboratories and of government standards laboratories.
During the following year 13 committees were set up to pursue various operations within the new organization
in order to place it upon a firm and useful basis. Later, the membership of these committees was increased.

25
A caption borrowed from the NCSL Directory of later years.
26
Titles of the nine sessions of the 1962 Standards Laboratory Conference were:

Session:
1. National Bureau of Standards Service to Industry
2. Error Analysis of Measurement Systems
3. National Conference of Standards Laboratories Business and Information
4. Corporate Measurement Standards Programs
5. Measurement Agreement Comparisons Among Standardization Laboratories
Training of Measurement Personnel
6.

Calibration Recycle Analysis and Work Load Control

7.

8. NCSL Relations to and Cooperation with Technical Societies

9. Recommended Practices for Standards Laboratories
In total, there were 34 papers presented, plus 6 panel discussions on subjects relating to 6 of the sessions.

691
General Committee of the National Conference of Standards Laboratories (NCSL) meeting at Boulder Laboratories,
1962 Standards Laboratory Conference. Left to right: C E. Johnson (Boeing Co.), vice chairman and technical
program chairman; L. B. Wilson (Sperry). chairman of General Committee; H. W. Lance (NBS), corresponding
secretary, and chairman of conference administration committee; C. White (Avco), recording secretary and
treasurer; W. A. Wildhack (NBS), representative for NBS.

A. V. Astin, director of NBS. and chairman of the 1962 Standards Laboratory Conference of the NCSL, delivering
the introductory remarks of the Conference.

692
On the 2 days (August 6 and 7) preceding the 1962 Standards Laboratory Conference of the NCSL, J. Herbert
Holloman, Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology, Department of Commerce, made his first visit to
Boulder Laboratories.
Left to right: F. D. Weaver of the Electronic Calibration Center explains operation of Wenner bridge to
Holloman; A. V. Astin, director of NBS; and F. W. Brown, director of Boulder Laboratories.

Boulder Laboratories auditorium with participants of the 1962 Standards Laboratory Conference of the NCSL. W. A.
"
Wildhack of NBS presiding at session on "National Bureau of Standards Service to Industry.

693
 In 1964 the NCSL
chose to join forces with the Instrument Society of America, and
particularly with Measurement Standards Instrumentation Division, at the ISA 19th
its

Annual Conference in New York City. Also joining was the Precision Measurements
Association, another fledgling group. By now the NCSL was caught up in the mounting
interest of many groups, institutions, technical societies, and Government agencies in
standards, precision measurements, and calibration services.
The year 1966 saw the NCSL convening at the Gaithersburg facility of NBS, a half year
before the Dedication (November 15, 1966). By now nearly 150 standards laboratories had
joined the organization.
The 1968 meeting of NCSL was
a return to Boulder, where the organization had come
into being, at least as a conception. A
theme was chosen for this conference, that of "Making
27
Valuable Measurements." During the preceding years Lance had been a vice chairman of
the NCSL Board of Directors, and then became chairman for the ensuing year. During this
period he was Assistant Chief for Program Planning and Development of the Radio
Standards Laboratory.
Following its biennial schedule, the conference returned to NBS at Gaithersburg in
1970, and on this occasion chose the theme, "Innovative Metrology Key to Progress." The —
1972 Conference, held at Boulder, was a joint meeting with five other societies and had the
28
keynote of "The Role and Value of Measurements." The NCSL conducted its own
conference at NBS, Gaithersburg, Md. in 1973. The 1974 Joint Conference was held at
29
Gaithersburg with seven societies joining forces. The theme of this meeting was
"Measurement Science in Transition." Upon a return to Boulder in 1975 the NCSL
conducted its own conference. The year 1976 found the NCSL back in Gaithersburg, Md. in
celebration of the 75th Anniversary of NBS, the Nation's Bicentennial, and the 15th year of
the NCSL. The theme for the conference (or symposium) was "The National Measurement
System — Today and Tomorrow."
EXERCISING THE LEARNING PROCESS— BY SCHOOLING,
BY SHARING TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHERS

1. A book approach to learning in time of war

Advances in radio technology, plus the early discovered usefulness of radio
communication in World War I, and advance
fostered a need for both instructional material
treatises in radio engineering. Thus, at the request of the Army Signal Corps, two books,
NBS Circular 74 (Radio Instruments and Measurements), and The Principles Underlying
Radio Communication were written by the Radio Section, each gaining widespread
10
recognition and acclaim. (See ch. Ill, pp. 52-56.)
Twenty-five years later, World War II fostered a repeated request for a document that
would aid in the training of personnel to meet adequately the application of radio
communication in modern warfare. First (in 1942), the National Defense Research
Committee (NDRC) requested a handbook that resulted in the Radio Section preparing the

27
In his address to the conference, NCSL Chairman Charles E. White stated:

The theme of our Conference is "Making Valuable Measurements." It was not chosen by the
Program Committee in a light manner. Rather, it is a reflection of the concern with which we
view the whole structure of controlled measurements. It reflects the continuing displays, in a
majority of U.S. industries, of the non-serious and non-appreciative attitude displayed by top
management toward the impact upon the quality of products and goods of uncontrolled or poorly
controlled measurements.
(Shades of Ralph Nader— the Author (WFS))
28
Joining forces with the NCSL were: the American Society of Quality Control, IEEE Group on Instrumentation
and Measurement, ISA Metrology Division, NBS Institute for Basic Standards, and the Precision Measurements
Association.

29
The Scientific Apparatus Makers Association joined as the seventh sponsor for the 1974 Joint Conference.

30
The request for a textbook, later to be called The Principles Underlying Radio Communication, came from the
Training Section of the Signal Corps. The book was written to replace the former Signal Corps circular
Radiotelegraphy and some of the wartime pamphlets on certain radio subjects.

694
Radio Transmission Handbook, Frequencies 1000 to 30,000 KC, and, second (in 1943), the
Joint Communications Board requested a handbook that became the IRPL Radio
Propagation Handbook. (See ch. XI, pp. 403-404.) Following World War II a considerably
more sophisticated version of the handbook was prepared by the Central Radio Propagation
Laboratory with the title, "Ionospheric Radio Propagation," (NBS Circular 462).

2. A handbook series bogs down

A Bureau-wide project on producing an eight- volume "NBS Handbook of Physical
Measurements," initiated by Director Condon in 1946, became a limited project within two
CRPL standards sections. The initial product was the "Outline," a mimeographed copy that
appeared in December 1946. Of the 117 pages in the outline, the High Frequency Standards
Section and the Microwave Standards Section contributed 6 pages. Later, a portion of the
text on radio measurements was completed. But the project encountered a variety of
31
problems, bogged down, and was never completed.

3. In-house education at NBS

a) The early period of the NBS Graduate School
In-house education at NBS is primarily that of graduate courses conducted within the
Bureau organization and has functioned over many years under the name of the National
Bureau of Standards Graduate School. Within a few years after the Bureau was established
(1901), several of the younger staff members felt the need of furthering their education and
encouraged the director, Dr. Stratton, to provide for graduate courses on the Bureau
grounds. Harvey L. Curtis of the Inductance and Capacity Section (Electricity Division) was
the "prime mover" among the staff members to urge for the graduate study. This early
action took place in 1908 and in the fall of 1908 Dr. Rosa, chief of the Electricity Division,
introduced a course in experimental methods of electrical measurements. But an urgent
mission to Europe left his students stranded, without an instructor. To fill the void, three
students of the Electricity Division, Dellinger, Curtis, and Paul G. Agnew, stepped in and
32
conducted the laboratory course. Then, beginning in January 1909, Rosa gave lectures for a
course in advanced electrical measurements. Thus, at the very beginning of the NBS
Graduate School, Dellinger found himself in the vanguard, both as a student and as an
"instructor."
Years later (1948), after he retired, Curtis wrote an account of the early period of the
NBS Graduate School for publication in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences
[7]. This school was the first and became the model of similar graduate schools among U.S.

Government agencies in the Washington area.

After Rosa's introduction of electrical courses into the Graduate School curriculum
there followed a fairly steady stream of electrical and radio courses for the next 35 years to
33
the time of the organization of CRPL in 1946.

31
For an overall account of the "Handbook" project see Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 487-488.
32
Within a few years all three of these student "instructors" of the measurement course earned their doctorates.
Dellinger became chief of the Radio Section, Curtis became chief of the Inductance and Capacitance Section, and
Agnew became executive secretary of the American Engineering Standards Committee (renamed American
Standards Association in 1928).

33
Courses in electricity and magnetism at graduate level were taught by Dorsey, Silsbee, Curtis, Snow, and Astin,
all ofthe Electricity Division. During the academic year of 1917-1918 Silsbee introduced electromagnetic waves into
his course. During the same year, Dr. Louis Cohen, then associated with the Signal Corps and formerly of the
Electricity Division, taught a course in electrical oscillations. During the following year Dellinger taught a course
in electricity with emphasis on principles of radio.
Beginning in 1929, and for a period of several years, Cohen taught courses in Heaviside's electrical circuit
theory (using Cohen's textbook), advanced radio theory, and theory of electrical oscillations with applications to
radio. Later (1935-1936), L. P. Wheeler of the Naval Research Laboratory presented a course in radio wave
propagation. By the time of World War II, courses in electronics became available to advanced students.
Author's (WFS) note: Records of courses taught in the NBS Graduate School were well preserved by the
Educational Committee in a bound volume "1908-1960," deposited in the NBS Library.

695
 By long-time understanding, dating back to the inception of an educational program at
NBS, section and division staff meetings and the weekly Scientific Staff Meetings have been
a significant part of the program. The first meeting of the radio staff was reported for the
week of February 18 to 23, 1918. Attendance included 14 members of the Radio Section and
the division chief and his technical assistant. The Weekly Report stated: "It is intended to
hold such meetings monthly, to report on the work in progress here and elsewhere." The
staff meetings became a regularly scheduled event of the section for many years thereafter.

b) IN-HOURS COURSES IN THE EARLY CRPL PERIOD

With the lifting of restrictions on microwaves and radar near the end of World War II

the subjects could be discussed with openness except for projects and equipment that
remained classified. Among several groups within the CRPL, informal talks and discussions
were conducted to learn more of this new area of radio technology. To fill the need for credit
in the Graduate School, Jacob J. Freeman of the Microwave Standards Section lectured for
a course in "Microwave Techniques" early in 1947. This was followed by a second term given
by David M. Kerns who stressed a theoretical approach to microwave measurement
techniques.

c) The Graduate School at Boulder Laboratories

The move to Boulder severed connections with the Educational Committee at
Washington, making it necessary to establish a completely new committee. This was
accomplished in July 1954 by Dr. Frederick W. Brown, director of the Boulder Laboratories.
A group of five constituted the first Educational Committee.'34 A survey by means of a
questionnaire sent to the 350 staff members indicated that one-fifth of the staff was
interested in degree study at the college and graduate levels an unexpectedly high —
percentage.
Within a few years a well-established educational program was in full swing at the
Boulder Laboratories, with a variety of subject matter comprising the courses. Among the
specialized courses was one taught by Robert Beatty, chief of the Microwave Circuit
Standards Section. This course, known as Microwave Measurements, was accepted into the
curriculum of Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado, being the first of its
kind in the curriculum.
Beginning in 1961 the Boulder Laboratories embarked on a specialized educational
program that was to extend for the next 6 years. The program was a joint effort of the NBS
Graduate School and the Bureau of Continuing Education of the University of Colorado. The
courses provided advanced and specialized training for persons involved in radio
communications and in measurements and standards programs. Certificates of training
were given to those who completed a course. The first course was one in radio propagation
given in late summer of 1961. The 3-week course terminated with the presentation of 218
certificates. The Radio Propagation Course was repeated in 1962, with 250 in attendance and
including representatives of a number of foreign countries. The first course in
electromagnetic measurements and standards was given by members of the Radio Standards
Laboratory in the summer of 1963 at which time nearly 200 participants received
certificates.The highly successful 2-week Electromagnetic Measurements and Standards
Course was repeated in 1965 and again in 1967 to meet the need of advanced training for
personnel who were staffing the many new electronic standards laboratories coming into
existence during the early 1960's.

34
The Educational Committee consisted of: R. B. Jacobs, D. M. Kerns, J. M. Richardson, F. E. Roach, with R. W.
Stockwell serving as secretary.

696
George Schafer, chief of the Radio Standards Engineering Division, Boulder Laboratories, presents certificates to
foreign participants of the 1963 Electromagnetic Measurements and Standards Course sponsored by the NBS
Graduate School in association with the University of Colorado. John Richardson (fourth from left), chief of the
Radio Standards Laboratory, presided at the presentation. Foreign participants came from Canada, England, Free
China, India, and Sweden.

Two areas of training not directly related to the Graduate School should not be passed
by without some recognition. In one, the precursor role was not taken by the CRPL or by the
Radio Standards Laboratory, but each had a participating scientist in the new Department
of Commerce Science and Technology Fellowship Program, inaugurated on September 9,
1964. Robert S. Kirby was assigned for 9 months to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and
George E. Schafer was assigned for a similar period as a special assistant to the director of
NBS. The purpose of the program was to broaden the scientific, technical, and management
abilities of the participants. Others of the Boulder Laboratories have followed in the train of
Kirby and Schafer in the Fellowship Program.
The other area of advanced training has been the Joint Education Program for Non-
Professional Training offered to Department of Commerce employees at Boulder. Career
Technician Certificates were first awarded in April 1970 to three employees who completed
the 4-year study program, and an advanced Career Technician Certificate to an employee
who completed the 8-year program.
Author's (WFS) Note:
Other sectors of the educational program at the Boulder Laboratories (but not unique to
the former Radio Section or to the CRPL in precursor roles, as these sectors have had
Bureau-wide origins) include a variety of education and training programs as: research
associates program, postdoctoral research associates, administrative intern programs,
summer aides, apprentice programs for instrument makers, and Civil Service Commission
courses. However, to include these sectors, other than by noting, would tend to lessen the
significance of "The Precursor Roles."

697
4. Colloquia, symposia, seminars, conferences — Or by any other name
a) An early CRPL colloquium
The name colloquium or seminar was by the Radio Section, and
rarely, if ever, used
rarely did such groups get together for conference and discussion, except for section or
division meetings. Yet such meetings for discussion were considered to be a part of the total
education program for the Bureau. After the formation of the CRPL, Harold Lyons, chief of
the Microwave Standards Section, provided the motivating force to initiate a colloquium
program which came to be called the Radio and Electronics Colloquium. The first meeting
was on November 14, 1947, with David M. Kerns lecturing on "Some Recent Developments
in Microwave Circuit Theory." These meetings became popular throughout the Bureau and
drew large crowds when a particularly appealing topic was discussed. The program spanned
35
a period of several years with meetings scheduled at intervals of several weeks.

b) Conferences, symposia, seminars at Boulder Laboratories

Conferences came in for early staging at the new Boulder Laboratories, the first one
being scheduled at the time of the Dedication events. The 3-day Conference on Radio
Propagation and Standards was held during the period of September 8-10, 1954. It was a one-
of-a-kind conference, mostly geared to contemporary radio research, and was not intended to
perpetuate itself in further conferences or as a conference organization. The eight invited
papers were by authorities in their specialized fields. The 75 contributed papers covered a
wide range of radio subjects. Chairmen of the 15 sessions were selected largely from
universities across the country.
Little time was allowed to slip by before renewing the colloquium on radio and
electronics of previous years back in Washington. Renamed the Radio Standards Research
Seminar, the first meeting was on December 17, 1954, with Paul F. Wacker speaking on
"Microwave Line Shape Studies." These seminars "provided a review of new work, current
literature, research problems, and creative new ideas relating to all topics in the field of
radio measurements, including related background and basic subjects." However, the
seminar plan of meetings was rather short lived.
The Conference on Electronic Standards and Measurements of August 1958 at the
Boulder Laboratories served as the catalyst to the later biennial Conferences on Precision
Electromagnetic Measurements (see pp. 686-690).
The intensive interest during the late 1950's and early 1960's to establish programs of
standards and precision measurements within Government agencies, industry, and the
space programs, brought on the need of conferences to discuss mutual problems. The
Boulder Laboratories with its new Electronic Calibration Center became a focal point for
such conferences. Much planning, preparation, and conducting the conferences and
seminars by personnel of the Radio Standards Laboratory went into this effort. The first
scheduled event by the center was a Microwave Workshop held in the spring of 1961.
Approximately 40 technical supervisors from Department of Defense laboratories were in
attendance. Late in the summer of 1961, 50 invited personnel from the same laboratories
attended a Low Frequency Workshop. Several years later, in May 1968, a Microwave
Calibration Workshop was conducted for 50 representatives of industry and government
laboratories.
Beginning in November 1962, a series of eight seminars was staged over a period of 18
months by Myron Selby of the Radio Standards Laboratory, with the assistance of Professor
Edmund D. Ayres of the E. E. Department of Ohio State University. Ayres was a summer

35
Shortly after arrival in Boulder of the Microwave Standards Section in the summer and fall of 1954, the
Washington-based colloquium was revived within the newly organized division relating to high frequency and
microwave standards, to be called the Radio Standards Division Research Seminar. The seminar remained active
for several years and then gradually faded from the Boulder scene.
Concurrent during the activity of the Standards Seminar were two other groups that stimulated interest
within the two other radio divisions at NBS Boulder, the Radio Propagation Physics Journal Club and the Radio
Propagation Engineering Journal Club. But these, also, faded to obscurity.

698
employee in the RSL. These seminars were conducted by personnel of industries on contract
with space programs and the Department of Defense. It was a new and different point of
—
view for NBS staff members to receive that of obtaining first-hand information on
technical problems faced by industry in precision measurement programs.
In the early 1960's various technical sections of NBS began sponsoring seminars for
those interested in specialized measurement programs. These 2-day to 5-day seminars and
symposia continue to the present time. Those related to the Bureau's measurement
programs at radio frequencies began in March 1966 with seminars in High Frequency and
Microwave Noise, and in High Frequency and Microwave Field Strength. In 1967 a seminar
was held on Phase Shift Measurements. Two seminars were held in 1968, one on High
Frequency and Microwave Attenuation, the other on Frequency and Time.
An early symposium convening at the newly established Boulder Laboratories was held
in January 1957 under the title of the Propagation of Very-Low Frequency Radio Waves and
was sponsored jointly by the Boulder Laboratories and the IRE Professional Group on
Antennas and Propagation. James R. Wait of the Radio Propagation Engineering Division
served as chairman. Subject area of the 3-day meeting was confined to the frequency range
of 3 to 300 kHz. Signals in this narrow band of electromagnetic waves have useful
applications and serve as an effective means of studying space phenomena. The broad
interest in this frequency band was evidenced by the nearly 300 physicists and radio
engineers that attended the symposium.
In February 1960 a first-time meeting known as the In-House Symposium on Plasma
and Astrophysics met in Boulder as a cooperative effort of NBS Boulder and NBS
Washington. A contingent of over 40 people came from NBS Washington. Among these was
Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb of the Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, who served as
coordinator of the symposium. Some years later, in 1969, Branscomb became director of
NBS. "Anchor man" at Boulder for the symposium was Dr. Richard N. Thomas, consultant
for astrophysics in the director's office. Although earmarked as the "first annual" with the
expectancy that others would follow in a regular series, these conferences never got into the
swing of scheduled events.
A symposium that drew nearly 500 participants to the Boulder Laboratories was the
1962 PGMTT National Symposium of the IRE Professional Group on Microwave Theory and
Techniques, meeting during the period of May 22-24. The event was planned and conducted
almost entirely by Boulder Laboratories personnel. George Schafer was the Symposium
chairman and Robert Beatty chairman of the Technical Program Committee. James
Brockman was chairman of the Local Arrangements Committee. John Richardson, chief of
the Radio Standards Laboratory, gave the keynote speech in which he stressed "the
reciprocal relation between the National Bureau of Standards and the microwave
profession" [8]. The PGMTT celebrated its tenth anniversary at this meeting.
Another symposium, one that drew 300 scientists from 8 countries to the Boulder
Laboratories in August 1964, was the Symposium on Ultra-Low Frequency Electromagnetic
Fields. The Bureau served as host to the multi-sponsored meeting. The subject matter
pertained to electromagnetic fields from 30 Hz down to the unusually low frequency of 0.001
—
Hz a frequency region that is exceptionally low. 36
Other colloquia of less organized natures came and went with the years. Other than
initial announcement of beginnings, little is found in the records of the existence or success.

5. Professional groups of the region that had their origin within the
Boulder Laboratories
a) The Boulder Branch of RESA
The Scientific Research Society of America, or RESA, was formed nationally in 1947 to
be the industry- and government-related scientific research society of Sigma Xi. Early in
January of 1955, a short time after the move to Boulder, a small group of Sigma Xi members
took initial steps to ascertain the interest of their colleagues in the formation of a Boulder
branch of RESA. On June 28, 1955, a small group was nominated to proceed with organizing

36
Further accounts of these low frequency symposiums (four, in total), sponsored by the CRPL, will be found in
chapter XI (pp. 475-476).

699
a branch, with Edwin L. Crow
as temporary president and John Richardson as temporary
secretary, plus a temporary Committee on Admission.
By early fall of 1955 all the necessary steps had been taken to organize a local branch of
RESA. At a business meeting on September 22, 1955, the following officers were elected:
President: Thomas N. Gautier
Vice-President: Harold A. Thomas
Secretary: Wilbert F. Snyder
Treasurer: Edwin L. Crow
The installation ceremony took place on October 17, 1955, following a banquet at the
Memorial Center, University of Colorado. Dr. Wallace R. Brode, national chairman of RESA
and an associate director of NBS, presented the charter to the Boulder Branch.
In April 1956 the Boulder Branch awarded for the first time in a continuing series an
annual prize for the best exhibit at the annual Colorado-Wyoming Science Fair for junior
and senior high school students. The prize was a log-log vector slide rule.
In 1958 the Boulder Branch sponsored its first RESA Boulder Scientist Award to the
resident or former resident of the Boulder area for the outstanding scientific publication or
series of publications appearing in the calendar year 1957 and based on research carried out
in the Boulder area.Of the many papers that were submitted, the one by Harold A. Thomas,
entitled "Microwave Power Measurements Employing Electron Beam Techniques" was
given first choice by the judging committee. Dr. Thomas, formerly chief of the Radio
Standards Division, received the $50 award and the inscribed plaque in absentia.
More recently Sigma Xi and RESA have become a united organization at the national
level. The Boulder organization continues to be a thriving chapter.

b ) Boulder-related Professional Groups of the IEEE

The rapid and diversified growth of CRPL after the move to Boulder, plus the gain in
popularity of IRE Professional Groups being organized in various parts of the country,
brought on the desire to organize such groups within the boundaries of the Denver Section
of the IRE. The^e groups are organized within the IRE (now IEEE) along lines of technical
specialization of the members.
The such groups to be organized by NBS personnel in the Boulder area was the
first of
Boulder-Denver Chapter of the IRE Professional Group on Antennas and Propagation,
officially chartered on May 23, 1955. Ernest K. Smith of the Radio Propagation Engineering
Division served as the organizer and as chairman during the first year. He was followed by
James R. Wait, and then by Herman V. Cottony. Cottony became a member of the
Administrative Committee of the group at the national level and also became associate
editor for the group's publications.
The second IRE Professional Group to be organized by Boulder Laboratories personnel
was the Boulder-Denver Chapter of the Professional Group on Microwave Theory and
Techniques. The chapter was formally established on October 10, 1957. Moody C. Thompson
of the Radio Propagation Engineering Division was chosen as the first chairman, and
William Culshaw of the Radio Standards Laboratory as the first secretary-treasurer.
Beginning in 1963, Robert W. Beatty of the Radio Standards Laboratory served as editor of
the Transactions for a period of 3 years, followed by 3 years as associate editor. During the
mid-1960's Beatty served as vice chairman at the national level, and Helmut M. Altschuler,
of the Radio Standards Laboratory, as vice chairman and as chairman.
The third Professional Group to be organized in the Boulder-Denver area through
efforts of Boulder Laboratories personnel was a combining of two group interests, that of
electromagnetic compatibility (radio-frequency interference) and that of instrumentation
and measurement. John J. Tary of the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences served as
organizer, a petition being submitted to IEEE Headquarters on March 15, 1972. Approval of
the new chapter was given by the IEEE Executive Committee on May 1, 1972, the name to
be the Boulder-Denver Chapter of the IEEE Professional Group on Electromagnetic
—
Compatibility Instrumentation and Measurement. Harold E. Taggart served as the first
chairman and Ramon L. Jesch as the first secretary-treasurer, both of the Electromagnetics
Division. Harvey W. Lance served as vice chairman of the Administrative Committee of the
Instrumentation and Measurement Group at the national level for 2 years in 1960-1961 and
George E. Schafer as chairman for 3 years in 1965-1967.

700
George C. Southworth of Bell Telephone Laboratories, attends Tenth Anniversary meeting of the IRE
(right), retiree

Professional Group on Microwave Theory and Techniques (PGMTT), Boulder, 1962. Dr. Southworth was a staff
member of the former NBS Radio Section during World War I. He became well known as the author of Principles
and Applications of Waveguide Transmission, published in 1950, a treatise that has become a classic.
At left, admiring the Tenth Anniversary birthday cake, is Tore Anderson, Chairman of the PGMTT
Administrative Committee.

to be organized by staff members

The fourth and most recent IEEE Professional Group
of the Boulder Laboratories the Denver-Boulder Chapter of the Vehicular Technology
is

Group. A petition for establishing a chapter was initiated by John F. Shafer of the
Electromagnetics Division. The petition was approved by IEEE Headquarters on March 11,
1975.

REFERENCES
[1] J. H. Dellinger, "The principles of electrical measurements at radio frequencies," J. Washington Academy of
Sciences, Vol. VIII, No. 9, May 4, 1918, pp. 293-294. A lengthy abstract.
[2] Proceedings of the American Physical Society. Minutes of the Ninety-Seventh Meeting, Phys. Rev., Vol. XIV,
No. 2, Aug. 1919, pp. 152-200.
[3] J. H. Dellinger, "Principles of radio transmission and reception with antenna and coil aerials," Bur. Stand. Sci.
Paper, Vol. 15, 1919-1920, pp. 435-495.
[4] J. Terrien, "The work of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures concerning electromagnetic units and
measurements," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas., Vol. IM-15, No. 4, Dec. 1966, pp. 140-145.
[5] Harvey W. Lance, "The national measurement systems of various countries," IEEE Trans. Inst. Meas., Vol.

IM-15, No.
Dec. 1966, pp. 397-403.
4,

[6] Proceedings of the 1962 Standards Laboratory Conference, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Misc. Publ. 248, Aug. 16,
1963, 254 pages.
[7] Harvey L. Curtis, "Science education— Establishment of graduate study courses at the National Bureau of
Standards," Washington Academy of Sciences, Vol. 39, No. 11, Nov. 15, 1949, pp. 351-355.
J.

[8] John M. Richardson, "Standards and the microwave profession," IRE Trans. Microwave Theory and
Techniques, Vol. MTT-10, No. 6, Nov. 1962, pp. 413-415.

701
 Chapter XIX

"GO WEST YOUNG MAN" 1

A NEW SITE FOR RADIO RESEARCH

1. The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory encounters space problems

On the day (May 1, 1946) that the Radio Section was organized as a division of the
Bureau, to become known as the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL), the Radio
2,3
Propagation Executive Council held its first meeting. At this meeting Dellinger brought
attention to the situation of inadequate space for the new division and to the fact that plans
were underway for a new and large building to be erected on the Bureau grounds. Shortly
thereafter a budget request was made for a new building.
Within a year the CRPL realized that new field facilities were required for its research
that would be reasonably free of radio interference and manmade noise at radio frequencies.
Also desirable for propagation studies was a greater variety of terrain than that found in
the Washington area. A new building on the Bureau grounds would not be a complete
answer to the facility problem. By 1948 the interest in a new and large building on the
Bureau grounds was waning in favor of a totally new and complete facility, removed

'This well-known American saying aptly connotes the "migration" made in a westerly direction from Washington,
D.C. by 250 employees in 1954. A vanguard from Washington began to arrive in Boulder, Colo, late in the
NBS
spring of 1951, although this group had been preceded by another group at Colorado Springs that was recruited to
initiate work in 1950 on the Cheyenne Mountain project (see ch. XII, pp. 525-533). The destination was 1700 miles
away, and travel would be by automobile, train, and plane. None was near retirement age and all were young in
spirit.
The complete "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country," was used by Horace Greeley,
saying,
editor of the New York Tribune.* However, Greeley borrowed the phrase "Go West, young man, go West" from
John B. L. Soule and gave credit to him after Soule used it in 1851 in an editorial for the Terre Haute (Indiana)
Express.
Literally, the NBS personnel who migrated in 1954 from Washington became a contributing sector of
"... and grow up with the country." Since 1954, Boulder has nearly tripled in population.
"The city of Greeley, Colo., about 45 miles northeast of Boulder, was named after Horace Greeley. The city was an
outgrowth of a cooperative enterprise known as the Union Colony.
2
Sources of material for this chapter came primarily from:

National Bureau of Standards CRPL Executive Council Minutes, May 1, 1946-Mar. 14, 1955.
Department of Commerce, Boulder Laboratories Library, Ref. QC661.U48.
Files of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce
Files in library of the Boulder Daily Camera
Report of Site Selection Board, December 12, 1949
Quarterly and Annual Reports of the CRPL
A preliminary informal meeting had been held on January 13, 1946. Dr. Edward U. Condon, director of NBS,
3

chaired the May 1 meeting and outlined the purpose of the Council, stating:
that it was intended to bring together in an advisory body the interested agencies, particularly

the users of the services of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory. . . .

Twenty were in attendance at this first meeting.

703
 4,0
entirely from the Washington The desperate need for a new location came at a time
area.
during the administration when there was much consideration given, and policy
Truman
actions taken, toward the dispersal of Government facilities to and beyond the fringes of the
Washington area, plus the more complete movement of decentralization to other regions of
6
the United States.

2. Slowly turn the wheels for funding a new facility

On that memorable day of May 1, 1946, when the Radio Section became a technical
division of the Bureau, Dellinger informed the CRPL Executive Council at its first meeting
that "Plans have been started for a large new building to accommodate the whole
laboratory. There is ample area on the Bureau grounds for it." Eight years later the
laboratory staff moved into the "large new building," not on the Bureau grounds in
Washington, but on 217 acres of land at that time on the outskirts of Boulder, Colo. The
wheels had turned slowly to provide for a new building.
At the August 13, 1946 meeting of the Executive Council, Samuel W. J. Welch,
Administrative Officer of CRPL, reported that a new radio building was one of five buildings
being requested by the Bureau and that the Department of Commerce would specifically
7
support the request for a radio building in its budget. Thus, the wheels started turning.
In January 1947 the Bureau of the Budget approved a new radio building with part of
the funding scheduled for FY 1948 to get construction underway. By 1948 there was
considerable feeling among the section chiefs that selection of a locality away from
Washington for adequate field sites and close proximity to a suitable university was the
direction to follow for a new location of the CRPL. Then a period of dormancy seems to have
settled down on the whole matter relating to a new building and multipurpose field sites.
In May 1949 Condon reported to the Executive Council "that the question of the new
CRPL building is being actively taken up by the Senate Committee on Interstate and
Foreign Commerce." A bill (S.443) had been introduced in the Senate that would authorize
the construction of a radio laboratory for NBS and this bill was referred to the Senate

4
A new building on the Bureau grounds would probably have been constructed on 36th Street to the north of the
existing Materials Testing Building.
5
Quarters used by the CRPL on the Bureau grounds before the move to Boulder, Colo, included: the Radio Building,
a portion of the 3d floor of the Northwest Building, the reconditioned Stucco Building, the former Vapor Lock
Building (to be known as "Lower Slobovia"), and an assortment of rooms in other buildings. Other locations

included the 2d floor of the Barber and Ross Building in downtown Washington, a portion of a building (Potomac
Annex) near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Florida Avenue, and the nearby field stations at Beltsville,
Md., and Sterling and Ft. Belvoir, Va.
6
A confidential policy instruction to Government agencies issued by President Truman early in 1949, directing that
—
no more major Government buildings be constructed in the District of Columbia a policy based upon the hazard of
possible nuclear guided missile attacks on Washington. As a result of this instruction the Atomic Energy
Commission built its headquarters near Germantown, Md., and the Central Intelligence Agency built its
headquarters on the Virginia side of the Potomac River at a considerable distance upstream from the concentration
of Federal buildings in Washington. Late in 1949 NBS chose the action of decentralization in locating its major
radio facility a long distance from Washington.
7
Samuel W. Welch served as secretary to the CRPL Executive Council from the time of its first meeting (May 1,
J.
1946) until 1951. He was a member of the Council, representing the CRPL as its administrative officer. Welch
entered the Bureau on April 15, 1946, as an administrative assistant to give immediate attention to the transition
of the Radio Section to a division. Shortly thereafter he was named the administrative officer for the CRPL and
retained the position until 1951 when he transferred to the Bureau's Missile Development Division at the time that
it was moved to Corona, Calif. In the spring of 1954 Welch returned to the CRPL to become its executive officer and

chief of the administrative division of the Boulder Laboratories. Welch retired in January 1967, and died May 29,
1971, at Pensacola, Fla.
Roswell C. Peavey was named secretary to the CRPL Executive Council in 1951 to fill the position vacated by
Welch. He continued as secretary until March 14, 1955, when the Council was dissolved. Peavey entered the Bureau
as an administrative assistant on April 8, 1946, just 7 days before Welch's entry. For several years he was
associated with the CRPL and then served as a technical aide with the Atomic and Radiation Physics division. He
returned to the CRPL to take the position of administrative officer, vacated by Welch in 1951. After the move of the
CRPL to Boulder, Peavey served for a period of time to head the Washington Liaison Office of the CRPL.

704
Committee, with the strongly stated suggestion by Secretary of Commerce Sawyer that such
8
a building be located elsewhere than in the environs of the District of Columbia.
Bill S.443 would authorize the expenditure of $4,475,000 for construction of a new radio
9
building (exclusive of cost of land). Yet the road ahead would prove to be a rocky one.
Action on bills introduced into Congress usually comes slowly. In October of 1949 the Senate
and then the House of Representatives authorized the expenditure of $4,475,000 for
construction and equipment of a radio laboratory, the site to be selected by the Secretary of
10
Commerce and the director of NBS. The bill was signed by President Truman. For a
number of months it had been an "open secret" that Boulder, Colo, might be the site of the
new laboratory.
in 1950, and 6 months after Boulder was selected as the
At the next session of Congress,
location for the laboratory building, and after land had been purchased by the citizens
new
of Boulder and dedicated to the Federal Government for the building site, the Senate
tempered its financial support by a smaller cash appropriation and contract authority for
the building than provided by the House. This action led Colorado Senators Johnson,
chairman of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, and Millikin, of the Finance
11
Committee, to "fight" to have the appropriation restored. By September 1950 an
full
amount to the extent of $4,275,000 for the building was restored by both houses of Congress
through an omnibus appropriation bill. A crisis was surmounted, and by October designing
of the building was underway.

8
On February 24, 1949, Secretary of Commerce Sawyer informed Senator Edwin C. Johnson (Colorado), Chairman
of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, that:

. . . the activities to be carried out in this proposed laboratory are critical in the entire field of

radio communication, of particular value to American aviation, and of vital importance to the
armed forces. Members of my staff have therefore discussed the matter of the location of this site
with the National Military Establishment, the National Security Resources Board, and the
Bureau of the Budget. In accordance with these discussions, I am of the opinion that this
building should not be located in the metropolitan area of the District of Columbia and therefore
recommend that amendatory language be provided in S.443 to authorize the procurement of a
site elsewhere. . . .

(Contained in Report No. 787, Senate Calender No. 768, 81st Congress, 1st Session, July 26, 1949.)

9
An interesting note on a site location was contained in Report 787 (see footnote 8), which stated:

Site for the construction of the laboratory has not yet been selected. While authority for
purchase of land is contained in the bill amended, the Department is of the opinion that land
already the property of the Federal Government, or other public institution, may be procured
without cost. The Department has in mind the possibility of acquiring sufficient land to permit
expansion of facilities, even to the extent of shifting the entire Bureau of Standards in an
emergency.

Author's (WFS) note: Certain aspects of this opinion came true within a short time, as was the case of certain
phases of the development of the hydrogen bomb which brought on construction of several buildings on the Boulder
site in advance of construction of the Radio Building. Over the years other NBS operations have been considered
for the Boulder site.

10
In part, the act read:

Public Law 366 — 81st Congress

S.443

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in

Congress assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be constructed and equipped for the
National Bureau of Standards a suitable radio laboratory building, together with necessary
utilities, and appurtenances thereto, under a limit cost of $4,475,000. . . .

"In a telegram, dated July 13, 1950, sent by Senators Johnson and Millikin to Francis W. "Franny" Reich,
secretary-manager of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, they stated:

Happy to advise you we were able to get Senate to recede from amendment striking funds, for
Boulder radio laboratory and got approval for $1,360,000 to start construction. Remaining funds
undoubtedly will be obtainable next year but meanwhile work can go forward. Best regards.

In a second telegram, dated July 14, 1950, Johnson said to Reich,

Senator Millikin was tower of strength in this crisis. Hope you thank him.
Eventually the required funding came through, but it was by a slow and painful process.

705
3. Relocating the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
a) Could the location be Boulder, Colo.?
In his letter of February 24, 1949, Secretary of Commerce Sawyer informed Senator
Johnson of Colorado, chairman of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, that
a new radio building should not be located in the metropolitan area of the District of
Columbia (see p. 705, footnote 8). Yet it was not until October 1949 that Congress gave

authority tc the Secretary of Commerce, along with the director of NBS, to select the
location for a new radio building. During the 8 months that intervened between February
and October (1949) much in the way of informal discussions, suggestions, and the passing
along of rumors, took their course among many groups that had an interest in a new
location of the CRPL.
What can be called a happenstance meeting of three scientists in a mountainous region
west of Denver, Colo., in June 1949, was to be the circumstance from which the National
Bureau of Standards would be establishing a new and large-scale facility in nearby Boulder
several years later. The occasion was the Echo Lake Cosmic Ray Symposium that was held
June 23 to 28, at Idaho Springs, Colo. 12
Attending the symposium as participants, were Dr. Condon, director of NBS, and Dr.
Donald H. Menzel, then associate director of solar research, Harvard University (later,
13 14
director of the Harvard College Observatory). Menzel had come to present a paper at the
symposium. Condon and Menzel were housed in the Echo Lake Lodge and had considerable
opportunity to converse with each other. Condon was seeking suggestions for the location of
a new site for the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, and Menzel was a very
understanding listener. Menzel's suggestion was Boulder, Colo, as the best place in the
country for this new facility.

u The symposium was the second

to be sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Atomic Energy Commission,
and The Research Corporation (a private foundation for support of research in physical sciences). The purpose of
the symposium was for presentation and discussion of papers by those working in the rapidly changing field of
cosmic radiation.
The particular region was selected because of the proximity of the Mountain Laboratories on top of Mt. Evans
and at Echo Lake of the Inter-University High Altitude Laboratory for study of cosmic radiation. The Laboratory
was associated with six universities. As an added institution, the University of Denver served as host.
Meetings were held in the auditorium of the high school at Idaho Springs. Participants of the symposium were
housed in several motels, a small hotel, and at the Echo Lake Lodge some distance away at the base of Mt. Evans.
A banquet was held at the Teller House in Central City, after which the symposium participants attended a dress
rehearsal of "Die Fledermaus" at the nearby Opera House.
Among the approximately 115 participants listed in the Proceedings of the Symposium were: Professor W. B.
Pietenpol, professor of physics, University of Colorado, and Dr. David M. Gates, assistant professor of physics,
University of Denver.*

'Later, Gates became associated with the CRPL at Boulder. He deposited a copy of the Proceedings of the Echo
Lake Cosmic Ray Symposium with the NBS Library, Boulder, now cataloged QC485.E2.
13
Condon could consider himself as a "westerner." He was three generations removed from a family that settled at
Wray, in northeastern Colorado. He was born in Alamogordo, N. Mex. "His father, William Edward Condon, was
an early western railroad builder (civil engineer), and in consequence the son grew up 'nearly everywhere west of
Denver' as his father took on different railroad locations and construction jobs." (quoted from Brattain and
Odabasi, Preface, p. xxi; Topics in Modern Physics, a Tribute to Edward U. Condon, Colorado Associated University
Press, Boulder, Colo., 1971). He attended high school in Oakland, Calif., and college and graduate school at the
University of California, Berkley. Beginning in 1941, he became associated with the atomic bomb project and later
as scientific advisor of the Senate Committee that led to the establishment of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC). It was on the Senate Committee that Condon became acquainted with Senators Johnson and Millikin of
Colorado who, several years later, were to extend their influence and give assistance in bringing NBS to Boulder.
The AEC was one of the three sponsors of the Echo Lake Cosmic Ray Symposium. Thus it was that Condon found
himself at Idaho Springs in June 1949, but listed as director of NBS (NBS had engaged but very little in cosmic ray
research).
14
Dr. Donald H. Menzel grew up in the West. He was born in Florence, a town in south central Colorado. He
received the A.B. and A.M. degrees at the University of Denver. Later, when a Harvard University and
professor at
associated with the Harvard College Observatory, Menzel was chairman of the Radio Propagation Committee of the
Joint and Combined Chiefs of Staff during the period 1943-1945. He was a member of the Bureau's Statutory
Visiting Committee during the period 1949-1954, and chairman 1953-1954. For a number of years he was a
consultant to the Boulder Laboratories. Menzel died December 14, 1976, at the time the author (WFS) was
completing the "Boulder Laboratories story."

706
Echo Lake Lodge at base of Mt. Evans, southwest of Idaho Springs, Colo. It was here during the period of June
23-28, 1949, at the Echo Lake Cosmic Ray Symposium that Dr. Condon, director of NBS, had occasion to enter into
conversations with Dr. Menzel of the Harvard College Observatory. The topic of a new location for the Central
Radio Propagation Laboratory led to Menzel s suggestion that the best place would be Boulder, Colo. Also entering
into the conversations was Dr. Roberts of the High Altitude Observatory at Climax, Colo. Thus Echo Lake Lodge
can be considered to be the "birthplace " of the NBS Boulder Laboratories.
Courtesy of Denver Public Library
Western History Department*
*Municipal Lodge, better known as Echo Lake Lodge, is the property of the City of Denver. The photo is a copy of a
printed picture in the July-August 1930 issue of Municipal Facts, published by the City and County of Denver.

View to west across lake from Echo Lake Lodge, southwest of Idaho Springs, Colo. In the distance, between the
portico columns, can be seen several mountain peaks on the Continental Divide.
Courtesy of Denver Public Library
Western History Department*
*This photo taken in 1938. See accompanying photo of Echo Lake Lodge.

707
 A symposium was Dr. Walter Orr Roberts, who
visitor (not listed as a participant) to the
was well known was superintendent of the High Altitude Observatory,
to Menzel. Roberts
University of Colorado, located at Climax, Colo, (later, Roberts was director of the
Observatory), and was well acquainted with Boulder. The conversations on a new location
for the CRPL soon extended to Roberts, and he invited Condon to visit Boulder. Condon had
never been in Boulder nor had he been back in Colorado for 30 years, so he took the
15
opportunity to visit the University of Colorado campus.
Later in the summer of 1949 Condon again had the opportunity to converse with Menzel
when they were attending the Goethe Bicentenary celebration at Aspen, Colo., a part of the
first-year program of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It was the occasion when
famed Albert Schweitzer was invited to the United States to participate in the celebration.
By the following December the location of a new NBS facility was selected from among
a large number of suggested places by due process of a site selection board. The selection
was announced publicly on December 15 (see pp. 709-710).
Years later, on two occasions widely separated in time, Condon related how Boulder
came to be selected as the site for a new NBS facility. To the listeners it was an interesting
16 17
'

story.

15
In an article, entitled "Boulder's Peppery Physicist," by Olga Curtis, published in the April 18, 1973, issue of
Empire Magazine, Denver Post, Condon is quoted on p. 12 as saying:

I hadn't seen Colorado for more than 30 years until I came out in 1949 for a cosmic ray
conference in Idaho Springs ... I toured the state, did a little fishing and visited friends at C.U.
16
In August 1960, Condon, in addressing a Cryogenic Engineering Conference at Boulder, stated how the cryogenic
facilities at the Boulder Laboratories came about:

summer of 1949 I came out to Colorado for a Navy-sponsored cosmic ray conference at
In the
Idaho Springs. On a visit here (Boulder) I soon fell under the spell of this charming college
community. Largely as a result of the contagious enthusiasm of Walter Orr Roberts, the brilliant
director of the High Altitude Observatory, it became clear that this part of the country was the
ideal location for the radio propagation research of the National Bureau of Standards. (Quoted
from the Aug. 24, 1969, Boulder Daily Camera. )

It was on this occasion when Condon "fell under the spell of this charming college community" (of

Boulder) that he made a phone call back east. He reached Newbern Smith at State College, Pa., who,
along with Alan Shapley and Alvin McNish, were attending a 3-day (June 27-29, 1949) Conference on
Ionospheric Research (McNish presented a paper on radio reflections from meteor trails). Condon urged
them to fly to Denver, thence to Boulder, to view a promising site for relocation of the CRPL. The trio,
with an added member of the CRPL, S. W. J. Welch, enjoyed the 4th of July holiday period in the Boulder
area, including a visit to the High Altitude Observatory at Climax. It probably was not difficult for
Condon, Menzel, and Roberts to convince these representatives of the CRPL that Boulder was "the site"
for resettlement of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory.
"The second occasion was an invitational luncheon on February 22, 1974, in connection with the celebration of the
25th Anniversary of the Bureau's development of the atomic clock. Condon, an invited guest and speaker, talked
very informally of the events that led to the selection of Boulder as the site for relocation of the CRPL. Condon, in
his usual and characteristically salty remarks, described the progressive steps that took their course toward the
final selection of Boulder."

"Author's (WFS) note: At this luncheon the author took some brief notes of Condon's informal remarks. After the
luncheon he asked Condon for an interview within several months in order to obtain more details of the events that
led to the selection of Boulder, an interview which Condon very gladly offered. But Condon died a month later.
Thereafter, the Boulder Laboratories has regretted often that a recording had not been made of Condon's remarks,
remarks that were of historical interest and among his last relating to the Boulder Laboratories. Because of this
turn of events, the author has found it necessary to search into various sources for information, including personal
reminiscences listed below.

Private communication of November 29, 1971, Dr. Donald H. Menzel to Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb, director
of NBS.
Telephone conversation of September 7, 1976, of Charles L. Bragaw with Dr. Mario Iona, professor of
physics, University of Denver.

Telephone conversation of September 13, 1976, author with Dr. Byron E. Cohn, professor of physics
(retired), University of Denver.

Professors Iona and Cohn coordinated the symposium functions at Idaho Springs and elsewhere, and arranged for
hosting the participants.

708
b) Boulder selected for relocating the CRPL
As a means of advising the director of NBS and, in turn, recommending to the
Secretary of Commerce, on a new location for the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory,
four staff members of the CRPL were appointed by Dr. Condon, director of NBS, "to study
and make recommendations for the location of major laboratory facilities for the National
Bureau of Standards." Although the initial need was for the CRPL, consideration was to be
given to the suitability of the site for other needs of the Bureau. Appointed to this
committee, known as the Site Selection Board, were:
Newbern Smith, chief of the CRPL, chairman
Alvin G. McNish, assistant chief, CRPL
Kenneth A. Norton, assistant chief, CRPL
S. W. J. Welch, administrative officer, CRPL
There is no reason to doubt that the Board conducted its study within an atmosphere of
impartiality of site selection; nevertheless it operated, yet not by choice, within the
"shadow" of rumors that Boulder, Colo., would be a likely location.
At the onset the Board agreed that certain requirements of a new site should be met,
consisting of the following:

(1) The Laboratory should be located in a town or small city; (2) the town

should contain an adequate university; (3) it should be within a reasonable

distance of a large city; (4) it should be in a noncongested area; (5) it should
be in a region of moderate climate; (6) it should be in a region of diverse
terrain; (7) it should be accessible.

In their report the Board members commented at considerable length on explaining those
requirements.
On the basis of location in a small city and proximity to an adequate university, 28
18
locations in the country were selected that met these two requirements. Of the 28 locations
so chosen, ratings were made of the degree that these localities met the other five
19
requirements. Seven of the 28 small cities met all requirements to a moderate degree and 3
met all requirements. These three were: Boulder, Colo.; Charlottesville, Va.; and Palo Alto,
Calif. These three were given numerical ratings on the degree that they met the
requirements. The outcome of the numerical rating was extremely close, that of 11, 12, and
13, in the order of the cities cited above (lowest number indicating first preference). Each
location had some strong and some weak considerations, and all were further and more
carefully analyzed. Yet another factor entered the selection process Boulder, by its —
Chamber of Commerce, had formally offered a suitable tract of land as a building site. 20
Thus the Board came to the conclusion:
Because of this offer of a tract for the Laboratory and the general
Boulder for the location of the Laboratory, a detailed study of
suitability of
the Boulder location has been conducted. It has been found that the tract
offered is admirably suited to the Laboratory's requirements and to the
probable needs of the National Bureau of Standards for a considerable time

18
Twenty-one communities had less than 50,000 population, seven less than 100,000; although there were 53
universities that were considered to be adequate, some in very large cities.

19
Two localities, other than the 28 cities, considered by the board, had offered tracts of land, but these locations
were considered unsuitable for various reasons. However, the very knowledge that such offers had been made
spurred the Boulder Chamber of Commerce to greater efforts in offering a tract of land to the Federal Government
for a building site.
20
The Site Selection Board considered carefully the acceptance of the offer of a building site by the Boulder
Chamber of Commerce. This was evidenced by a telegram, dated November 17, 1949, by Newbern Smith (chief of
the CRPL and chairman of the Site Selection Board) to Francis Reich of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. The
telegram stated, in part:

... it is essential that we have definite description (of) tract as described in land records of
county and firm statement bearing signatures of you and other officers of Chamber of Commerce
that you now hold options on this land and that decision reached to establish laboratory in
Boulder this tract will be dedicated to Federal Government for that purpose subject to
. . .

above considerations Site Selection Board disposed to consider favorably Boulder as site.

709
 to come if it should be decided subsequently to transfer the activities of the
National Bureau of Standards to this location. Housing conditions, water
supply, sanitary facilities, and all other considerations entering into a
decision of this magnitude have been carefully explored. There seems to be
no impediment on these grounds for the location of the Laboratory at
Boulder.

Recommendation
In view of the above considerations it is recommended that the Laboratory
be located at Boulder, Colo., and that the tract of land offered for the
Laboratory by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce be accepted.

In an office memorandum, dated December 12, 1949, the members of the Site Selection
Board reported to Dr. Condon on their selection of Boulder, Colo, as the site for the proposed
radio propagation laboratory building. On December 15 Secretary of Commerce Sawyer
21 23
officially announced the selection.

The Boulder Chamber of Commerce received notice of the selection on the morning of the day before (December
14) by Senator Johnson of Colorado in a telegram that stated:

Congratulations on the selection of Boulder as site of the new Bureau of Standards laboratory.
Best wishes.
22
On December 16 the Site Selection Board met in Boulder to study planning for the new laboratory and discuss
with the Chamber of Commerce the problems that might be encountered in moving NBS personnel to Boulder.
On occasion the Site Selection Board was more simply called by its initials, the SSB. These letters were
sometimes reverted, facetiously, to the name, "Society for the Selection of Boulder."
23
Reactions to the selection of Boulder, Colo, as the location of a new CRPL facility ran the gamut among staff
members. One high-level scientist was quoted by a Washington, D.C. newspaper as saying that Boulder was a
"Scientist's Siberia." The passage of time has proved how far wrong the statement was, for the Boulder area has
become the home of several dozen research organizations, and the community serves as host to an almost steady
stream of scientific conferences and meetings that converge upon Boulder throughout the year. Instead of a
"Siberia," Boulder attracts scientists from "the four corners of the Earth."

Photo, published by the Boulder Daily Camera on December 15, 1949, of cattle grazing on a snow-covered pasture
that would soon become the site for a radio building and cryogenic engineering buildings for a new facility of the
NBS. On the same day Secretary of Commerce Sawyer announced that Boulder, Colo, was to be the location of the
new facility. At the time this photo was taken the now much travelled South Broadway was a narrow gravel road.
The Flatirons in the background, the "trademark" of Boulder, would serve as a dramatic backdrop to the NBS
buildings that were to be constructed on the site.

Photo by Boulder Daily Camera

710
C) BOULDER MEETS A CHALLENGE
During the early summer of 1949 there were "signs in the wind" that Boulder, Colo,
might be selected as the site of a new radio laboratory for the NBS. After returning from a
trip to Washington, D.C., secretary-manager Francis Reich informed the board of directors
of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce on October 24 of Boulder's chance of being selected as
the site of the radio laboratory as a result of Congressional action. The board voted "to leave
no stone unturned to secure the laboratory and to notify Federal officials that Boulder
24
stands ready to provide a site if necessary."
On February 27, 1950, a group of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, known as the
Bureau of Standards Committee, initiated plans to raise funds to the extent of $70,000 to
purchase a 217-acre tract (a combination of two tracts) of land west of Marshall Road and
25
south of Green Mountain Cemetery. An option for purchase of the tract had been
negotiated earlier by the Chamber of Commerce. A campaign to raise the money was set to

24
Two days on October 26, an account in the Denver Post stated, under the headline of "Big Ed Sees Radio
later,
Lab "chances now are very good that Boulder, Colo., will be chosen as the site of a new
for Boulder," that:
multimillion dollar government radio laboratory building, it was announced Wednesday by U.S. Senator Ed C.
Johnson." But the NBS Site Selection Board was still to make the bulk of its study, and not to report its selection
until December 12, with the public announcement on December 15 by Secretary of Commerce Sawyer. During these
many weeks Boulder was basking in a contemplative air of great expectations.
25
Although size of the tract of land was given as 210 acres in the option negotiations, and in publicity, the purchase
was for approximately 217 acres.

On March 2, 1950, the three "influential boosters" for Boulder as the new location for the Bureau's Central Radio

Propagation Laboratory met with the committee that was to raise funds for a site. Meeting with Vergyl H.
Reynolds (left), president of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, is the trio (left to right). Dr. Donald H. Memel,
director of the Harvard College Observatory for Solar Research. Dr. Edward U. Condon, director of the National
Bureau of Standards, and Dr. Walter O. Roberts, director of the High Altitude Observatory at Climax, Colo. The
Chamber of Commerce was the prime mover in raising funds for purchase of land for the NBS site.
Photo by Boulder Daily Camera

711
start on April 10. The Chamber of Commerce announced on March 2 that James J. Yeager,
of a Boulder business establishment, had accepted chairmanship of the campaign to raise
26
the $70,000. By early April, Yeager had a large group of Boulder citizens organized for the
Boulder Chamber of Commerce-U.S. Bureau of Standards Radio Laboratory Fund Campaign.
Although originally announced to start on April 10, the campaign got underway at the
"zero hour" of 7:30 a.m. on April ll. 27 Before, during, and at the close of the campaign,
coverage of progress was spread across full pages of Boulder's newspaper, the Daily
2
Camera. * On April 18 success of the campaign was announced in the Daily Camera by the
Chamber of Commerce as a full-page spread under the headline, "Congratulations Boulder,
You've Done It Again." 29 A victory breakfast was held on April 20, addressed by Senator Ed
Johnson. He hailed Boulder with a great future as a scientific center. By April 25
contributions to the fund totaled $90,407.40, as announced by the Chamber of Commerce. 30

4. NBS extends its facilities

a) NBS owns the Boulder site

The April 18, 1950, issue of Camera had spread across the full-page
the Boulder Daily
notice of the successful fund raisingcampaign the large block letters in red ink "O.K.
UNCLE, SHE'S ALL YOURS." On June 14, 1950, at a brief yet impressive ceremony in the
Boulder Chamber of Commerce office, the deed to the tract of 217 acres for the NBS site was

26
On
the same day of March 2, three "influential boosters" of Colorado, and particularly of Boulder, for a new NBS
met with Vergyl H. Reynolds, president, and others, of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. It was the same
site,

group that brought its influence upon many others that Boulder was the "ideal" location for a new NBS facility;
namely, Dr. Condon of NBS, Dr. Menzel of the Harvard College Observatory, and Dr. Roberts of the High Altitude
Observatory at Climax, Colo.
Previous to Reynold's term of office, John F. Allardice had been president of the Chamber of Commerce and
was active in the early stages when Boulder was being considered as a site to extend the facilities of NBS.
27
Start of the funding campaign was signalled by a breakfast, the workers being addressed enthusiastically by
Elmore Peterson, dean of the Business School, University of Colorado. Dean Peterson was an avid supporter of the
campaign. President Robert L. Stearns of the University spoke briefly.
28
As a stratagem to relate the size of the contributions to the land that was being purchased, a $350 contribution
was equivalent to 1 acre of land. Amounts were so cited in publicizing the contributions, thus $100 was also
designated (1/4 acre).
29
Boulder had succeeded in 1874 in getting the University of Colorado to be located in Boulder through the
its citizens. Thus, in 1950, Boulder did it again, and on this occasion initiated a trend
intensive efforts of several of
that has resulted in an influx of scientific and technical organizations to the Boulder community that continues to
the present time. The first to join this trend on a big scale was the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission which
announced on March 23, 1951, that it would construct a $45,000,000 facility at Rocky Flats, 7 miles south of
Boulder.
Author's (WFS) note: In a recent publication, entitled "Boulder in Perspective," John B. Schoolland, a long-time
resident of Boulder and a professor of the University of Colorado, used as a subtitle to his tome, "From Search for
Gold to the Gold of Research" It was, indeed, the National Bureau of Standards that in 1950 initiated the trend
that would result in "the Gold of Research" in the Boulder Community.
30
The total of the contributions far exceeded the goal of $70,000 set at the beginning of the fund-raising campaign,
and the $63,000 expended for purchase of the tract of land donated to the United States as a site for a radio
building. The excess of funds was used later to purchase a tract of land on Arapahoe Road (Avenue) east of Boulder
for use as an industrial area (Boulder Industrial Park). Much of this tract of land was occupied later by the Ball
Brothers Research Corporation.
The largest contribution was $10,000, made by the Boulder Elks, No. 566. All contributions from $100 (1/4 acre)
upward were recognized by public announcement. Later, the names of these contributors were inscribed on a metal
plaque placed on the stone wall of the lobby entry to the Radio Building.
On September 14, 1964, the Tenth Anniversary Open House of the Boulder Laboratories was "Dedicated to the
Citizens of Boulder, in particular those who expended their time, energy, and cash to make possible the
establishment of the Boulder Laboratories."

712
 11 '' 12
transferred by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce to the United States of America.' S. W.

J. Welch, administrative officer of the CRPL, accepted the deed to the property,
representing the NBS and the U.S. Government. Fifteen were in attendance at the
ceremony.

b) Planning for a building— And interim quarters

Time was not lost by the CRPL on the

in a preliminary design of the radio laboratory
basis of a simple functional design with maximum amount of laboratory
space and office
within the limits of the appropriation. The architect selected, Frank W. Cole, Washington,
D.C., had a descriptive design prepared by December 1950. Shortly thereafter the
architectural and engineering firm of Pereira, Luckman, and Stanton of Los Angeles, Calif,
and an associate architect, Robert W. Ditzen of Boulder, were selected for the detailed
13
design of the new radio building.' The design, released for public review on March 12, 1952,
called for a reinforced concrete structure with stone facings in the main entrance area. The
six wings were one-story structures (with clerestory roof design), three on each side of a
34
central spine. The central unit or spine was four stories high in front and two at the rear,
shaped to a sloping terrain. A library and an auditorium were located astride the main
entrance. Construction was under direction of the Public Buildings Service of the General
Services Administration.
There was no prospect that the new building could be started until 1952 or completed
until 1954, yet a "Colorado" projecthad been set up by the CRPL in the Colorado Springs
—
area in the spring of 1950 the Cheyenne Mountain project of studying tropospheric
propagation (see ch. XII, p. 525). In the spring of 1951 the Bureau negotiated for, and
occupied, the Colorado National Guard Radar Armory on the Foothills Road (now North
Broadway) on the north side of Boulder. Later the Armory warehouse was added to the
35
facility.

31
The deed recorded in Boulder County under Reception No. 491, 297, June 14, 1950, Book 860, page 465.
32
On the preceding day, June 13, purchase of the Callahan parcel of 137 acres was completed. Previously the
Kohler parcel of 80 acres had been purchased, making a total of 217 acres for the tract for the NBS site south of
Boulder. In January and February (1950), a topographical map and a soil survey by test holes had been made of the
tract by the Bureau of Public Roads, Department of Commerce.
Over the years various acreages have been noted, possibly somewhat perfunctorily, of the total tract that was
transferred to the U.S. Government in June 1950, ranging from 210 to 220 acres. Added to the original tract of 217
acres, on March 1, 1951, a triangular plot of 2.81 acres (bordering on Broadway) was purchased by the U.S.
Government from the Kohler estate for $1000.
On October 2, 1951, the NBS property was annexed to the City of Boulder.
Since 1951 small segments of the property have been transferred, to each party, between NBS and the City of
Boulder and between NBS and the Green Mountain Cemetery. In 1968 a Boulder land surveying firm determined
the total area of the NBS property to be 205.56 acres.
33
The firm of Pereira, Luckman, and Stanton received a 1954 Award of Merit from The American Institute of
Architects for the design of the radio building.

conception of the laboratory building resulted in a resemblance to "classical design." Upon the
34
The initial
suggestion of assistant to Condon, a design began to be formulated that would bring the building
Hugh Odishaw,
—
into becoming a part of the landscape terraced sets of low-profiled wings spreading out form a central spine and
setupon the sloping terrain with a backdrop of spectacular foothills (the Flatirons). That is what we see today-
thanks to Odishaw.
With the six wings, three on each side of the central spine, the ground-floor plan was quite similar to that of
the shape of a papal cross. When first constructed, with only four wings, the plan was that of the shape of a
patriarchal cross.
35
The Radar Armory became known as the North Site. Later, with the construction of the Radio Building and
occupancy of the cryogenic buildings on Marshall Road (later Broadway) this location became known as the South
Site. The two sites retained these names until all personnel and equipment were moved to the new building in the
spring of 1954.

713
 _ Hi V- 1 " 1

Recorded at J- - o'clock \ M. V. .'. '.,__„.. V' '"I I /Jii*?

Reception No. 1
'.•'« JACKLONUi.fi Recorder.

TllIS DEED. Made this 13th day of June, in the year of

our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty , between

Boulder Chamber of Commerce,

a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Colorado, of the first

part, and

United States of America,

xlfir xSicmtjQCS xjmtkSHXaca&JCituatlx, of the second part.

WITNESSETH, That the said party of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of

One Dollar -SftWjAflfii

to thu .-.aid party of the first part in hand paid by the said part y of the second part, the receipt whereof is

hereby confessed and acknowledged, hath remised, released, sold, conveyed and QUIT CLAIMED, and by these pres-
ents doth remise, release, sell, convey and QUIT CLAIM unto the said part y of the second part, its
jhMkxaKdcassigns forever, all the right, title, inteiest, claim and demand which the said party of the first part hath

in and to the following described parcels of land situate, lying and being in the
County of Boulder and state of Colorado, to-wit:

Tbe Northwest quarter of the Southeast quarter (Nw£sE{-), the Northeast

quarter of the Southwest quarter (NE£sw£) and Lot six (6) of Section six
(b), Township one (1) South, Range seventy (70) West of the 6th Principal
Meridian, and
All of that part of the Northwest quarter of the Southwest quarter (HW^SWf})
of Section five (5), Township one (1) South, Range seventy (70) West of the
6th Principal Meridian which lies Westerly of the county road, the right of
of way for which was conveyed to the Board of County Commissioners of the
County of Boulder, Colorado, by The Colorado and Southern Railway Company
by a deed which is of record in Book 698 at page 159 of the public records
of the County Clerk and Recorder of Boulder County, Colorado, and
The Northeast quarter of the Southeast quarter (NE^SE^) and the Southeast
quarter of the Northeast quarter SE^NE^ of Section six (6), Township 1 ( )

South, Range 70 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, saving and excepting,
however, all of that part of the said Southeast quarter of the Northeast
quarter of the said Section six (6), containing 1$ acres, more or less,
which lies Easterly of the county road, the right of way for which was
conveyed to the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Boulder,
Colorado, by The Colorado and Southern Railway Company by a deed which is
of record in Book 698 at page 159 of the public records of the County Clerk
and Recorder of Boulder County, Colorado,

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the same, together with all and singular the appurtenances and privileges thereunto
belonging, or in anywise thereunto appertaining, and all the estate, right, title, interest and claim whatsoever, of the

said party of the first part, either in law or equity, to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the said party
of the second part, its xfeBtflUOtfid assigns forever.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, The said party of the first part hath caused its corporate name to be hereunto
-
subscribed, by its Vice President, and its corporate seal to be hereunto affixed, attested by its

Set^etaryT tr/« <J*y and year first above written.

JXttest^
/fy/ 'T~)
,„ ...y-r^T> /T- ^/\£/fyrJ^ Boulder Chamber of Commerce
O *- . >
:
Secretary.

-J O >- -j'
C6-Pr«UlmL
,"f £0 SjJv*TH^)F COLORADO,
County of BovU.de r.
The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me this 13th day of June,

19 50, by Frank S. Henderson u Vice Preaident and

L.i-
)"'"'•-
'F. V. Reich Secretary of
ii

Bouider Chamber of Coraserae a corporation.

otaftifl MD>nffHion expires May 10, 1953
lesajriy hand a/id official seal.

•
Uid^l.BMJL
o •' u
<> - <C

No, 1M.B. QUIT CLAIM DECD^-Carttntfaa fmrm. Th. BnaMeH SjMaaau Pt». Co., Mfts. BoMaaom's La

Copy made from a microfilm of Quit Claim Deed recording the transfer from Boulder Chamber of Commerce to the
United States of America of parcels of land that became the site of the Boulder Laboratories, National Bureau of
Standards. In 1956 the original deed, dated June 13, 1950, could not be located among the files of several
Government agencies, thus this photo copy was made from a certified copy taken from microfilm reposited with the
records of the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder.

714
View to the northwest of the Colorado National Guard Radar Armory (and warehouse) along the Foothills Road
(now North Broadway) on the north side of Boulder. In the spring of 1951 NBS negotiated for occupancy of the
Armory for office and laboratory space until completion of facilities at the "South Site. " The move across town
was made during the spring of 1954.

In the spring of 1951, on March 28, the NBS announced that a cryogenics laboratory
would be built on the new Bureau site in Boulder. 36 This was but 5 days after the
announcement of the large facility of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to be
constructed at Rocky Flats south of Boulder. (See footnote 29.)

c) Construction proceeds on the Radio Building

Three large buildings were now on the new Bureau site, even before bids were opened
for construction of the Radio Building, the premiere raison d'etre for the site. However, the
Bureau already had exercised its purpose that the Boulder site would be used for other
activities in addition to that of radio propagation studies and radio standards. On May 22,
1952, bids were opened in Washington, D.C. for the new Radio Building. After some
adjustments in the bids, the contract was awarded on June 2 to the Olson Construction Co.
of Denver, Colo, at $3,920,000. Two of the six wings of the building were eliminated as an
economy measure, leaving a gross area of approximately 172,800 ft 2 .

i6
Later in the spring of 1951 construction began on the cryogenics laboratory building, funded by the AEC, to be
known as the Liquefier Building or Building "A," and used for a highly classified project for the AEC. Shortly
thereafter a second building, known as Building "B," was constructed as a laboratory facility associated with the
same project. The two buildings housed the Cryogenic Engineering Section, later to become a division of NBS, and
to be known as the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory. A third building, a very large frame building to become
known as the"Cameo" Building, was constructed by the AEC for use by the Cambridge Corp., a private contractor.
Later it became known publicly that these facilities served for certain operations of the AEC hydrogen-bomb
project.
In 1964 an addition to Building "B" was completed. On the occasion of the 10th Anniversary celebration
(September 14, 1964) of the Boulder Laboratories this new wing was dedicated by the director, Dr. Astin. Former
U.S. Senator Ed Johnson (Colorado), who played a major role in bringing the CRPL to Boulder, was an honored
guest and was the first to enter the doors of the new addition after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. One can well
imagine that he had a feeling of great satisfaction that his intensive efforts and predictions back in 1949 and the
early 1950's bore fruit in the establishment of the Boulder Laboratories.

715
 Although excavation for the Radio Building began in late June, the ground-breaking
ceremony took place on July 21, 1952, with the director, Dr. Astin, "informing" the
contractor to proceed with the construction. The building was essentially completed in
March 1954. Later, the two remaining wings of the original design were added, completing
37
the structure.

37
Construction of Wing
house the Electronic Calibration Center was started in June 1956. Its design for a
6, to
special-purpose building was by a Boulder architect,James Hunter. This wing was dedicated in August 1958 (see ch.
X, pp. 352-353 Wing 5 had a lengthy period of coming into existence from the time of the appropriation to final
).

construction and occupancy in 1962. This wing was a 3-story structure plus a large-size fallout shelter as a
subbasement. Computer facilities for the Boulder Laboratories became a large-scale operation in this wing.

ti

View of the area now occupied by the Radio Building, Boulder Laboratories, as it appeared on July 15, 1952, a few
weeks after ground was broken for construction. The photo was taken in the vicinity of the present Plasma Physics
Building (Building 24) and the view is in a northeasterly direction. The elevated grade of the Denver-Boulder
Turnpike crosses the view nearly horizontally at mid distance. Early housing of Highland Park appears between
the Turnpike and the nearer Marshall Road (now Broadway). Smokestacks of the Valmont Power Plant appear in
the distance at right.

716
The site of Boulder Laboratories as it appeared on July 15, 1952, a few weeks after ground was broken for
construction of the Radio Building. The tiled drain in foreground is located just to the north of the auditorium
section of the Radio Building that was completed in the spring of 1954- In mid distance can be seen the Liquefier
Building and the Cameo Building, both constructed during 1951. Occupying the horizon at center is Bear
Mountain, that provides a spectacular backdrop for the Boulder Laboratories in a southwesterly direction.
Buildings of the National Center for Atmospheric Research now occupy the hilltop (known as Table Mesa) to the
left and front of Bear Mountain.

717
An aerial survey view (west toward top of photo) taken by the Air Force in 1956, with the land occupied by the
National Bureau of Standards centered in the photo. Broadway stretches diagonally across the view from center on
right to the lower left corner. The Radio Building, with four wings, is adjacent to and above Broadway to the right
of center. At top are the Flatirons as they appear looking down from a high altitude, appearing quite differently
from a viewpoint at ground level. Baseline Road, which straddles the 40th parallel, is the vertical line to the right
of the Radio Building.

d) Campus features and peripheral facilities

With the passage of time, other buildings and features began to dot the "campus" of the
Boulder Laboratories. The last major building to be constructed on the Boulder site was the
Plasma Physics Building, completed in 1967. The building was designed at a time when the
plasma physics projects were in an accelerating stage of activity. In 1967 the 10-story (with
laboratory wing) JILA building on the University of Colorado campus was dedicated. The
Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) was established in 1962 as a cooperative
institute of the University of Colorado and the National Bureau of Standards (see ch. XV,
pp. 627-631).

718
 Further development of the Boulder campus on a large scale has never come to
fruition —
that of a new Radio Standards Laboratory building, a central functions building,
and other large structures. Although the planning phase was essentially completed, no
appropriation was made by Congress for the construction of the first units (see ch. X, pp.
355-356). However a Campus Development Plan was delivered by the architects and
38
engineers in 1963.
In 1958 the roads and driveways on the campus were assigned names after Nobel Prize
winners in physics. The roster of names included: Anderson, Appleton, Compton, Curie,
39,40
Kusch, Lawrence, Marconi, Millikan, and Wilson.
For a number of years the staff of the Boulder Laboratories believed that the robust-
looking apple tree growing so gracefully near the stone-wall facing of the Library of the
11
Radio Building was truly a scion of the famous Newton apple tree. But by 1977 the tree
—
became a disillusionment the tree proved to be an ornamental crab apple and not a scion
of the "Pride of Kent" apple tree under which Newton had sat when he first contemplated
42
seriously upon the laws of gravity. Although the tree has been allowed to remain in its
time-honored location, it now has a companion, located close to the stone-and-concrete wall
fronting the nearby Auditorium. This sapling, purported to be a true descendant of the
original Newton apple tree, was planted in the spring of 1978, with the hope that someday it
43
will bear "Newton apples" of the variety of the Pride of Kent.
Other plantings at the Radio Building since construction are the "outside" and "inside"
groups of plants at the lobby entrance. The inside group, surrounded on three sides by glass,
consists of less hardy plants that do not withstand the winter temperatures of Boulder.
Many of the plants are "natives" from the Gardens of the Blue Ridge (a commercial plant
nursery) in North Carolina and were procured by S. W. J. Welch.

38
National Bureau of Standards, Boulder, Colo., Campus Development Plan. See U.S. Department of Commerce
Boulder Laboratories Library Ref. Q183.H8.
39
In amemorandum, dated November 17, 1952, to Paul S. Ballif (then in charge of facilities at NBS Boulder), John
L. Swinnerton, chief of Engineering and Drafting Office, Plant Division, stated, in part:

The naming of streets after Nobel Prize winners in the physical sciences is a suggestion for your
consideration.

Surprisingly, an extensive search of NBS Boulder records has not yielded information on how the choice was
made of naming streets on the Bureau grounds after Nobel Prize winners, nor does anyone seem to know when the
first signs were erected (the best estimate is 1958).
40
Of the nine names Appleton and Marconi had been awarded Nobel Prizes for work in radio. Kusch was a
selected,
consultant to the NBS
on the atomic clock program during the period 1948-1955 (see ch. VIII, p. 299).
Two men, Walter H. Brattain and Charles Townes, associated with NBS in the past, had also been awarded
Nobel Prizes in physics. Townes was a consultant to NBS on the atomic clock program during the period 1948-1955
(see ch. VIII, p. 298). Brattain was a staff member of the former Radio Section during the period 1928-1929 (see ch.
VIII, p. 253).

Author's (WFS) note: These two NBS-related Nobel Prize winners would be fitting selections for naming new roads
on the Boulder campus.
41
The story of the apple tree in relation to Newton's contemplation on the laws of gravity upon seeing an apple fall
from the tree has been a matter of considerable discussion and writing since the event of 1665 or 1666. The first
telling of the story in print is usually credited to the French philosopher, Voltaire, in a book that he published in
1727. However, the story was told directly by Newton to William Stukeley on April 15, 1726, who noted the
historical event of the falling apple in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton 's Life.
42
In 1977 Deloris (Dee) Belsher of the Program Information Office (Boulder Laboratories) suspected that the
"Newton apple tree" was not a true scion of the original. Considerable research led to the conclusion that her
suspicions were, indeed, correct —
the tree could not have descended from the original Newton apple tree for it was
not bearing apples of the Pride of Kent variety, but crab apples. Mrs. Belsher submitted an account of her findings
to the Boulder Laboratories Suggestion Program, for which she received a monetary award and a Certificate of
Award for a valuable suggestion. Her suggestion led to the planting of a tree that could be accepted as a true scion
of the original Newton apple tree.
43
The Newton apple comes from a long line of
tree planted at the Boulder Laboratories in the spring of 1978
descendants from the original tree at Newton's birthplace and country home, Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham
—
in southwestern Lincolnshire an account of lineage too detailed to be given here.

719
 BOULDER SITE PLAN
RADIO BUILDING
CRYOGENIC BUILDING
LIOUEFIER BUILDING
CAMCO BUILDING
BUILDING No 5
CRYOGENIC MESA TEST SITE BUILDING
GAS METER BUILDING
GREEN MTN ANTENNA BUILDING
VERTICAL INCIDENCE TRAINING BUILDING
CRYOGENIC TEST AREA
FIELD STRENGTH CALIBRATION BUILDING
HYDROGEN STORAGE TANKS
TUBE TANKS (HYDROGEN) STORAGE
MAINTENANCE GARAGE BUILDING
WAREHOUSE
PLASMA PHYSICS BUILDING
BUILDING No 25
GROUND SCANNER SITE
HIGH FREOUENCY FIELD SITE
MICRO WAVE ANTENNA RANGE

U S, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
mnom bureau or standards
BOULDER LABORATORIES

Site plan (1972) of theBoulder Laboratories. No buildings of significance have been added since 1972. Orientation of
the Radio Building, the largest building on the 217-acre site, is such that the central spine connecting the six
wings is at an angle of 37° 37' east of north.

720
A 1973 view to southwest from helicopter over Highland Park subdivision east of Broadway (across lowest portion of
photo).Spread across the middle portion of photo can be seen nearly the entire tract of the 217 acres of land on
which have been constructed a number of buildings of the National Bureau of Standards at Boulder, Colo. In the
foreground is the large Radio Building with six wings extending from the central spine.
Take interest, I implore you, in those sacred dwellings which one designates by the expressive term:
laboratories. Demand that they be multiplied, that they be adorned. These are the temples of the
future — temples of well being and of happiness. There it is that humanity grows greater, stronger,
better.

Louis Pasteur

The Flatiron Mountains form a dramatic backdrop to the scene, with Bear Peak at left and Green Mountain at
right.At the base of Bear Peak can be seen the buildings of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, high on
a mesa (Table Mesa) overlooking the southern area of Boulder.

The Boulder region is well suited for field sites of a variety of terrain for the study of
radiowave propagation. "Where the plains meet the mountains" offers nearly all
geographical features but an ocean, plus an agreeable climate, if one overlooks the
occasional strong (and sometimes very strong) winds. The first occupied site was in June
1950, on Cheyenne Mountain, southwest of Colorado Springs. One transmitter site was just
below the summit of 9445 feet above sea level, another site was located about halfway up the
precipitous east face of the mountain. The Great Plains extend for hundreds of miles to the
east. This location was well suited as a site to simulate radio communication between
aircraft and ground at distances out to several hundred miles on the plains. A series of five
field sites extending to the east into Kansas provided for reception of radio signals from the
Cheyenne Mountain transmitters. Mobile units operated out to 600 miles. The field site at
Haswell, in eastern Colorado, was later fitted with special transmitters for several
tropospheric propagation projects. (See ch. XII.)
By 1952 two tracts of land near Boulder were leased for special radio studies, an 80-acre
tract 7 miles east, and a 100-acre tract on Gunbarrel Hill northeast of Boulder. Three giant
Wurzburg "dish" antennas or radio telescopes were erected on the latter tract for study of

721
radio emission from the Sun. Later, in 1961, came the acquisition of 1800 acres, north of
Boulder, to be known as the Table Mountain Field Site. The major portion of this butte is
very flat and is uniquely suited for many radio experiments. To maintain quiet conditions,
no radio transmissions are conducted at the site.

Table Mountain Field Site

Aerial view (toward the west southwest) of Table Mountain, located north of Boulder, Colo, about 11 1/2 miles from
the Boulder Laboratories. This area of 1800 acres, elevated above the surrounding terrain, has a uniform 2 percent
slope.It has been used since 1954 (acquired in 1961), first by NBS and now by ITS (Institute for
Telecommunication Sciences), solely as a receiving site and is admirably suited for many propagation and other
radio research projects.

The Green Mountain mesa at the rear (toward the foothills) of the 217-acre campus has
been used primarily for antenna studies. The grounds of the campus as a whole have been
used for antenna installations, both transmitting and receiving, since the time the tract of
land became NBS property. The roof of the Radio Building has served as the mounting
platform for many types of antennas.
Other field sites located in the vicinity of Boulder have been that at Sunset, in Four-mile
Canyon, northwest of Boulder, used for transmission of a standard frequency at 20 kHz (see ch.
VIII, p. 278); and at Fritz Peak near the Peak-to-Peak Highway south of Rollinsville, used for
observing night airglow (see ch. XI, pp. 466-469). At a further distance from Boulder is the
location of the time and frequency broadcast stations WWV, WWVB, and WWVL near Ft.
Collins, Colo, (see ch. VIII). Not to be overlooked in noting are the many field sites and field
stations scattered in this country and in various parts of the world and operated by the CRPL
from the time of World War II to 1965, and some to continue operation by ESSA, and later by
NOAA and the ITS.
722
5. The migration to Boulder
a) THE VANGUARD
Ifthe question were asked, "Who led the migration from NBS Washington to NBS
Boulder?" —
the answer could well be "Ed Condon." Without much doubt, the selection of
Boulder, Colo, as the new location for CRPL operations can be traced back to a point in time
of a "beginning" with Dr. Condon's visit to Idaho Springs, Colo, in the early summer of 1949
(see pp. 706-708). This visit headed the vanguard to the CRPL staffs migration in 1954.
Thereafter, Condon made a number of visits to Boulder and in 1963 took up residence in the
city when he joined the teaching staff of the University of Colorado. On several occasions
before 1954 Condon had the opportunity of speaking before Boulder organizations on
subjects relating to the NBS.
On the day following the announcement of December 15, 1949, by Secretary of
Commerce Sawyer that Boulder, Colo, had been selected for the site of the proposed radio
propagation laboratory, the Site Selection Board visited Boulder and the selected location.
Thereafter, for a period of time, each of the members of the Board (Smith, McNish, Norton,
and Welch) had specific needs to visit Boulder as a representative of the CRPL or the
Government.
In the spring of 1950 the Cheyenne Mountain project of studying tropospheric
propagation was set up at Colorado Springs and the first transfer of a CRPL staff member
44
from Washington to Colorado was initiated. On May 24, 1950, Condon announced at a
Washington meeting that between 250 and 350 NBS employees would be transferred to
Boulder in about 2 years (the 2 years became 4 years).
On March 8, 1951, the first of several memoranda was circulated in the division relating
to the move to Boulder. A contract had just previously been awarded by the Public Buildings
Service for a design of the new building, with the expectancy that the division could be
moved during the fall of 1953. A memorandum a year later was circulated to ease the minds
of CRPL staff members on problems of housing in Boulder caused by "uneasiness and
restlessness on the part of a large number of staff members." The memo stated that the
Boulder Chamber of Commerce and other groups were trying "to arrive at a satisfactory
solution of the housing problem before it is (was) necessary for personnel to transfer."
It was not until the spring of 1951 that the first transfer was made to Boulder. On May

22, 1951, Jessie B. Berkley arrived in Boulder to take up duties as the liaison officer to assist
40
in the transfer of CRPL staff members. Mrs. Berkley had been chief of the Operations
Section of the Personnel Division. A month later Kenneth A. Norton, assistant chief of the
CRPL, transferred to Boulder to take charge of all CRPL operations in Colorado. Following
Norton, in July, Jack Herbstreit transferred to take charge of the tropospheric projects as
46
chief of the Tropospheric Propagation Research Section.
Gradually the ranks of the Boulder staff began to be filled in, both by transfers from
Washington and by recruitment in Colorado. The migration from Washington continued at
a slow rate, not getting into full swing until 1954. Early in August 1952 Paul S. Ballif, chief
of the Shops Division, transferred to Boulder to become chief of the Facilities Division. In
April 1953 Barton F. Betts transferred to take charge of the "Central Office" for matters
relating to personnel, procurement, information, and other operations.

44
The first CRPL staff member to transfer or "migrate" from NBS Washington to Colorado was Arthur J. Estin,
formerly of the Ionospheric Research Section, who joined the tropospheric group being stationed at the facility on
Cheyenne Mountain southwest of Colorado Springs. This transfer occurred in April 1950, about 4 months after
Boulder was selected as the future location for the laboratories of the CRPL.
40
Years later, Mrs. Berkley was placed in charge of management planning for the Boulder Laboratories. In 1965
she received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Meritorious Service "for extreme competence in
performance of official duties over a long period of time."
4b
By late spring of 1951 a large portion of the Tropospheric Propagation Research Section had moved to Boulder,
occupying the Colorado National Guard Radar Armory. Field operations were carried on at the Cheyenne
Mountain field station and elsewhere.

723
 In February 1954 Dr. Frederick W. Brown, technical director of the Naval Ordnance
47,48
Test Station, Inyokern, Calif., was appointed director of the Boulder Laboratories. At the
same time Dr. Ralph J. Slutz, was appointed an assistant chief of the CRPL, to be
transferred to Boulder. S. W. J. Welch rejoined the CRPL in April as the executive officer of
the Boulder Laboratories, having been with the NBS Missile Development Division in
Corona, Calif, since 1951. The vanguard had moved into Boulder over a period of several
years. In May 1954 the migration of the CRPL staff was in full swing toward Boulder, to
continue through the summer.

b) Preparations for the migration

Within the CRPL several committees were set up to cope with the many problems of
moving a large NBS division across the country for a distance of 1800 miles. It was a
logistics project of considerable magnitude. A Steering Committee gave guidance to
subcommittees. Among the subcommittees was the CRPL Resettlement Committee of 10
staff members under the chairmanship of Eldred C. Wolzien of the High Frequency
Standards Section. Formed in July 1953, the committee was in action until after the move to
Boulder during 1954. The committee performed in areas such as: assembling and
maintaining a library of information on Boulder and Boulder real estate, gathering
information on Government moving regulations and on moving companies, a survey to
indicate the added load to the Boulder school system, up-to-the-minute information on
temporary housing, and other information associated with moving a large group of workers
and their families. The committee, as well as the CRPL, had the benefit of a Boulder
Chamber of Commerce group, known as the Boulder Liaison Committee, that kept the CRPL
informed on may subjects relating to the move to Boulder.
On October 27, 1953, Dr. Astin, director of NBS, addressed the "Washington staff of
49
the CRPL on the move to Boulder. Astin took the opportunity of discussing "two very
major factors leading to possible uncertainty about the future of Division 14, and ... to
dispel any unfounded rumors and give assurance the Division has a very solid and
. . .

50
substantial future."

NBS Administrative Bulletin No. 54-9 of February 26, 1954, stated, in part:

Dr. Frederick W. Brown appointed Director of the Boulder Laboratories of the National
is

Bureau of Standards. He development, and standards programs of the

will direct the research,
NBS Central Radio Propagation and the NBS-AEC Cryogenic Engineering Laboratories, and the
Boulder Facilities Division.

Mr. Samuel W. J. Welch is appointed Executive Officer of the Boulder Laboratories of the
National Bureau of Standards, where he will serve as the principal administrative assistant to
Dr. Brown. . . .

48
Dr. Newbern Smith, chief of the be relieved of his duties as chief and serve as a
CRPL, had requested to
consultant, and later resigned from NBS with the University of Michigan. For a period of
in 1954 to take a position
time Dr. Robert D. Huntoon (associate director for physics) served as acting chief of the CRPL; to be followed by Dr.
Wallace R. Brode (associate director for chemistry) as acting chief until the arrival of Dr. Brown in June 1954.
49
Condon had resigned from NBS on September 30, 1951, with Dr. Allen V. Astin becoming the acting director until
named director on May 30. 1952 (date confirmed by Senate).
50
The "two major factors" were the projected move to Boulder, and the question of a permanent division chief. As
"facts" on the move to Boulder, Astin stated:

. . . The move is definitely going ahead, there is no good reason for changing these long-
established plans to move the radio laboratory. Furthermore the move of the Division to Boulder
has the and complete endorsement of the Kelly Committee. One of the findings of this
full
Committee that the planned move to Boulder is a wise one and should increase the
is

effectiveness of the CRPL. The move to Boulder has many advantages, the primary one being
that there will be available a finenew laboratory building. When we get into it, Division 14
should become the best equipped and housed laboratory in the Bureau, instead of the worst."

As to the future of the CRPL itself, I think the Kelly Committee report, if its recommendations
are carried out, provides a very positive assurance on a strong sound future for the Laboratory.
The report recognizes that the activity is a very appropriate function of the Bureau.

724
 In his remarks, Astin noted the cooperative efforts of the Boulder community in
preparing for the large influx of new residents. Six months later, in April 1954, 36 citizens,
representing the Boulder community, made a "Good Neighbor Trip" to Washington, D.C. to
visit the Bureau and to meet many of the staff members who were being assigned to the
Boulder facility. It was a timely visit by the CRPL's fellow-townsmen-to-be, for within
several weeks the westward migration was underway.

C) THE "MOVING DAY" OF MANY WEEKS

"Moving day" in Boulder for transportation of equipment from the North Site (Radar
Armory) to the South Site (Radio Building) began on April 29, 1954, with the operation
accomplished in about a week's time. In contrast, the "moving day" for the Washington-to-
Boulder operation began on about the same date but continued until late summer. A total of
52 large moving vans was required for this operation, the total weight of laboratory
equipment reaching 512 metric tons. O. Russell Dallman, of the Supply Division (NBS
Washington), coordinated the moving operation and chose to transfer to the Boulder
Laboratories. Packing of some of the laboratory equipment taxed the skill of the movers.
Taking no chances with commercial movers, the four quartz crystals of the National
Primary Frequency and Time Standard were hand carried by Bureau personnel to and from
the Washington and Denver airports, and relied upon air transportation between the two
cities (see ch. VIII, p. 275).

d) THE BIG "MIGRATION"

By the spring of 1954 the vanguard of NBS staff members transferring to Boulder had
totaled over 30 from the CRPL and other divisions (largely from the Shops Division) at NBS
Washington. By early May the migration west came into full swing and continued
throughout the summer. The Regular Propagation Services Section completed its transfer in
May, the first to be reestablished in the move westward. It was not until September that the
Microwave Standards Section completed its transfer, bringing up the "rear guard," but with
a few stragglers transferring as late as November. By the time of the dedication (September
14) of the new radio building, the staff totaled 466, including the 101 employees stationed at
field stations in various parts of the world. Of the total of 466 persons, 396 were assigned to
the 3 divisions of the CRPL and the Administration Division, the remaining 70 forming the
Cryogenic Engineering Division.
The year 1954 was the year of the "long, hot summer." The all-time heat records were
broken that summer (to the present time of 1976) for two of the mid-continent states, and
the records were nearly broken for several other states. 01 Even Boulder did not escape; the
all-time record of 104 °F was reached on June 24 and again on July 11. Travel by automobile
across the Mississippi Valley was an ordeal on occasion, during the summer. The "migrants"
who chose plane or train transportation escaped the "ordeal by heat." The new residents of
Boulder found it to be a hot and parched land during the early fall of 1954. Dust storms

(Continued)

There is further evidence of the interest of the town of Boulder in your coming there. The
Boulder Daily Camera probably gave the Kelly Committee report the best press notices of any
paper in the United States. Since two areas of the report dealt with the activities at
. . .

Boulder, the Cryogenics Laboratory and the CRPL, the newspaper had considerable opportunity
to point with pride at local achievement. I think this is indicative of the sort of treatment you
will get from the Boulder community when you are living there.

*The Kelly Committee was an ad hoc committee appointed by the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate the
functions and operations of NBS in relation to the current national needs. It was under the direction of Dr. Mervin
J. Kelly, director of the Bell Telephone Laboratories. The Committee, an outgrowth of the AD-X2 (battery additive)
controversy, made its formal report on October 15, 1953 (see Cochrane, Measures for Progress, pp. 495-500).
01
The Missouri record of 118 °F was reached on July 14, 1954, and the Illinois record of 117 °F on the same date.

725
were a new experience to some. But it is reasonably safe to say that all were enchanted by
52
the beautiful mountain setting that was to be their new home.

6. Dedication of the Boulder Laboratories

a) Preparations for a big event
of the summer of 1954 the CRPL was housed in its new building 8 years
By the end —
after found need for larger quarters. The NBS was proud of its new facilities and it
it

became fitting that the Boulder Laboratories should be dedicated with a considerable degree
of formality. To meet up with the occasion the organization of committees began in early
June, with Dr. Brown, director of the Boulder Laboratories, heading the all-important
53
Dedication Program Committee. In total, 10 committees were set into motion to plan for
and steer a series of events that were set for a week in September 1954. Charles L. Bragaw
of the Office of Scientific Publications, NBS Washington, was designated to coordinate the
entire program and came to Boulder early in August.
From the beginning of the planning there was the choice and hope that President
Eisenhower would head the list of dignitaries invited to the ceremonies and that the
President would give the dedication address. Eisenhower had a great love for Colorado and
selected the state for summer vacations. For recreation he chose trout fishing in the streams
of the Fraser River system on the Western Slope. Public announcement was made on
August 25 that the President had accepted to take part in the dedication ceremony on
September 14. Never before had Boulder been visited by an incumbent President.

b) Scientific conferences come to the Boulder Laboratories

Thoughtful planning of introducing the Boulder Laboratories to selected segments of
national scientific and technological fields resulted in the staging of conferences on
54
cryogenic engineering and on radio propagation and standards. These two conferences
were held simultaneously, during the period of September 8-10, as an introduction to the
dedication event on September 14. The Cryogenic Engineering Conference was the first of its
kind held on a national scale and was the predecessor of many to follow in later years. A
number of persons, both within NBS and outside, who were well known in various
specialized fields of cryogenic engineering and radio were invited to chair the many sessions
of the two conferences. In total, 151 invited and contributed papers filled the 3-day
55
conferences.

52
Near the end of the calendar year 1955 the Boulder Chamber of Commerce requested the NBS Boulder
Laboratories to conduct a survey on the employees "on how BL personnel liked Boulder." The questionnaire was
based upon items relating to advantages and disadvantages of living in Boulder. Of 75 replies returned on 450
questionnaires, the result was summarized as 41 favorable to Boulder, 21 neutral, and 13 unfavorable. Very high in
ratings in the categories listed under advantages was Boulder's climate and location (natural beauty, mountains,
etc.). High in ratings in the categories listed under disadvantages were Boulder's poor streets and its high prices.

Poor climate was given a very low rating.

(The detailed listing was recorded in the minutes of the December 1, 1955, meeting of the Boulder Laboratories'
Management Council.)
53
Other members of the Dedication Program Committee were:
S. W. J. Welch, executive officer, Boulder Laboratories
R. C. Peavey, Washington liaison officer, Boulder Laboratories
F. W. Reich, manager, Boulder Chamber of Commerce
F. A. Rohrman, director of engineering, experiment station, University of Colorado
R. Hislop, assistant business manager, University of Colorado
54
Three co-chairmen served as the Scientific Program Committee, namely: M. M. Reynolds, representing the
Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory (CEL); and T. N. Gautier and J. W. Herbstreit, representing the CRPL. B. W.
Birmingham of the CEL was chairman of the Scientific Sessions Committee.
55
F. G. Brickwedde, chief of the Heat and Power Division of NBS, and well known in the field of cryogenics,
presented an invited paper on the beginnings of cryogenic engineering at the Boulder Laboratories. Others of NBS
presented papers on new developn ,s in cryogenics at NBS.

George C. Southworth, of the Bell Telephone Laboratories and a member of the Radio Section of NBS in 1917-
1918, presented an invited paper on "Early History of Radio Astronomy." In a session of invited papers on radio
subjects, the speakers were: W. R. Hewlett, president of the IRE; Merle A. Tuve, Carnegie Institution of
Washington, and developer along with Gregory Breit (NBS, 1918-1921) of ionosphere sounding by radio pulses;
James C. W. Scott of the Defence Research Board (Canada); Walter O. Roberts, director of the High Altitude

726
 Other scheduled events occupied the conferees, NBS staff members, and visitors during
56
the week preceding the dedication event.

c) President Eisenhower dedicates the Boulder Laboratories

Two events that had special appeal to people of the Boulder region accompanied the
dedication of the Boulder Laboratories. On several days preceding the "big event" was "open
house" for the several laboratory buildings. People were given the opportunity to view the
laboratory interiors and the scientific equipment used for radio research. At last, after
several years of anticipation, they could see the "inner works" of the new structures located
at the south edge of Boulder. The second event was the unveiling of an aluminum plaque at

Observatory of Harvard University and the University of Colorado at Climax, Colo.; and C. H. Townes, Columbia
University, consultant to NBS in microwave spectroscopy; indeed, a selection of talented men in their respective
fields.
Dr. Donald H. Menzel, director of the Harvard College Observatory and one of the three "influential boosters"
of Boulder for the new NBS site (see p. 706) presented a semi-popular lecture as an evening event on the subject,
"The Sun and Radio Communications."
06
Several field trips were made available to visitors during the conference and dedication week including: the
Cheyenne Mountain Field Station, the Climax High Altitude Laboratory, and the Inter-University High Altitude
Laboratories on Mt. Evans and at Echo Lake.
Social events of the week included: a chuckwagon dinner on Flagstaff Mountain, a conference banquet at the
University of Colorado Memorial Center, and special events and trips as a part of the family programs.
The conference banquet on the evening of September 9 was of special significance. Dr. J. D. Gillaspie, mayor of
Boulder, served as the toastmaster for the evening. Attending, by invitation, were dignitaries of Federal, State, and
local governments; also the presidents of Colorado universities and colleges, each of whom extended greetings to the
Boulder Laboratories. Of particular interest to the CRPL staff members was the reading by W. D. George (chief of
the High Frequency Standards Section) of two letters, one from J. Howard Dellinger (former chief of the CRPL), the
other from Newbern Smith (also, former chief of the CRPL, following Dellinger). Neither of the two men found it
possible to attend the banquet and dedication events.
Interesting statements in Dellinger's letter were:

... I saw the Bureau's radio laboratory grow from a one-man concern in 1911 to a 250-person
organization when I retired from it in 1948.

Even a summary of these years of growth would fill a large book. I think the word I should give

you at this time one of appreciation for opportunity; the opportunity which I shared and which
is

is certainly available to the present and future workers in the Boulder Laboratories.

To the scientist these days, any scientist, is given great opportunity . . .

Not only the scientists but all the participants in the work of the National Bureau of Standards
can have this satisfaction of sharing in an enterprise of undoubted good to humanity. . . .

Of all the Bureau's work, it is in our own field of radio-electronics-telecommunication that the
opportunity is and has been maximum.

The members of this laboratory are fortunate not only in that its principal field is one of such
dynamic progress, but also in that its work is on the more basic aspects of the field. Radio
standards and propagation research are fundamental to all radio work and to much of
electronics and telecommunication.

I have emphasized that we who work or have worked in the Bureau and in this particular
laboratory, looking outupon the world, find ourselves among the more fortunate of people. The
world, looking at us, is entitled to find that we realize our privilege and that we have the
humility and the good will of workers in behalf of mankind. (Radio File, R005.3d)
. . .

Among the interesting comments in his letter, Newbern Smith said:

When entered the Bureau in 1935 the "wave propagation group" of the Radio Section consisted
I

The propagation studies themselves consisted largely of manual

of three persons besides myself.
ionosphere sweep measurements on one day a week, and some field strength recordings. . . .

The recognition and encouragement of the Bureau's work on radio propagation was mostly due
to Dr. Dellinger, the Chief of the Radio Section, whose long experience in frequency allocation

727
the lobby entrance of the Radio Building, upon which were inscribed the names of
37
contributors to the fund for purchase of the 217-acre site.
At the request of the Presidential party, made quite in advance of the visit to Boulder,
it was necessary to maintain a very tight schedule (on a minute-to-minute basis) in timing

the laboratory tour and the dedication ceremony. "Trial runs" were made to determine the
timing of laboratory visits by the Presidential party. The tour was limited to the Cryogenic
Liquefier Building (Bldg. A) and the Radio Building, with complete tour limited to but 26
minutes including photography. At 10:35 on the morning of Tuesday, September 14, 1954,
President Eisenhower mounted the wooden platform built over the flower bed and side walk
at the main entrance to the Radio Building. The President was greeted by a crowd of about
10,000 (some estimates were less) in a hot September Sun and to the martial strains of "Hail
58
to the Chief by the Lowry Air Force Base Band.
Dr. Brown, director of the Boulder Laboratories, introduced Sinclair Weeks, Secretary
of Commerce, who, in turn, introduced Rev. A. E. Ostlund, president of the Boulder
Ministerial Alliance, for the invocation. Secretary Weeks then introduced Dr. Astin, director
of NBS, whose remarks touched upon the NBS facilities in Boulder. Then Secretary Weeks
introduced the President of the United States. At several places in his prepared address
President Eisenhower added remarks that, on the spur of the moment, fit the occasion (his
61
verbatim address of 14-minutes length is given below). 59 The large-lettered headline to the
"

front page of the Boulder Daily Camera (September 14) stated: "Ike Hails Vast Importance
of Boulder Laboratories."

(Continued)

and utilization led him to appreciate the benefits which would accrue to all users of radio from
the acquisition and use of radio propagation information. . . .

From four persons in 1935, the Bureau's propagation group grew to 80 by the end of the
war. . . .

With establishment in the fine new laboratory at Boulder, the radio work of the Bureau
its

enters a era. I am sure that the new CRPL will continue to forge ahead on the forefront of
new
—
progress in radio science and in radio engineering from the frontier of microwave techniques to
—
the frontier of radio signals from distant galaxies in the vital fields of radio spectrum
conservation and utilization. (Radio File R005.3e)

Although Dr. E. U. Condon, former director of NBS, was scheduled to give some remarks at the banquet
session,last-moment circumstances prevented his coming to Boulder. Dr. A. V. Astin closed the session with a
response to other speakers and with summary statements of events at the Boulder Laboratories.
57
This ceremony was in the morning of the day (September 13) preceding the dedication, with unveiling of the
plaque by James J. Yeager, chairman of the Boulder Laboratory Campaign. The aluminum plaque was prepared by
NBS Washington. All persons, organizations, and business firms that contributed to the Campaign Fund in
amounts of $100 ($100 equivalent to 1/4 acre) or more were listed on the plaque.
08
Comments on the front page of the Boulder Daily Camera of September 14 stated:

Only a few clouds were in the sky, and the throng broiled in the sun.

Two women fainted and were taken to a first aid tent on the grounds. . . .

Boulder schools were dismissed for the morning. . . .

The area was well filled by 9 a.m. and jammed an hour later.

Eight motion picture cameras — representing

newsreel companies and four major television
networks — were lined up on a platform facing the presidential platform.
Newspaper cameras by the dozen and private individual's cameras by the hundreds were in
evidence.
°9
Seated on the platform with Eisenhower, Brown, Weeks, Ostlund, and Astin were:

James C. Worthy, Assistant Secretary of Commerce

Dan Thornton, Governor of Colorado
Gordon Governor of Colorado
Allott, Lt.
Cliff Clevenger, Congressman from Ohio
William S. Hill, Congressman from Colorado (Ft. Collins)
Byron G. Rogers. Congressman from Colorado (Denver)
Don Brotzman, State Senator, Colorado
Quigg Newton, Mayor of Denver
Dr. John Gillaspie, Mayor of Boulder
Dr. Ward Darley, President, University of Colorado

728
 —

(Continued)

Dr. Donald Menzel, Director of Harvard College Observatory

Dr. Robert Huntoon, Associate Director for Physics, NBS
Nicholas Golovin, Associate Director for Administration, NBS
60
From Eisenhower's address:

Mr. Secretary, Dr. Astin, My Friends: For the past 30 minutes or so, I have had the great
privilege of a personally conducted tour through certain of the facilities of these new
laboratories.

Now, the things that the layman sees in these laboratories are not to be understood by him. He
grasps, though, that something of the most tremendous significance is proceeding here
significant not only to the scientist, to industry, or to the facility that may use the products of
that science and the discoveries which the scientist makes, but significant also to our Nation and
to each of us, to our children, to the progress toward security and prosperity that each of us so
desperately longs for.

It seemed to went through with Dr. Astin, that here we have a new type of frontier. This
me, as I

spot only a few short decades ago was inhabited by Indians and by buffalo, and, later, by
trappers and miners. It became the center of a great mining and agricultural region, which has
meant so much to the United States in the past and indeed does now. —
But the frontier days when we could go out and discover new land new wonders of geography —
—
and of nature have seemed largely in the past. Here today, inside this building, we have a
frontier of possibly even greater romantic value, as well as greater material value to us, than
were some of the discoveries of those days.
Another thought came to me as I went through these laboratories. In recent years, scientists
have produced so much that terrifies us with its destructive force, that we begin to think of
science as only something to destroy man, and not to promote his welfare, his happiness, his
—
contentment his intellectual and spiritual growth.
But I we think of it this way, we will drop such thoughts from our minds: Almost
believe, if
everything that man has discovered in his long, long journey from darkness toward the light has
been capable of two uses; one good, one evil.
Way back, long before history was started, man discovered fire, and without fire we wouldn't be
warm, we couldn't cook — we would still be in the depths of savagery.

Yet look how destructively fire can operate.

Again, take dynamite. We think of dynamite as a weapon of war, yet how much of it has been
used in hills here, in the great lead, zinc, silver, and gold mines that have made Colorado famous
and rich.

I submit that every discovery of science can be used in one of two ways. It is not the fault of
science, if it is used wickedly. It is within ourselves.

And therefore, in the words ofhim who gave our invocation, possibly each one of us is a
laboratory, to discover what we can contribute toward the growth of that kind of spirit among
men that will make all of the discoveries of these dedicated scientists become assets to us, as we
try to develop for ourselves and our children a better life, a richer life, one that gives us more
opportunity to grow intellectually and spiritually.

then, in those terms that we should look on the growth of science, as we think of the men
It is,

laboring in this building, of the scientists in our universities, in the National Bureau of
Standards in Washington — in the great laboratories and factories of our Nation.
And I each one of us does his part, then we will steadily go down the ages as a
think that if

people more prosperous, more happy, more secure, more confident in peace.

Now me as I walked through these buildings. We believe

those are the thoughts that occurred to
this region of the United States is fortunate in having this facility here, to remind you day by
day, and so that you may, at least in a sense, become a part of some of the great discoveries that
will be so useful to mankind —
now, and through all the years yet to come.
I have now two little duties to perform. The first, most pleasurable, is to thank you — each of
—
you for your welcome to me, for the cordiality of your reception.
The second is that I am privileged to push a button— of course, this dedication must be
scientifically done — you couldn't do it by just pulling a cord. When I push this button, I am told
that I am going to release a veil over the cornerstone.

In so doing, it is my high privilege to dedicate this facility of the National Bureau of Standards
to the welfare of humanity — in America and throughout the world.

President Eisenhower's remarks were published in the November 1954 issue of the Technical News Bulletin of
61

NBS, p. 165 (Vol. 38, No. 11). The report of eight pages (164-171) gives a rather detailed account of the Boulder

Laboratories and the events associated with the dedication.

729
The Dedication ceremony (September 14, 19541 of the Boulder Laboratories is opened by Dr. Frederick W. Brown,
director, who introduced Sinclair Weeks, Secretary of Commerce. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is to the left of
the speaker's podium, and Secretary Weeks to the left of the President.
Newspaper and magazine reporters are in foreground. Motion-picture cameras of newsreel companies and
television networks are out of the picture, being located at some distance in front of the platform.

730
In closing his remarks at the Dedication, President Eisenhower pushed a button with his right hand to unveil the
cornerstone of the Radio Building, and then declared,

. . . it is my privilege to dedicate this facility of the National Bureau of Standards to the welfare of
humanity — in America and throughout the world.

731
 As Eisenhower pronounced the statement of dedication he pushed a button that
62,63
unveiled the cornerstone to the Radio Building.
The National Anthem by the band closed the program and at 11:01 President
Eisenhower left the platform and walked to a waiting car. 64,65

h2
The cornerstone had been placed in position without ceremony several months before the dedication. In actuality,
the "cornerstone" is not a block of stone that was laid at a corner of the Radio Building, but is a slab of granite set
in the stone wall near the lobby entrance. Engraved on the slab are the names of high Government officials, and
architects and builders of the Radio Building. Sealed behind the slab in a container are 15 publications and
documents on radio work at NBS. A listing of these publications and documents is in the Department of Commerce
Library, Boulder, Colo., under the catalog number QC661,U5.
63
Unknown but to only a few, was an emergency system to unveil the cornerstone in case of malfunction of the
electrical system. Lloyd Burroughs of the Engineering Services Section, and chairman of the dedication Finance
Committee, was "at the ready" to pull a cord in case of an "emergency." Fortunately, his service was not required.
64
As a sequel to the Boulder event the presidential party drove to Brighton, Colo, for inspection of the Great
Western Sugar Co. beet-sugar factory and for a visit to a nearby sugar-beet farm.
60
An ceremony was a luncheon hosted by Dr. Ward Darley, president of the University
after-event of the dedication
of Colorado. About 30 invited guests attended the social event at the president's campus home. Early planning
called for President Eisenhower to attend the luncheon, but deference was in favor of Colorado's sugar-beet
industry.

732
 Chapter XX
L'ENVOI

Introduction
On October 11, 1965, the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory was transferred from
the National Bureau of Standards to join the United States Weather Bureau and the Coast
and Geodetic Survey in a new scientific agency of the Department of Commerce, the
Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA). With the transfer, CRPL lost its
identity as such, after 20 years as an integral part of the National Bureau of Standards, and
was renamed the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy (ITSA). This was
one of four Institutes for Environmental Research in ESSA, the others being Earth Sciences,
1
Oceanography, and Atmospheric Sciences.
Dr. C. Gordon Little, who had been director of CRPL in NBS, and Jack Herbstreit, who
had been associate director, continued as director and associate director of ITSA after the
transfer.
The transfer of CRPL to ESSA mean a move from
Boulder, because Boulder was
did not
selected as the headquarters for the Institutes ofEnvironmental Research. Neither did it
mean that the National Bureau of Standards was leaving Boulder. Although CRPL
disappeared from the scene, all other units of NBS then in Boulder remained. The Boulder
Laboratories, National Bureau of Standards, thus became the Boulder Laboratories, U.S.
Department of Commerce.
1
Dr. C. Gordon Little, then Director of CRPL, in an article for the 10th Anniversary of the NBS Boulder
Laboratories (September 1964) entitled —
"CRPL The Next Ten Years" [1] wrote, in part,
... To predict the future an organization such as the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
of
is most difficult. A comparison of ten years ago should illustrate
for a period as long as ten years
this point. Who in September 1954 would have predicted that by 1964, CRPL would have doubled
in size, and would have grown to an organization of four technical divisions. ? . .

(See app. C.)

A little more than a year later, Dr. Little wrote, in an article for internal distribution in the Environmental
Science Services Administration (ESSA NEWS, Vol. 1, No. 9, Oct. 19, 1965),

On October 11, the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory was transferred from the National
Bureau of Standards to the Environmental Science Services Administration and acquired a new
name: Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy.
The technical divisions of CRPL were designated laboratories in ITSA.
Dr. Little described in some detail the mission of ITSA and the four laboratory units and then continued,

. . . Not only does the new title more accurately reflect the mission of the organization than its

old title of Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, but it makes for a clearer understanding of its

relationship to its three sister Institutes, the Institute for Earth Sciences, the Institute for
Oceanography, and the Institute for Atmospheric Sciences. Together these four Institutes form
the ESSA Institutes for Environmental Research.

Looking to the future, it expected that the transfer of CRPL into ESSA will improve in
is

important ways its ability meet its mission of enhancing the telecommunication and space-
to
disturbance-forecasting capabilities of the nation. Essentially all of ITSA's programs involve one
or more aspects of man's geophysical environment; it therefore seems clear that ITSA scientists
and engineers should be able to meet their goals more readily than before, because of more
immediate and complete access to the environmental sciences and services available elsewhere
in ESSA. In addition, it is expected that ITSA will contribute in major ways to the vital missions
of other components of ESSA through application of remote probing and other
telecommunication techniques. The creation of a single administration dealing with the solid,
liquid, gaseous, and electromagnetic components of man's geophysical environment offers new
and exciting opportunities for environmental research and services; the staff of ITSA looks
forward to participating effectively in these efforts.

733
734
 The Mission of ESSA
1. Functions of constituent organizations
The Environmental Science Services Administration was created by Presidential Order
words of President Lyndon Johnson,
to provide, in the

a single national focus for our efforts to describe, understand, and predict
the state of the oceans, the state of the lower and upper atmosphere, and
the size and shape of the earth.

Bringing together in one agency all the environmental science service activities of the
Department of Commerce permitted a coordinated attack on many important
environmental problems and challenges facing the Nation. The three constituent
organizations were active in meteorology, seismology, geodesy, geomagnetism, hydrology,
oceanography, telecommunication sciences, aeronomy, and solar physics.

a) Central Radio Propagation Laboratory

The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory brought a research effort dealing principally
with the lower and upper atmosphere, the space environment, and solar physics as they
affect electromagnetic propagation; the national responsibility for issuing warnings in
connection with radio blackouts, for predicting radio wave propagation conditions, and for
forecasting space environment disturbances in support of our growing space activities.

b) Weather Bureau
From the Weather Bureau came the responsibility for studies of the lower atmosphere
and the interface between the air and sea; for forecasts of the weather and warnings of
floods, tornadoes, and blizzards.

c) Coast and Geodetic Survey

The Coast and Geodetic Survey's mission included oceanography, seismology,
geomagnetism, studies of the size and shape of the Earth, the interaction between land and
sea, the Nation's seismic sea wave warning services, preparation of nautical and
aeronautical charts, and basic geodetic controls used in topographic mapping.

NBS AND ESSA SHARE BUILDINGS AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS

1. Buildings

When the NBS radio laboratories moved to Boulder in 1954, one building was sufficient
to house the entire operation. Through the years, as operations expanded, two wings were
added, one for the Electronic Calibration Center (Radio Standards Laboratory), the other for
a computer facility. This building came to be known as the Radio Building. 2
The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy continued to occupy the
space in the Radio Building formerly occupied by CRPL. In December 1965, ground was
broken for a new $600,000 building on the grounds of the Boulder Laboratories. Known as
the Plasma Physics Building, it was planned to house units of both NBS and ITSA, but it
was not designed for large-scale occupancy by either agency.
The move of additional units of the Institutes for Environmental Research (later
reorganized as the ESSA Research Laboratories, contracted to ERL) to Boulder created a
need for larger quarters. Therefore, in 1967 a building on the campus of the University of
Colorado was leased from the University, and a large portion of ITSA moved to this
building, which also housed the headquarters and other units of ERL. In 1969, another move
was made to a larger building on the campus, also leased from the University.

"In the telephone directory of the Boulder Laboratories dated January 1955, the building was designated CRPL.
Beginning with the directory dated January 1956 and thereafter, it has been designated Radio.

735
 )

2. Administrative and support functions

With the formation of ESSA and the designation of Boulder as the headquarters of the
Institutes for Environmental Research, some of the support services which had previously
been provided by the National Bureau of Standards could be shared by the two
organizations. Personnel of those services which were being provided by ESSA were
transferred to ESSA; personnel of those provided by NBS remained in NBS.
Services retained by the National Bureau of Standards were the Instrument Shops; the
Plant Division (including maintenance of buildings and grounds; plant services such as
electricity, plumbing, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning; and custodial); and
Administrative Services Division. Personnel providing these services remained in NBS.
Services provided by the Environmental Science Services Administration included the
Library, Personnel Division, and the computer facility. Personnel in these units were trans-
ferred to ESSA.
Each organization provided its own administrative and management offices.

Epilogue
1. Subsequent changes in ESSA
a ) ESSA Research Laboratories ERL (

In 1967, the ESSA Research Laboratories (ERL) replaced the Institutes for
Environmental Research. Twelve laboratories and one facility were established. One
laboratory retained the designation Institute, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences
(ITS), to maintain continuity as the central Federal agency for research and services in
support of the telecommunication industry of the United States.

b) ITS separated from ESSA

The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) was transferred by a Department
order to theCommerce Department's Office of Telecommunications on September 20, 1970. 3
There were now units of three agencies making up the Boulder Laboratories, Department of
Commerce.
The Office of Telecommunications was elevated to the status of a new operating
component within the Department to meet a wide range of responsibilities for economic and
social analysis, as well as technical research in telecommunications. The purpose of the
transfer of ITS was to broaden the scope of its programs, especially in systems analysis,
engineering, measurement, and standards, and in topics on efficient use of the electrospace
or electromagnetic spectrum.

2. NOAA supersedes ESSA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) came into being on
4
October 3, an Executive Order implementing a major reorganization plan.
1970, through
NOAA brought together the functions and major elements of the Environmental Science

The name of the Office of Telecommunications was changed on March

:t

27, 1978, to National Telecommunications

and Information Administration (NTIA).
4
Secretary of Commerce Maurice H. Stans stated,

The establishment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department
of Commerce marks a significant consolidation of research, exploration, development,
conservation, monitoring, and educational activities as they relate to the oceans and the
atmosphere. The intelligent use of the oceans, which constitute three-fourths of the earth's
surface, is vital .... In many respects we are more familiar with the surface of the moon than
we are with the ocean depths of our own planet. Until now, in spite of sincere efforts,
government has failed to organize itself to meet effectively the challenge and opportunities of
operating in an ocean environment. Instead of 23 departments and agencies of government
competing for various parts of the Federal mission in the ocean and the atmosphere, we will now
have a single agency providing a unified national thrust in delivering on both the promise and
potential of this last great frontier on earth.

736
Services Administration (ESSA) and a group of Federal agencies dealing with marine and
oceanic services. agencies had been previously located in several different
These
departments and services of the Federal Government.
'

Elements of CRPL remaining in NOAA

are included in the Space Environment
Laboratory, the Aeronomy Laboratory, and the Wave Propagation Laboratory, all of the
6
Environmental Research Laboratories, and in the Solar-Terrestrial Physics Division of the
Environmental Data and Information Service.
Many CRPL programs and personnel were carried over into the Institute for
Telecommunication Sciences in ESSA, and later in the Office of Telecommunications (now
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration).
By the time that NOAA
was established, the term "radio" had disappeared from the
organizational structure of the three Department of Commerce agencies on the Boulder
campus. The only remaining use of this term is in identifying the principal building on the
Boulder site as the "Radio Building" (see footnote 2). 7

REFERENCE
[1] C. Gordon Little, "CRPL— The next ten years," Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. News Bull., Vol. 48, No. 9, Sept.
1964, pp. 167-168.

5
Among these agencies were the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, the Marine Game Fish Program, and the Marine
Minerals Technology Center, all of the Department of the Interior; the National Oceanographic Data Center and
the National Oceanographic Instrumentation Center, administered by the U.S. Navy; National Data Buoy
Development Project of the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Transportation; National Sea Grant Program of the
National Science Foundation; and elements of the U.S. Lake Survey of the Army Corps of Engineers.

''
Formerly the ESSA Research Laboratories.

'
term "radio" in an NBS publication was by Austin in 1908 and then again in 1911. Dellinger
Earliest use of the
firstused the term in an NBS publication in 1913 and Kolster in 1914. However, it would be expected that a term
"radio" as a gradual change from "wireless" occurred in less formal usage by Bureau personnel during the early
1900's. It was the trend of the times.

737
 APPENDIX A— To Chapter XVI
Committee Memberships relating to the general subject of radio,
Groups, Professional Societies,
in Technical
and Government Sponsored Committees from the time
of formation of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory,
May 1, 1946, to 1975.*

"Explanatory Notes:

1. Information on the organization sponsor, committee title or function, and name of committee member was
obtained from a variety of sources including:

a. XBS Directories of Committee Membership for 1962, 1969, 1973, and 1975
b. CRPL Quarterly and Annual Reports for 1947, 1950, 1951, and 1952
c. Annual Reports of Boulder Laboratories 1955-1961
d. Other sources including personal interviews

Because of their complexity and the lack of uniformity in preparing the XBS listings, and the author's (WFSi
occasional difficulty in interpreting and cross referencing the listings, some errors and omissions probably exist in
this tabulation.

2. The sponsoring organization is listed at the extreme left-hand margin, followed on an indented lower line by the

committee or parent committee, then by any subsidiary committee's) on a lower line(s), further indented.

3. Regular abbreviations are: Comm, for committee, and SC for subcommittee; C for chairperson. VC for vice-
chairperson, and S for secretary.

4. In listing the names of members of committees the earliest membership is furthest to the left (as early as 1946)
and the latest to the furthest right ias late as 1975). To give the exact span of membership by calendar years would
have been an impossible task from the information available. The position of a member's name in the horizontal
direction gives a very approximate indication of his membership tenure within the 1946-1975 span. Thus, to far left,
would indicate membership in the late 1940s or early 1950 s, to the far right in the 1970 s, in the midsection in the
period between approximately 1950 and 1970.

5. Stacking of names in a vertical direction indicates concurrent, or approximately concurrent membership of two
or more persons on the same committee.

6. Asterisks (*) denote that archival records indicate the existence of membership on a committee but the member's
name was not recorded. This is particularly true in Annual Reports.

7. Committees that were essentially administrative in nature are omitted from this listing, although some of this
nature are noted in chapter XVIII.

Technical and Professional Society Committees

Organization and Committee Committee Membership

Acoustical Society of America

Standards Comm. Biological Effects of Ultrasound T. L. Zapf

Aeronautical Flight Test Radio

Coordinating Council A. Barnabei

American Assoc. of Variable Star Observers

Solar Division A. H. Shapley

American Astronomical Societv F. E. Roach

739
American Geophysical Union

Executive Comm. A. G. McNish A. H. Shapley

Cosmic Terrestrial Relationships A. H. Shapley

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy F. E. Roach

*
Upper Atmosphere Panel F. E. Roach

Planning Comm. on Planetary Science A. H. Shapley

Special Comm. on Time Signal Services W. D. George

American Institute of Electrical

Engineers (later IEEE)

Instruments and Measurements Comm.

SC on Radiation Measurements above H. E. Sorrows
200 Mc/s

SC on High Frequency Measurements H. Lyons, C.

JointComm. on High Frequency

Measurements (with IRE) H. Lyons

Technical Operations Dept.

Standardization of High Precision

Coaxial Connectors H. W. Lance

Communications Division
Broadcasting Comm. K. A. Norton

Instrumentation Division

Fundamental Electrical Standards T. L. Zapf

American Physical Society

American Society for Testing and Materials

Standards on Insulating Materials

Comm. (later D-9 Electrical Insulating
Materials) R. C. Powell

C-21 Ceramic Whitewares and Related

Products

SC B-Nonmetallic Magnetic Materials R. C. Powell

C-25 Ceramics J. L. Dalke J. L. Dalke

H. E. Bussey

SC6, (09) Nonmetallic Magnetic Materials H. E. Bussey J. L. Dalke, C.

J. L. Dalke
D-9/SC 5, Ceramic Properties H. E. Bussey

D-9/SC 12, Electrical Tests H. E. Bussey

Fl, Electronics J. L. Dalke

SC02 Laser Materials R. L. Smith, V. C.
H. S. Boyne
TG Properties of Lasers R. L. Smith

American Standards Assoc. (later,

American National Standards Institute)

C16, Sectional Comm. on Radio

C63, Sectional Comm. on Radio E. L. Hall R. C. Baird
Electrical Coordination F. M. Greene

Radio Noise and Field Strength

SCI, Techniques and Developments F. M. Greene

SC2, Definitions and Terminology F. M. Greene

SCID, EMC Instrumentation H. E. Taggart

740
 C95, Standardization in the Field of F. M. Greene
Radio Frequency Electromagnetic R. C. Baird
Radiation Hazards

C39 Electrical Measuring Instruments

SC7, Electronic Analog Voltmeters P. H. Lowrie

C16, Radio and Electronic Equipment M. C. Selby M. C. Selby

U.S. National Comm. of the International J. L. Dalke

Electrotechnical Commission

Associated Public Safety Communications Officers

Engineering and Research Comm. H. E. Taggart

Boeing Aircraft Company

Radio Launch Control System Steering Comm. K. A. Norton

Clarkson College of Technology

Interdisciplinary Conference on J. R. Wait

Electromagnetics Scattering Organizing Comm.

Electronic Industries Assoc.

P-5.3.1 on RF Connectors and Cables R. L. Jesch

Electronic Industries Assoc. and R. C. Kirby

IEEE Joint Technical Advisory Comm.
Ad Hoc SC on Space Telecommunications J. W. Herbstreit

SC on Radio Spectrum Conservation K. A. Norton

Institute of Radio Engineers (beginning in 1963,

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

Radio Wave Propagation Comm. T. J. Carroll R. J. Slutz F. M. Greene

J. R. Wait
SC on Theory and Application of
Ionospheric Propagation

Radio Wave Propagation and K. A. Norton

Utilization Comm.
Technical Comm. on Transmitters
SC on Circuits and Advanced R. Bateman
Developments

Standards Comm. *
J. L. Dalke
P. A. Hudson
G. E. Shafer

Circuits Comm. *

Industrial Electronics Comm.

SC on Dielectric Measurements J. L. Dalke, C.

Piezoelectric (and Ferroelectric W. D. George W. D. George

Crystals) (14)

Piezoelectric Measurements (14.2) W. D. George

Navigation Aids Comm. *

SC on Standard Direction-Finder R. Silberstein, S.

Measurements
SC on Detection, Location, and *

Navigation

SC on Pulse Modulation *

Transmitters

Antennas and Waveguides H. V. Cottony

Standards on Methods of Testing K. A. Norton

Antennas

741
Measurements and Instrumentation J. L. Dalke
Comm. (251 M. C. Selby

SC on Field-Intensity Measurements M. C. Selby

Basic Standards and Calibration M. C. Selby, C. J. L. Dalke

Methods (25.1) E. C. Wolzien P. A.Hudson
W D. George W. W. Scott
P. A. Hudson
Dielectric Measurements (25.2) J. L. Dalke J. L. Dalke, C. J. L. Dalke
Magnetic Measurements (25.3) P. H. Haas R. C. Powell J. L. Dalke
J. L. Dalke

Instrumentation and Measurements H. W. Lance, C.

Professional Group (before 1962, C. M. Allred
Instrumentation, Professional G. E. Schafer
Group) W. J. Anson
SC on Network Analyzer C. M. Allred
Low Frequency Instruments and H. W. Lance
Measurement
High Frequency Instruments and R. W. Beatty R. W. Beatty
Measurement
HF Immittance Measurements R. L. Jesch
R. W. Beatty
HF Attenuation Measurements D. Russell

HF Pulse Techniques N. S. Nahman N. S. Nahman

HF Power Measurements R. F. Desch
Standards for High Precision Coax R. C. Powell J. P. Wakefield, S.
Connectors J. P. Wakefield, S.

Signal Generators G. Rebuldela

Waveguide Flanges, 26.5—110 GHz B. C. Yates

Fundamental Electrical Standards T. L. Zapf T. L. Zapf

Frequency and Time J. A. Barnes J. A. Barnes

J. L. Jesperson

Frequency Stability J. A. Barnes J. A. Barnes

Time J. L. Jesperson

Electromagnetic Measurements, M. C. Selby, C. G. E. Schafer, C.

State-of-the-Art Comm. (formed C. M. Allred W. J. Anson, C.
from 25.1 Comm. — Basic Standards and P. A. Hudson
Calibration Methods) G. E. Schafer
W. F. Snyder
E. C. Wolzien

Liaison EMM Comm. to IEEE Standards Comm. M. C. Selby M. C. Selby

SCI and 2, Power, CW, Lumped P. A. Hudson, C. P. A. Hudson, C.

Constants, Trans. Lines M. L. Crawford

SC3, Power, CW, Waveguide G. F. Engen

A. Y. Rumfelt

SC4 and 7, Pulsed Power, Current, L. B. Elwell

Voltage

SC5, High Power, CW and Pulsed L. B. Elwell L. B. Elwell

SC6, Voltage, Pulsed, Unbalanced Line N. S. Nahman, C.

D. M. Stonebraker
SC8, Attenuation, Unbalanced, D. H. Russell, C. C. M. Allred
Lumped Constants C.M. Allred
W. W. Scott
P. H. Lowrie

SC9, Attenuation, Unbalanced C. M. Allred, C. C. M. Allred

Transmission Lines D. H. Russell

742
 SC10 and 12, Attenuation, Waveguide G. E. Schafer, C.
D. A. Ellerbruch, C.

SC11, Pulse Distortion in Trans. N. S. Nahman, C.

Lines

SC13, Impedance, Unbalanced, Lumped A. E. Hess

Constants

SC14, Impedance, Unbalanced, Trans. R. C. Powell, C.

Lines R. L. Jesch

SC15, Impedance, Waveguide G. E. Schafer, C. B. C. Yates, C.

W. E. Little

SC16, Noise, Thermal, Trans. Line M. G. Arthur, C.

and Waveguide
SC17, 18, Field Strength, CW R. R. Bowman
F. M. Greene
SC19, 20, Field Strength, R. R. Bowman,
Pulsed F. M. Greene
SC21, Phase, below 1 GHz D. H. Russell

SC22, Phase, above 1 GHz D. A. Ellerbruch, C.

Microwave Theory and Techniques, R. W. Beatty, C.

Standards, Coordinating Comm.
SC on Waveguides G. E. Schafer

SC on RF Connectors R. C. Powell R. L. Jesch

Radio Frequency Interference W. Q. Crichlow

Technical Advisory Comm.

Joint Technical Advisory Comm. with Radio

Electronics Television Manufacturing Assoc.

SC on Forward Scatter Transmission D. K. Bailey

H. V. Cottony
R. C. Kirby
Wire Communication K. A. Norton
R. J. Slutz

Cable Television Task Force Group R. L. Jesch

Instrument Society of America

Environment for Standards W. F. Snyder, C. W. F. Snyder, C.

Laboratories, Comm. RP52

Electrical Measurement Standards F. D. Weaver, VC.
T. L. Zapf

High Frequency Standards R. C. Powell, C. T. L. Zapf

Joint Industry Research Comm. for J. P. Wakefield,

Standardization of Miniature Precision Technical Advisor
Coaxial Connectors

National Academy of Sciences, National

Research Council

Ad Hoc Panel on Electromagnetic M. C. Thompson

Propagation, Office of the President

Atmospheric Sciences C. G. Little

Panel on International Exchange of A. H. Shapley, C.

Geophysical Data

Polar Research D. K. Bailey

A. H. Shapley

Upper Atmosphere Panel D. K. Bailey, C.

A. H. Shapley

Radio Frequency Allocation for A. Barnabei

Research
Scientific

743
 Space Science Board A. H. Shapley

Ad Hoc Comm. on Astronomy and Radio R. M. Gallet

Astronomy
Ad Hoc Comm. on Satellite
Ionospheric Meas.,

VLF Study Group C. G. Little, C.

Comm. on Atmospherics of Earth A. H. Shapley, C.

and Planets C. G. Little

*
Conference on Electrical Insulation

National Cable Television Association

Special Task on 75-ohm Connectors R. L. Jesch

National Communications Systems (Federal D. Halford

Communication Standards Committee)

Performance Standards for G. R. Sugar

Telecommunications Systems

National Council of Radiation Protection

and Measurement

Scientific Comm. R. C. Sangster

Office of Defense Mobilization

Telecommunications Planning Comm.

Radio Manufacturers Association

SC on UHF Propagation
Society of Automotive Engineers

Comm. on EM Compatability H. E. Taggart

EMI Standards and Test Methods W. J. Alspach

*
Television Allocations Study
Organization

University of Alaska

Geophysical Institute Advisory Comm. A. H. Shapley

744
 Government Sponsored Committees

Defense Atomic Support Agency

Ionization Panel K. Davies

Department of Commerce

National Bureau of Standards and

Department of the Air Force
Joint Working Group on Standards W. D. George
H. W. Lance, S.

In-Service Electronics Training R. Silberstein

Program Steering Comm.

National Bureau of Standards

Engineering and Information J. L. Dalke

Processing Standards Council

Joint Industry Research Comm. for J. P. Wakefield J. P. Wakefield,

Standardization of Miniature S. and
Precision Coaxial Connectors Technical
Advisor
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (after Aug. 10, 1949
noted hereunder as Department of Defense)

Aeronautical and Joint Communications Board

Aircraft Radio and Electronics Comm.

Joint Test Equipment SC H. Lyons

Antenna SC H. Lyons

Interference Reduction SC H. Lyons

Joint Communications Board

Wave Propagation Comm. H. Dellinger

Smith
Subpanel on Propagation G. McNish
Standardization Comm. Lyons

Joint Communications Electronic Comm.

Wave Propagation Panel
Range Commanders Conference
Inter-Range Instrumentation Group

Working Group on Telemetry

Working Group on Telecommunications
Working Group on Electromagnetic R. S. Lawrence
Wave Propagation Refraction B. R. Bean
Corrections

Research and Development Board

Comm. on Electronics

Panel on Basic Research Smith

G. McNish
Panel on Frequency Control W. D. George
Devices

Panel on Test Equipment

Panel on Interference Reduction V. L. Agy

Panel on Antennas and Propagation A. G. McNish
Panel on Radiating Systems H. Lyons

Subpanel on Antenna n Lyons

Instrumentation

745
 Comm. on Guided Missiles

Electronic Trajectory
Instrumentation Working Group

Panel on Geomagnetism and A. G. McNish

Electricity

Panel on Land Navigation A. G. McNish

Arctic Ionospheric Advisory
Comm., Signal Corps

Department of Defense

Advisory Group on Electronic Parts

Working Group on Frequency W. D. George, Observer

Control Devices

Calibration Coordination Group R. F. Desch

Consultative Comm. on Measurement H. W. Lance

Standards

Joint Comm. on Electronics

Communication
Joint Spectrum Evaluation Group
Ad Hoc Group to consider establish- J. W. Herbstreit
ment of a Joint Services microwave K. A. Norton
radio-meteorological research facility

Technical Advisory Group

EM Compatibility Measurements F. M. Greene

Metrology Engineering Projects

SC on Microwaves D. H. Russell

Inter-Range Instrumentation Group

Telecommunication R. L. Fey
J. L. Jesperson

U.S.-U.K.-Canada Technical Sub-Group

on Radar Techniques

Working Panel on Noise J. W. Wells

Measurements for Low Noise Receivers

Department of the Air Force

Radio Launch Control System

Steering Comm. for the Confidence M. Coon

Test Program K. A. Norton

Scientific Advisory Board

Ad Hoc Comm. on Ionospheric A. H. Shapley
Modification

Department of the Army

Geodesy, Intelligence and Mapping
Research and Development Agency

Panel for Geodetic Satellite M. C. Thompson

Research Evaluation

Technical Program Comm. D. Halford

Department of the Navy

*
Polaris Command Communications Comm.

National Defense Research Comm.

Comm. on Standard Direction R. Silberstein
Finder Measurements

746
Department of State

Aeronautical Preparatory Group A. Barnabei

for Appendix 26

Panel of Experts Advisory Comm. A. Barnabei

G. W. Haydon

Telecommunications Coordinating Comm. A. Barnabei

F. W. Brown

Ad Hoc Comm. on Outer Space A. Barnabei

Communications

U.S. International Telegraph and A. Barnabei

Telephone Consultative Comm.

Executive Office of the President

Office of Emergency Planning

Interdepartment Radio Advisory J. H. Dellinger, C, A. Barnabei
Committee (IRAC) K. A. Norton E. E. Estes (alternate)

Frequency Allocations A. Barnabei

R. C. Kirby (alternate)
G. W. Haydon (alternate)
R. S. Kirby (alternate)

Frequency Assignment A. Barnabei, VC.

E. E. Estes (alternate)

Special Task Group R. J. Slutz

Telecommunications Planning Comm.

Executive Comm. F. W. Brown
A. Barnabei (alternate)

Panel I A. Barnabei
E. E. Estes (alternate)

Panel II D. W. Patterson
E. E. Estes (alternate)

Panel III A. Barnabei

E. E. Estes (alternate)

President's Science Advisory Comm. R. J. Slutz, Consultant

Space Science Panel L. M. Branscomb

Federal Communications Commission

Ad Hoc Comm. *

Analysis Industry Advisory Comm. P. L. Rice

Color Receiver Distribution Comm.

Observation and Measurements W. C. Coombs
Industry Advisory Comm.
Radio Propagation Advisory Comm. F. W. Brown

Interservice Coordination of Calibration

Services

Standardization of Nomenclature W. F. Snyder, C.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Space Sciences Steering Comm. C. G. Little

Ionospheric Physics C. G. Little, Consultant

Working Group on Satellite C. G. Little

Ionospheric Beacons

Rocket and Satellite Research Panel

Topside Sounder Working Group A. H. Shapley

747
Technical Advisor to United Nations
Ad Hoc Comm. on Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space

Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics

(RTCA)

Executive Comm. J. H. Dellinger, C. A. Barnabei

J. W. Herbstreit (alternate)
SC Long Distance Aids to
Navigation

SC Testing Program for Long-Range

Navigation Facilities

SC Implementation of the VHF

Utilization Planand Review of
Transition Period Communication
Requirements
SC High Altitude Grid Plan for
VOR/DME Frequency Pairing
SC-92, Frequency Utilization Plan M. T. Decker
for the Band 108-136 Mc

Radio Technical Commission for Marine J. H. Dellinger, C. G. Hefley

(RTCM) Services K. A. Norton

SC on Comparison of LF Loran and K. A. Norton

LF Omnidirectional Range
Special Comm. 46

Sub-Panel C-10, Frequencies and A. Barnabei, C.

Tolerances

Senate Advisory Comm. on Color E. U. Condon, C.

Television N. Smith

United States Information Agency

Voice of America Science Advisory R. C. Kirby

Group E. K. Smith
Antennas E. K. Smith
Modulation E. K. Smith
Propagation and Dwindling Spectrum E. K. Smith, C.

748
 APPENDIX B— To Chapter XVII
Committee Memberships relating
to the general subject of radio,
associated with International Organizations and Conferences from the
time of formation of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory,
May 1, 1946, to 1975.*

"Explanatory Notes:

See Explanatory Notes of Appendix A

Added Notes for Appendix B:

8. Listing includes staff members of Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) — NBS Group
9. Members of committees who became staff members of the Environmental Science Services Administration

(ESSA) in October 1965 are not carried in this listing beyond the time they were transferred to ESSA.

10. Some of the information on CCIR participation came from published reports of the CCIR.

Government Sponsored Committees

Organization and Committee Committee Membership

Department of Interior

Marine Engineering Comm. of the U.S. -Japan

Cooperative Program of Natural Resources

Panel on Marine Electronics and

Communications R. W. Beatty

Department of State

International Radio Consultative Committee

(CCIR) Study Groups (S.G.) (members served
primarily on the U.S. Preparatory Committees
for CCIR)
Executive Comm. D. K. Bailey
F. W. Brown
S.G. I, Transmitters H. J. Sullivan J. C. Carroll M. C. Selby
W. B. Harding
M. C. Selby

S.G. II, Receivers H. V. Cottony J. C. Blair C. M. Allred

W. Q. Crichlow W. C. Coombs M. C. Selby
M. C. Selby
S.G. Ill, Fixed Service Systems K. A. Norton J. L. Auterman
R. Silberstein H. V. Cottony
H. J. Sullivan W. Q. Crichlow
G. W. Haydon
R. C. Kirby
R. S. Kirby
M. Nesenbergs
K. A. Norton
W. F. Utlaut
A. C. Wilson

Wave Propagation; later.

S.G. IV, Surface
Space Systems and Radio Astronomy R. Bateman B. R. Bean L. E. Gatterer
K. A. Norton, C. W. C. Combs
S. M. Ostrow H. V. Cottony
M. L. Phillips K. Da vies

749
 T. N. Gautier
L. E. Gatterer
J.W. Herbstreit
G. W. Haydon
R. S. Kirby
R. W. Knecht
R. S. Lawrence
K. A. Norton
S. M. Ostrow
P. L. Rice
R. J. Slutz
M. C. Thompson
A. C. Wilson

SC L-7, Radio Propagation,

Coverage, Interference M. T. Decker

S.G. 4, Special Studies G. W. Haydon, C.

S.G. V, Tropospheric Propagation T. J. Carroll, C. A. P. Barsis

K. A. Norton B. R. Bean
S. M. Ostrow T. N. Gautier
J. R. Johler
J. W. Herbstreit
R. S. Kirby
K. A. Norton
P. L. Rice
M. C. Thompson
C. C. Watterson
J. R. Wait
S C on Radio Climatology B. R. Bean

S.G. VI, Ionospheric Propagation R. Bateman V. L. Agy

W. B. Chadwick D. K. Bailey, C. (also International C.)
T. N. Gautier J. C. Blair
J. W. Herbstreit W. B. Chadwick
E. Klapper W. Q. Crichlow
S. M. Ostrow R. M. Davis, Jr.
M. L. Phillips R. H. Doherty
A. H. Shapley T. N. Gautier
N. Smith, C. G. W. Haydon
J. W. Herbstreit
R. C. Kirby
R. W. Knecht
J. V. Lincoln
K. A. Norton
A. H. Shapley
R. J. Slutz
E. K. Smith (International VC.)
L.H. Tveten
W. F. Utlaut
S.G. VII, Standard Frequencies and W. D. George D. W. Allan D. W. Allan
Time Signals D. H. Andrews J. A. Barnes
J. A. Barnes R. E Beehler
R. E. Beehler B. E Blair
W. W. Brown R. L Fey
R. L. Fey L. E Gatterer
L. E. Gatterer D. Halford
W. D. George J. L. Jesperson
D. Halford R. E. Larson
G. Hefley J. B. Milton
G. E. Hudson J. T. Stanley
J. L. Jesperson P. P. Viezbicke
R. E. Larson
J. B. Milton
A. H. Morgan
M. C. Selby
P. P. Viezbicke

S.G. VIII, International Monitoring H. V. Cottony M. C. Selby M. C. Selby

W. Q. Crichlow

750
S.G. IX, General Technical Questions,
later, Radio Relay Systems H. J. Sullivan R. S. Kirby
C. C. Watterson

S.G. IXB, Radio-RelaySystems Tropo-

and Line-of-Sight Radio
spheric,
Communication Systems E. F. Florman
S.G. X, Broadcasting H. V. Cottony J. L. Auterman
H. J. Sullivan J. C. Carroll
H. V. Cottony
A. C. Stewart
W. F. Utlaut
A. C. Wilson

S.G. XI, Television W. Q. Crichlow W. C. Combs

K. A. Norton R. G. Merrill
K. A. Norton
R. K. Salaman
S.G. XII, Tropical Broadcasting V. L. Agy
G. W. Haydon
S.G. XIII, Operating Questions R. H. Doherty
S.G. XIV, Vocabulary B. A. Kingsbury
Stockholm, 1948 Conference U.S. J. H. Dellinger, C.
Preparatory Group W. B. Chadwick
W. D. George
A. H. Morgan
K. A. Norton
S. M. Ostrow
R. C. Peavey
A. H. Shapley

Washington Meeting of CCIR Study W. B. Chadwick

Group VI, Ionospheric T. N. Gautier
Propagation H. P. Hutchinson
E. Klapper
S. M. Ostrow
M. L. Phillips
A. H. Shapley
N. Smith, U.S. Spokesman

751
 CCIR Plenary Assemblies

1948 1951 1953 1956

Stockholm Geneva London Warsaw
Plenary Assemblies, NBS D. K. Bailey D. K. Bailey D. K. Bailey D. K. Bailey
Participants in U.S.A. J. H. Dellinger
1

W. Q. Crichlow J. H. Dellinger' W. Q. Crichlow

+
Delegation* N. Smith J. H. Dellinger W. D. George W. D. George
W. D. George R. C. Kirby J. W. Herbstreit

1959 1963 1966 1970 1974

Los Angeles Geneva Oslo New Delhi Geneva

V. L. Agy D. K. Bailey D. K. Bailey D. K. Bailey D. K. Bailey

D. K. Bailey W. D. George B. R. Bean R. C. Kirby T. DeHaas
B. R. Bean G. W. Haydon J. W. Herbstreit H. T. Dougherty
W Q. Crichlow J. W. Herbstreit G. E. Hudson R. C. Kirby
J. H. Dellinger* J. V. Lincoln R. C. Kirby E. K. Smith
T. N. Gautier K. A. Norton R. S.Lawrence
W. D. George P. L. Rice M. Leftin
J. W. Herbstreit E. K. Smith J. V. Lincoln
R. C. Kirby P. L. Rice
K. A. Norton E. K. Smith
R. Silberstein
R. J. Slutz
E. K. Smith
A. D. Watt

* As representative of the U.S. Government in conducting international relations, operations of the U.S. Groups of
CCIR required endorsement of the Department of State.

Because of incompleteness of information, and the complexity of delineating the information, there is no indication
of those that served as chairperson, spokesman, or heads of various Groups.

'

Dellinger was a Government retiree; consultant for RCA Corporation.

1

Dellinger served as a private citizen.

Notes: In 1956, Warsaw and 1959, Los Angeles, D. K. Bailey was not an employee of NBS at time.
In 1966, Oslo, only G. E. Hudson represented NBS, all others from ESSA but formerly of NBS.
In 1970, New Delhi, no one attended from NBS, others from ESSA but formerly of NBS.
In 1974, Geneva, D. K. Bailey represented NOAA, all others the Institute of Telecommunication Sciences. R. C.
Kirby served as deputy head of the U.S.A. delegation.

752
 International Committees

Organization and Committee Committee Membership

International Astronomical Union R. M. Gallet

C. G. Little
F. E. Roach
A. H. Shapley
R. N. Thomas

Inter-Union Commission on Solar and D. K. Bailey, S.

Terrestrial Relationships A. H. Shapley

Commission 10, Solar Activity A. H. Shapley A. H. Shapley

Working Group on Solar Flare Criteria J. V. Lincoln

Commission 12, Radiation and Structure

of Solar Atmosphere

12a, Eclipses of the Sun R. N. Thomas

Commission 14, Fundamental Spectroscopic

Data L. M. Branscomb

Commission 21, Brightness of the Sky F. E. Roach

Commission 22, Meteors and Meteorites R. N. Thomas

Commission 29, Stellar Spectrums

29a, Theories of Stellar Atmospheres R. N. Thomas

Commission 40, Radio Astronomy G. Reber A. H. Shapley

International Comm. of Weights and

Measures (CIPM)

Consultative Comm. for Definition of

Meter J. L. Hall

Consultative Comm. for Definition of

Second J. A. Barnes

International Council of Scientific Unions

Mixed Commission on the Ionosphere N. Smith

International World Day Service

Steering Comm. A. H. Shapley

Space Research

Working Group 3, Data and Publications A. H. Shapley

International Electrotechnical Commission

U.S. National Comm. W. D. George R. C. Powell

Experts Comm. on Ferrite Magnetic

Materials J. L. Dalke J. L. Dalke

SC 40-6, Parts Made of Ferro-Magnetic

Materials, Electronic Measuring
Equipment J. L. Dalke J. L. Dalke

SC WG 3, Bridges and Meters W. E. Little, S.

753
International Geophysical Year (IGY)

U.S. National Committee A. H. Shapley, VC.

Data Processing Comm. R. J. Slutz

Executive Comm. A. H. Shapley

Advisory Comm. on Education A. H. Shapley

Interdisciplinary Research Comm. A. H. Shapley

Special Research Grants Comm. A. H. Shapley, C.

Arctic and Antarctic Comm. A. H. Shapley

Aurora and Airglow Panel F. E. Roach, VC.

Earth Satellite Program Panel A. H. Shapley
R. J. Slutz

Working Group on Satellite C. G. Little

Ionospheric Measurement A. H. Shapley, C.

Ionospheric Physics Panel A. H. Shapley

R. J. Slutz

Solar Activity Panel A. H. Shapley

World Days and Communications Panel A. H. Shapley, C.

International Scientific Radio Union (URSI)

International Level J. H. Dellinger, VC.

Canadian Commission 3 C. G. Little

Central Comm. on URSIgrams J. V. Lincoln, S.

A. H. Shapley

International Comm. on Geophysics C. G. Little

A. H. Shapley

Special Comm. on International

Geophysical Year A. H. Shapley

Commission I, Radio Measurements J. H. Dellinger, C. R. W. Beatty, VC, Ed. H. M. Altschuler, C.

Methods and Standards W. D. George, VC. W. D. George, VC. R. W. Beatty
G. E. Shafer J. L. Hall
H. Hellwig

Commission II, Tropospheric Radio J. W. Herbstreit, S.,

Commission III, Ionospheric Radio R. W. Knecht, S.

Commission V, Radio Astronomy A. H. Shapley

Comm. on Space Radio Research A. H. Shapley

International World Days Services J. V. Lincoln, S.

Special Comm. on World-Wide

Sounding A. H. Shapley, C.

Comm. on Exosphere C. G. Little

R.F. Allocations for Scientific

Research R. S. Lawrence

U.S. National Committee N. Smith, S., VC. R. W. Beatty H. M. Altschuler

J. H. Dellinger W. Q. Crichlow R. W. Beatty
W. D. George
C. G. Little
A. H. Shapley

Commission I, Radio Measurements H. Lyons H. M. Altschuler H. M. Altschuler

Methods and Standards R. W. Beatty, C. R. W. Beatty
H. E. Bussey M. C. Selby
G. F. Engen
W. D. George
D. M. Kerns
N. S. Nahman
G. E. Schafer, S.,

M. C. Selby
M. C. Thompson

754
 Commission II, Tropospheric Radio T. J. Carroll A. P. Barsis
Propagation K. A. Norton B. R. Bean
J. W. Herbstreit
H. B. Janes
R. S. Kirby
K. A. Norton
P. L. Rice
M. C. Thompson
J. R. Wait

Commission III, Ionospheric Radio N. Smith, C, V. L. Agy

Propagation A. G. McNish D. K. Bailey
K. L. Bowles
W. H. Campbell
H. J. A. Chivers
R. S. Cohen
W. Q. Crichlow
K. Da vies
J. H. Dellinger
R. T. Disney
T. N. Gautier
A. G. Jean
R. C. Kirby
R. W. Knecht
R. S. Lawrence

C. G. Little, C,
S. Matsushita
A. G. McNish
J. H. Pope
C. A. Samson
A. H. Shapley
R. J. Slutz
E. K. Smith
G. R. Sugar
J. R. Wait
J. M. Watts
J. W. Wright
Commission IV, Magnetospheric Radio D. K. Bailey
(initiated in 1962-63) K. L. Bowles
R. M. Gallet
C. G. Little
R. J. Slutz

Commission V, Radio Astronomy A. H. Shapley R. S. Lawrence

(formerly Extraterrestrial Radio J. W. Herbstreit E. R. Schiffmacher
Noise) G. Reber A. H. Shapley

Commission VI, Radio Waves and H. V. Cottony

Circuits J. R. Wait
Commission VII, Electronics

Commission VIII, Terrestrial Radio H. V. Cottony W. Q. Crichlow, C,

Noise (formerly Commission IV) W. Q. Crichlow A. G. Jean
A. D. Watt

International Scientific Radio Union

and International Union of Geodesy
and Geophysics

Inter-Union Comm. on Radio Meterorology B. R. Bean

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics

Special Study Group, No. 19, Electronic H. B. Janes

Distance Measuring Ground Instruments M. C. Thompson

755
International Association of Geomagnetism
and Aeronomy
Comm. 1, Terrestrial Magnetism and A. G. McNish
Electricity H. F. Johnston

Comm. 2, Aurora and Airglow F. E. Roach

Comm. 3, High Atmosphere F. E. Roach
L. M. Branscomb

Comm. 4, Secular Variation and

Paleomagnetism H. H. Howe
Comm. 6, Lunar Variations H. H. Howe
Comm. 9, Characterization of Magnetic H. H. Howe
Activity J. V. Lincoln

Inter-Union Comm. on Solar Terrestrial A. H. Shapley

Relations

756
 APPENDIX C
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
OF
RADIO SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, STANDARDS,
AND MEASUREMENT PROGRAMS
AT THE
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS 1

1901
2
Director: S. W. Stratton, 1901-1922

1901
ELECTRICITY DIVISION E. B. Rosa, 1901-1921

1913
Radio Section F. A. Kolster, 1913-1919

The format of this appendix is copied somewhat after that used by Cochrane in appendix J (NBS Administrative,
Scientific, and Technical Staff Chiefs, 1905-1960), Measures for Progress. However, it differs from Cochrane's
treatment (organization at certain years, spread at intervals) in that significant changes in the organizational
structure are indicated as they occurred in point of time. Numerous footnotes are used for explanation and to
indicate changes of personnel or titles of organizational units at interim periods between the tabulated information.
Usage of the term "Division" at NBS to designate technical groups generally denotes an organizational unit that
embraces a technical field. The term "Section" generally denotes an organizational unit that is a subdivision of a
technical field. Throughout appendix C the title of a section is in smaller type and displaced to the right of the title
of a division. In order to minimize the repetitive use of the words "Division" and "Section," these terms do not
appear in the tabulations under their respective columns although they appear frequently in footnotes.
The names of consultants, senior scientists, or some of the special officers are not noted in this tabulation, most
of whom are covered as contributors to the technical programs.
Sources of information were: Monthly and Annual Reports of the former Radio Section (to 1946); from a large
collection of telephone directories; the organizational directory listings in Annual or Summary Reports of Boulder
Laboratories (1955-1961); from in-house publications, The Bureau Drawer (NBS Boulder) and the NBS Standard;
and, more recently, from NBS Administrative Bulletins and NBS IBS/Boulder Administrative Bulletins.
2
W. Stratton appointed first director of NBS by President McKinley, March 1901. After 21 years
Professor Samuel
of organizing theBureau and initiating technical programs, he resigned on the last day of 1922 to become president
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on January 1, 1923. He died on October 18, 1931, at a time when he
was chairman of the corporation of MIT.
3
Dr. EdwardRosa was the first person selected by Stratton to head an organizational unit (Electricity) for the
B.
new bureau of the Federal Government (see Cochrane, pp. 62-65). Rosa continued in this capacity until his
scientific
death on May 17, 1921 (see Cochrane, p. 233). It was after the coming of Louis Austin to the Bureau in 1904 that
Rosa began to sense the need of establishing facilities within Electricity (division) to study and develop methods of
measurement for the new field of wireless telegraphy.
4
Kolster entered Bureau December 18, 1911; resigned July 31, 1921.
5
During World War I the much expanded Radio Section was organized into a large number of projects, with the
organizational structure sharply delineated (see accompanying diagrams).
6
In the early years and into the 1920's the Radio Section was sometimes referred to as the Radio Laboratory and,
again, as the Radio Communications Section. Always, until May 1, 1946, it was designated as Section 1-6 of the
Electricity Division.

757
 ) ) )) ) ) ;

JHD MWB
:

Cniaf '"action (Cooperation *>iti\ military

(F.A. v. vihas or?, x' I z jvt i o no .

r Program of researches
X Re: ort» —
(J .H.DrfU ingar) (.Pubiiortt ion
'CxOBtHl - CO i 1 tr ;*.r f. ttii a r. 1 on

(Houe;h)
Subflv&rina r «iio
(
,r
U Uvuphby
fLossiU
iClo^ed-ooil lio-.U.'.au !

I*' I >n^ >i ifition

Aix < I ?t tia 1 <i na i n g

(F, A. Kj.Lst^jf ( Vo r fhaea )
( •"
}

(Hou«;h) (7H '

Ou>;hby)

Fog s JLgnai 1 ing

(Ehitts&ore)
3re i t (

Clarsuibaoh) (

OaciUo--XHC*aiO s L: f.<ifi j i I,

(*hitt a «.:.re)
fHuli

(lterrl*;-*r.
Powax tun* a
UoDo'Aejkl }

Ak r Airier*
•
Co itrell

An t*r> :.i oo na t ;r 1*8

ir« truoti on „

Jr.. ;" .it i:„T r,Atar Ula

( Hon tiOi-.ery
o.i i«.-n i '< *«* 1
r '• x« tc
J.H.D
Measure r»t .> ; r

Me ;••
; r- s oi v ry A

758
 ) )) ) ) ) ) ) n ) }

-3-
(Follow-up of
>eotion
Bua 1 r.ea a aar. t a tan t bunines»e .

(l,.?. .^M ttewore )

t-Building up all fiiee.
Mlscel icmeoun tenting
C wid L
W(tv«jft«tor« ,

(Hull) (Danwre)
Resistance, V and K
( Dni 1 inger ) Praa ton (

Hlgn voltage »r.cl aurrent

(H.M.Freeaan) [Preston
Transmitting and receiving seta
(Kolater)(Helt*el)
Dficremetar twoting
(Brett) (Sno*)(Baixd)

ViOuaa tuba taating

(Merr ia.n.n
(J.M.Millar) (7?«rU«n
(Wflllo)
/RtKjuia itiona f.nci orders
(r.-ule )
rih i i ;
ing

Construction
(F. W .Dun«iore ) Draf taartn (Buckley John -ot; ) (

Mechanicians (R.'ie ir.bold

Care in laboratory
( Cla rjgnb.- iOh Roe ) *e rden ) ( (

f
Pert onnel
j
(Ould)
I R-< iio information
(JHDeUing-or ) J Procuring books, ^iiLL-.ry
nib ioat iona , etc.
(Quid)
Pro raring information : m iil;?t,fi «tc.

fC o rr rj r> po na e r. oe
Indsxlng, Distributing
jj
(Durfee)
Tyring
f BarJcudsue
Files
( Ro e4
Of flea /
>
(I. E.Whit tenure j
E rju i p*© n t r « c aras

Peruow.al r&corde

yi»ce L I me e i r fo sv. 1 1 i .

Re jorte

Corresponds nee
(Durfee
Ta:-.t records
(Durfee)
*c i**r> t If io file** nd library
(B&rkadlle)

Chart showing organization on October 26, 1918, at time of moving of the Radio Section into the new Radio Building
and about 2 weeks before the Armistice ending World War I. (The chart was attached to the Report of Radio
Laboratory, October 21 to 28, 1918.) The initials, JHD.MWB, in the upper left-hand corner indicate that the chart
must have been prepared under Dellinger's direction, and that Martha W. Barksdale was the typist. Miss
Barksdale was a clerk in the Radio Section from 1918 to 1928.
Note: Many of the names on this chart, as well as the projects noted, will be found associated with chapters II
through VI.

759
 —

1919
Radio Section 7,8
1-6 Radio Section
6a Radio Research & Testing J. H. Dellinger, 1919-1921
6b Radio Development F. A. Kolster, 1919-1921

1921
9
I ELECTRICITY DIVISION E. C. Crittenden, 1921-1946
10
1.6 Radio Communication Section J. H. Dellinger, 1921-1946
11
(later, in 1920's, Radio Section)

1923
12
Director: G. K. Burgess, 1923-1932

1933
13
Director: L. J. Briggs, 1933-1945

'
Partly as a measure to cope with an expanded staff during World War I, and to set the section on a business-like
basis, a reorganization kept Kolster as the chief, Dellinger as the research assistant, and L. E. Whittemore as the
business assistant (see ch. Ill, p. 65).

8
Beginning in August 1919 the Radio Section was organized into two subsections, and retained this structure until
February 1, 1921 (see ch. IV, p. 71).
;l

Eugene C. Crittenden entered Electricity (division) in 1904. Crittenden's 25 years as chief of the Electricity
Division continued as an assistant director of the Bureau; later to become an associate director. On May 1, 1946, Dr.
Francis B. Silsbee became chief of the Electricity Division.

"'The two subsections were reorganized as a single section on February 1, 1921, with Dellinger as chief and to
continue as chief for 25 years, until May 1, 1946, when the section became a division, to be known as the Central
Radio Propagation Laboratory. During the 1920's the section gradually reverted to its former and simpler name
the Radio Section.
" At the time of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the Radio Section had grown to 40 members. Thereafter the
number diminished to 18 by 1924, and then built up slowly to 44 by June 1933, much of the increase due to the
development program by the Department of Commerce for radio aids to air navigation. The severe personnel
cutbacks in 1933, brought on by budget cuts caused by the Great Depression, again brought the section to a low
level of but 17 by October 1933, just 4 months after the June peak.*

*In the September 1951 issue of the Scientific Monthly (pp. 166-173), Lyman J. Briggs, director emeritus of NBS,
stated, in part:

The untimely death of Dr. Burgess at his desk in July 1932 ended a career of great service to his
country. My own responsibility for directing the bureau's work thus began in the depths of the
depression and ended with the close of World War II. The first act of the incoming Roosevelt
administration was summarily to reduce, by one half, the appropriations of the government
scientific bureaus. History shows that the promised economics of the new administration did not
go much beyond this point. It was a bitter experience for us. More than one third of our staff was
dropped on a month's notice, . . .

But we carried on. Extensive studies were made of the effect of certain changes in the
. . .

ionosphere on radio communication. Sunspots were found to produce radio blackouts. The
radiosonde was developed for making meteorological measurements up to 60,000 feet or more.
Carried by a small balloon, this little instrument radios back in code the temperature, pressure,
and the humidity of the air as it ascends. It is now used daily by the Weather Bureau at many
stations.
1J
After Stratton's resignation, with Dr. Fay C. Brown (technical assistant to Stratton) serving as acting director for
a period of about 4 months, Dr. George K. Burgess became director of the Bureau on April 21, 1923, to serve until
his death on July 2, 1932. Burgess entered the Bureau in 1903 in Heat and Thermometry (division), and later
became chief of the Metallurgy Division.
1!
Dr. Lyman J. Briggs cameBureau from the Department of Agriculture in 1917 during World War I, and
to the
became chief of the Mechanics and Sound Division in 1922. Upon the untimely death of Burgess in 1932, Briggs
became acting director of the Bureau until his appointment was confirmed by the Senate as director on June 23,
1933, nearly a year later. He retired in November 1945, shortly after the close of World War II.

760
1945
14 15
Director: E. U. Condon, 1945-1951

1946
XIV CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 1
'
J. H Dellinger, 1946 -1948
1

(Division XIV, later 14.)

*
1. Basic Ionospheric Research A. G. McNish 1

2. Basic Microwave Research T. J. Carroll

3. Regular Propagation Services W. B. Chadwick
4. Frequency Utilization Research K. A. Norton
5. Experimental Ionospheric Research R. Bateman
6. Experimental Microwave Research (activated later)
111
7. Regular Propagation Measurements H. P. Hutchinson
20
8. Ionospheric Measurement Standards W. D. George
9. Microwave Standards H. Lyons

1949
14 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY N Smith 2123
(Reorganization of February 1, 1949)
Asst. chief A. G. McNish
Asst. chief K. A. Norton
Administrative Officer S. W. J. Welch
Ionospheric Research Laboratory
.1 Upper Atmosphere Research A. G. McNish
24
.5 Ionospheric Research R. Bateman
25
.7 Field Operations H. P. Hutchinson
14
Dr. Edward U. Condon became director of NBS on November 7, 1945, coming from the Westinghouse Electric
Corp. He resigned September 30, 1951.

In 1949 Condon took a very active part in suggesting Boulder, Colo, as a suitable place to relocate the CRPL (see
ch. XIX).
16
As a war measure, during the summer of 1942 the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory was established
within the Radio Section by order of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (see ch. XI, pp. 405-407). As a result of this new
operation and other wartime projects, the Radio Section increased to 160 members by the spring of 1946 (April 30,
1946).
11
As a result of the increased and and the very large number of its staff, the Radio Section was
diversified activity,
given division status on May 1, upon Bureau Order No. 46-7, dated April 19, 1946. Dellinger was named
1946, based
chief, and Newbern Smith assistant chief, of Division XIV. The new division organization contained nine sections,
each of a size that followed good management practice (one section, Experimental Microwave Research, never
became activated by that name).
18
Alvin G. McNish entered duty on August 15, 1946, as chief of the Basic Ionospheric Research Section, replacing
Mrs. M. L. Phillips who had served as acting chief beginning May 1, 1946.
19
Later, Section 7 was renamed Field Operations.
20
Later, Section 8 was renamed High Frequency Standards.
21
In accordance with Bureau Order No. 49-14, theCRPL was reorganized on February 1, 1949, with Dr. Newbern
Smith as retirement of Dellinger in 1948. Division 14 "was reorganized in order to promote
chief, following the
better coordination of the research program of the Division," with three subdivisions or branches (Laboratories)
being formed. The Basic Ionospheric Research Section was renamed the Upper Atmospheric Research Section. The
Experimental Microwave Research Section (never activated) was renamed Tropospheric Propagation Research
Section, and the work of the Basic Microwave Research Section was consolidated with it.
22
Later, N. Smith requested to be relieved of his duties as chief of the CRPL and to serve as a consultant. He
resigned from NBS in 1954.
23
For a period of time, beginning in the summer of 1953, Dr. R. D. Huntoon (associate director for physics) served as
acting chief of the CRPL; to be followed by Dr. W. R. Brode (associate director for chemistry) as acting chief until
the arrival of Dr. Frederick W. Brown in June 1954. During this period Dr. R. J. Slutz served as the assistant chief
of the CRPL.
24
The adjective form, "Ionospheric Research Section," was changed in 1959 to the noun form, "Ionosphere Research
Section."

In the spring of 1950 the work of the Field Operations Section was transferred to a group operation in the Upper
Atmospheric Research Section.

761
Systems Research Laboratory
26
.3 Regular Propagation Services W. B. Chadwick
.4 Frequency Utilization Research K. A. Norton
7
Tropospheric Propagation Research"
.6 J. W. Herbstreit
Measurement Standards Laboratory
.8 High Frequency Standards W. D. George
.9 Microwave Standards H. Lyons

1952
28
Director: A. V. Astin, 1952-1969

1954
BOULDER LABORATORIES 2 '

F. W. Brown 3

(Organization of July 1954)

31 35
80 ADMINISTRATION S. W. J.Welch 36
.10 Washington Liaison Office R. C. Peavey
.30 Personnel R. W. Stockwell
.40 General Services B. F. Betts
.50 Engineering Services P. S. Ballif

81 CRYOGENIC ENGINEERING R. B. Scott

.10 Cryogenic Equipment B. W. Birmingham
.20 Cryogenic Processes P. C. Vander Arend
.30 Properties of Materials R. J. Corruccini
.40 Gas Liquification V. J. Johnson

2fi
In 1951 the Regular Propagation Services Section, with W. B. Chadwick as chief, was set up as another
Laboratory within the CRPL structure, making a total of four laboratories within the CRPL.

"'The Tropospheric Propagation Research Section was formerly called the Experimental Microwave Research
Section. Beginning February 1, 1949, certain of the projects were transferred to 14.1, the Upper Atmosphere
Research Section. The remaining projects were the precursors of many projects to be associated with CRPL
tropospheric propagation and engineering projects in future years.

*Upon the resignation of Condon in 1951, Dr. Allen V. Astin became acting director until confirmation by the
Senate as director, May 30, 1952. Astin came to the Bureau as a research associate in 1930, and joined the staff in
1932. He became associate director in 1951. Astin retired from the Bureau, as director, on August 31, 1969.
29
In accordance with Administrative Bulletin No. 54-39, dated June 30, 1954, four technical divisions were
organized at the Boulder Laboratories. Although not related in technical projects to the three radio divisions of the
Boulder Laboratories, the Cryogenic Engineering Division is added to this listing to indicate the complete
organizational structure at the Boulder Laboratories in 1954.
Initially, Dr. Brown served as acting chief of the Radio Standards Division until the appointment of Dr. Harold
A Thomas. Many of the section chiefs in the four technical divisions were appointed first in an acting capacity (not
indicated in listing), and later were given permanent status.
30
Dr. Frederick W. Brown was appointed director of the Boulder Laboratories, February 26, 1954, but did not come
on duty at Boulder until late June 1954. Previously, Brown had been technical director of the Naval Ordnance Test
Station, Inyokern, Calif.

When the CRPL was organized in 1946 several field stations came within its sphere of administration. By 1954
the number had increased to 12.

j2
Previous to the establishment of the Administration Division (80) (later changed to Administrative Division) at
the Boulder Laboratories, a Facilities Division had been established, with P. S. Ballif as chief, that included shop
operations, plant services, and a purchasing office. All technical operations were administered from Washington-
based CRPL.
33
A new office, that of the Fiscal Office (80.20), was made a part of the Administration Division soon after the five
divisions were organized at Boulder. H. C. Stansell headed the office.
34
A new office, that of Management Planning (80.10), was made a part of the Administrative Division in 1958. Mrs.
J. Berkley headed the office.

!:
'In October 1955 the Washington Liaison Office was phased out, having completed its operation for the CRPL
move to Boulder. Mrs. A. N. Kincheloe had replaced R. C. Peavey.

S. W. J. Welch returned to the CRPL in April 1954,

;!b
after serving as the administrative officer of the Naval
Ordnance Laboratory, Corona, Calif, beginning in 1951.

762
82 RADIO PROPAGATION PHYSICS R. J. Slutz
.10 Upper Atmosphere Research T. N. Gautier
.20 Ionospheric Research R. Bateman"
.30 Regular Propagation Services W. B. Chadwick

83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING K. A. Norton

.40 Frequency Utilization Research K. A. Norton (acting)
.60 Tropospheric Propagation Research J. W. Herbstreit

84 RADIO STANDARDS H. A. Thomas 38

!!l

84A High Frequency Standards Branch W. D. George

.10 High Frequency Electrical Standards M. C. Selby
.20 Radio Broadcast Service A. H. Morgan
.30 HF Impedance Standards (vacant)
40

84B Microwave Standards Branch H. Lyons

.60 Extreme High-Frequency and Noise D. M. Kerns
.70 Microwave Frequency & Spectroscopy G. Birnbaum
.80 Microwave Circuit Standards R. W. Beatty

1956
Extension of organization of the three technical
divisions of the CRPL, late summer of 1956

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 4

F. W. Brown (acting)

82 RADIO PROPAGATION PHYSICS 42 R. J. Slutz

.10 Upper Atmosphere Research T. N. Gautier
.20 Ionospheric Research R. C. Kirby
.30 Regular Propagation Services W. B. Chadwick
.40 Sun-Earth Relationships A. H. Shapley

83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING 43 K. A. Norton

Asst. division chief for Research and Development J. W. Herbstreit
Asst. division chief for Engineering Logistics, and
Technical Administration K. O. Hornberg
.10 Data Reduction Instrumentation W. E. Johnson
.20 Modulation Systems A. D. Watt
.30 Navigation Systems G. Hefley
.40 Radio Noise W. Q. Crichlow
.50 Tropospheric Measurements C. F. Peterson
.60 Tropospheric Analysis P. L. Rice
.70 Radio Systems Application Engineering R. S. Kirby

fl
The Ionospheric Research Section continued to operate for several years, largely from the Sterling, Va. field
Bateman resigned in late summer of 1955 and R. C. Kirby became chief of a reestablished Ionospheric
station. R.
Research Section at Boulder. Kirby continued to direct the work at the Sterling station for a period of time. The
station operated thereafter until 1961, under the Field Operations Section.
38
H. A. Thomas, chief of the Radio Standards Division, resigned in September 1956 and was replaced by W. D.
George who served as acting chief for the next 5 years (until the spring of 1960).
:!a
The branch organizational structure of the Radio Standards Division was dropped in July 1955 after the
resignation of H. Lyons from NBS.
40
In early 1956 J. L. Dalke was appointed to head the HF Impedance Standards Section.
41
In a new organizational structure the two propagation divisions were grouped together as a "Laboratory" unit,
which retained the name of Central Radio Propagation Laboratory. F. W. Brown served as acting chief of the unit.
42
In 1957 Section 82.50, VHF Research, was added to the Radio Propagation Physics Division, with K. L. Bowles as
chief.
43
In 1957 Section 83.80, Radio Meteorology, was added to the Radio Propagation Engineering Division, with B. R.
Bean as chief.

763
RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY 4
W. D. George (acting)

84 Division
4
Asst. chief for Radio Frequencies '
W. D. George (acting)
Asst. chief for Microwave Frequencies D. M. Kerns
.10 High Frequency Electrical Standards M. C. Selby
.20 Radio Broadcast Service A. H. Morgan
.30 High Frequency Impedance Standards J. L.Dalke
46
.50 Calibration Center H. W. Lance
47
.70 Microwave Physics D. M. Kerns
.80 Microwave Circuit Standards R. W. Beatty

1959
CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY F. W. Brown (acting)
(Reorganization to form an additional division January 1959)

82 RADIO PROPAGATION PHYSICS R. J. Slutz

Asst. chief D. M. Gates
Asst. chief A. H. Shapley
.10 Upper Atmosphere Research R. M. Gallet
.20 Ionosphere Research E. K. Smith
.30 Regular Prediction Services W. D. Chadwick
.40 Sun-Earth Relationships R. W. Knecht
.50 VHF Research K. L. Bowles
.60 Radio Warning Services J. V. Lincoln
.70 Airglow and Aurora F. E. Roach
.80 Radio Astronomy and Arctic Propagation C. G. Little

83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING K. A. Norton

Asst. chief for Research & Development J. W. Herbstreit
Asst. chief for Engineering, Logistics, and Technical
Administration K. O. Hornberg
.10 Data Reduction Instrumentation W. E. Johnson
.20 Modulation Systems 48 A. D. Watt
.40 Radio Noise W. Q. Crichlow
49
.50 Tropospheric Measurements C. F. Peterson
.60 Tropospheric Analysis P. L. Rice
30
.70 Radio Systems Application R. S. Kirby
.80 Radio Meteorology B. R. Bean
.90 Lower Atmosphere Physics M. C. Thompson

44
By NBS Administrative Bulletin 56-25, May 1, 1956, the title "Laboratory" as an alternative to "Division" was
applicable to Division 84. Later, in 1960, the title "Radio Standards Laboratory" was used in an administrative
structure that included one, and later, three divisions.
4
Remnants of the former branch structure of the division (see footnote 39) were retained by designating branch
chiefs as assistant division chiefs, each being responsible for a defined frequency region.
4t
'In the spring of 1958 the name of the Calibration Center was changed to Electronic Calibration Center at the
suggestion of Dr. Astin, director of NBS.
The term "electronic" in an organizational name at NBS appears to have been introduced by the Ordnance
Development Division during World War II, with the section name "Electronic Engineering." Cochrane states in
Measures for Progress, p. 249, footnote 83, that the phrase, " 'investigations in electronics'," was used in NBS
Annual Report 1918. He states:

This appears to be one of the first uses of the word "electronics" (by NBS), although not in its

present connotation. It did not come into general use until just before World War II.
17
D. M. Kerns was later assigned to the Division Office and was replaced by J. M. Richardson as chief of the
Microwave Physics Section.
4X
Section 83.20, Modulation Systems, was discontinued by 1960.
4!
' Early in 1961 C. F. Peterson transferred to the Federal Aviation Agency and was replaced by M. T. Decker.
50
The title of Section 83.70 was changed to Propagation-Terrain Effects by 1960.

764
85 RADIO COMMUNICATION AND SYSTEMS R. C Kirby
Asst. chief D. W. Patterson
.10 LF and VLF Research A. G. Jean
.20 HF and VHF Research R. Silberstein
.30 UHF and Super HF Research (not activated)
.40 Modulation Research J. W. Koch
.50 Antenna Research H. V. Cottony
.60 Navigation Systems G. Hefley
.70 Systems Analysis W. C. Coombs
.80 Field Operations H. G. Sellery

1960
Organizational structure of Boulder Laboratories
(exclusive of Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory)
51
at close of I960.

79 DIRECTORS OFFICE, BOULDER LABORATORIES' F. W. Brown 53 54 '

80 ADMINISTRATIVE 55 S. W. J. Welch
.10 Management Planning Mrs. J. Berkley
.20 Fiscal Office H. D. Stansell
.30 Personnel R. W. Stockwell
.40 Supply B. F. Betts
.50 Engineering Services P. S. Ballif
.60 Office Services R. G. Bulgin

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY F. W. Brown (acting)

82 IONOSPHERE RESEARCH AND PROPAGATION 6

E. K. Smith
Asst. chief T. N. Gautier
Asst. chief R. W. Knecht
.10 LF and VLF Research A. G. Jean
.20 Ionosphere Research K. Davies
.30 Prediction Services W. B. Chadwick
.40 Sun-Earth Relationships R. W. Knecht
.50 Field Engineering H. G. Sellery
.60 Radio Warning Services J. V. Lincoln

51
The rapid increase propagation work at the Boulder Laboratories, along with increased number of
in scope of
personnel, necessitated many changes
in the fluid-like organizational structure that existed. Four divisions were
formed in the CRPL, transferring sections and establishing new sections in order to reorient groups among the
several technical fields (divisions). Space-age projects hastened the need of reorientation.
52
The Director's Office was staffed with a number of persons engaged in special activities, including: five (and more)
consultants on special assignments, the Technical Information Officer, the Librarian, and several liaison personnel.
03
In 1961 Brown received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service "for exceptional skill
and achievement in the administration of major scientific research programs."
54
Dr. Brown, director of the Boulder Laboratories from 1954, transferred to the State Department, November 1962,
on an assignment to Argentina as a science attache. Although planning to return to the NBS, he later joined the
Environmental Science Services Administration in Washington, from which he retired in 1967. He died October 24,
1970.
05
In the spring of 1962 two sections were added to the Administrative Division: .70 Plant Engineering Section, with
E. A. Yuzwiak as chief; .80 Shop Section, with J. L. Hutton as chief.
56
In 1961 another section was added, the .70 Vertical Sounding Research Section, with J. W. Wright as chief.

765
83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING K. A. Norton
Asst. chief for Research and Development J.W. Herbstreit
.10 Data Reduction Instrumentation W. E. Johnson
40 Radio Noise W. Q. Crichlow
50 Tropospheric Measurements W. T. Decker (later)
60 Tropospheric Analysis P. L. Rice
70 Propagation-Terrain Effects R. S. Kirby
80 Radio Meteorology B. R. Bean
90 Lower Atmosphere Physics M. C. Thompson

85 RADIO SYSTEMS 57
R. C. Kirby
Asst. chief D. W. Patterson
.20 HF and VHF Research R. S. Silberstein
58

59
.40 Modulation Research J. W. Koch
.50 Antenna Research H. V. Cottony
.60 Navigation Systems G. Hefley
.70 Space Communications W. C. Coombs

87 UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE PHYSICS C. G. Little

Asst. chief D.M. Gates
.10 Upper Atmosphere & Plasma Physics R.M. Gallet
.50 Ionosphere & Exosphere Scatter K. L. Bowles
.70 Airglow and Aurora F. E. Roach
.80 Ionospheric Radio Astronomy R. S. Lawrence

84 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY' 0

J. M. Richardson' 11

Asst. chief for Radio Frequencies W. D. George

Asst. chief for Microwave Frequencies D. M. Kerns
Asst. chief for Technical Planning and Coordination E. C. Wolzien
.10 HF Electrical Standards M. C. Selby
.20 Radio Broadcast Service A. H. Morgan
.30 Radio and Microwave Materials J. L. Dalke
.40 Atomic Frequency and Time Standards R. C. Mockler
.50 Electronic Calibration Center H. W. Lance
.70 Millimeter- Wave Research W. Culshaw 62
.80 Microwave Circuit Standards R. W. Beatty

" In 1961 a new section was added, .10 Applied Electromagnetic Theory, with J. R. Johler as chief.
o8
In 1961 R. Silberstein transferred to the Department of the Army and was replaced by W. F. Utlaut.
59
in 1961 J. W. Koch was replaced by W. C. Coombs, and the .70 Space Communications Section discontinued.
h
"In 1960 a "Laboratory" organizational structure, known as the Radio Standards Laboratory, was established that
served as an administrative unit; first, for a single standards and measurement division, then two, and finally three
divisions. The "Laboratory" structure was discontinued in 1968.
1,1
Dr. John M. Richardson became chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory in the late spring of 1960. Prior to this
assignment he had been head of the Gaseous Physics Group within the Director's Office, a group involved in
plasma physics research.
''"Late in 1961 W. Culshaw resigned and was replaced by L. Y. Beers.

766
1962
90 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY J. M. Richardson
(Reorganization to form two divisions, January 26, 1962)
Asst. chief for Planning and Coordination E. C. Wolzien

91 RADIO PHYSICS 63 L. Y. Beers

4
.20 Radio Broadcast Service A. H. Morgan"
.30 Radio and MW
Materials J. L. Dalke
.40 Atomic Frequency and Time Interval Standards R. C. Mockler
.60 Radio Plasma B. Wieder (acting) 65
.70 Millimeter- Wave Research R. W. Zimmerer (acting)

66
92 CIRCUIT STANDARDS G. E. Schafer
Asst. chief H. W. Lance
.10 HF Electrical Standards M. C. Selby
.30 HF Impedance R. C. Powell
67
.50 Electronic Calibration Center W. F. Snyder (acting)
.80 Microwave Circuit Standards R. W. Beatty

92 CIRCUIT STANDARDS G. E. Schafer

(Reorganization, April 1962)
Asst. chief H. W. Lance
.10 HF Electrical Standards C. M. Allred
68
.20 HF Calibration Services R. C. Powell (acting)
.30 HF Impedance Standards R. C. Powell
.70 MW Calibration Services R. E. Larson
.80 Microwave Circuit Standards M. B. Hall
.90 LF Calibration Services F. D. Weaver

95 JOINT INSTITUTE FOR LABORATORY

ASTROPHYSICS (JILA)— NBS GROUP L. M. Branscomb,
(Established April 1962. A joint operation of NBS and chairman' 0
69
the University of Colorado, a technical unit of the Boulder Laboratories)

63
At a later time W. D. Goring was appointed to serve as assistant chief for Technical Planning and Coordination.
1,4
Later, a new section related technically to .20 Radio Broadcast Service, named .10 Frequency-Time Dissemination
Research, was formed with A. H. Morgan as chief. D. H. Andrews was appointed chief of the renamed .20
Frequency-Time Broadcast Service Section.
60
B. Wieder was later replaced by K B. Persson.
66
George E. Schafer was appointed chief, and Harvey W. Lance assistant chief, of the Circuit Standards Division at
the time of the reorganization of the Radio Standards Laboratory on January 26, 1962. Later, Schafer took an
extensive leave of absence on a teaching assignment and Lance served as acting chief of the Division.
67
W. F. Snyder served as acting chief of the Electronic Calibration Center until the spring of 1962 when the center
was organized as three sections, designated as Calibration Services sections. At this time Snyder was designated
Coordinator of Calibration Services.
68
R. C. Powell served as acting chief of the HF Calibration Services Section; later the position was filled by K. R.
Wendt.

Laboratory Astrophysics Group, identified organizationally as Division 95.00, was

69
Later, in March 1963, the NBS
established as a part of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), and became a division within the
NBS Institute of Basic Standards.

M. Branscomb had previously been chief of the Atomic Physics Division at NBS Washington. He was
70
Dr. Lewis
appointed chief of the NBS Laboratory Astrophysics Division at Boulder and retained the position until 1969 when
he was appointed director of NBS.

767
 )

BOULDER LABORATORIES R. B. Scott named acting

director
71 72
October 18, 1962 '

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY C. G. Little

73

74
(Reorganization of October 1962
Asst. chief J. W. Herbstreit
Admin, officer R. T. Frost
.10 Chief, CRPL Liaison and Program Development A. H. Shapley
.20 Consultant, Radio Wave Propagation J. R. Wait

82 IONOSPHERE RESEARCH AND PROPAGATION R. W. Knecht

Asst. chief T.N. Gautier
.05 Ultralow Frequency Research W. H. Campbell
.10 LF and VLF Research A. G. Jean
.20 Ionosphere Research K. Davies
73
.30 Prediction Services M. PoKempner (acting)
.40 Sun-Earth Relationships H. J. Smith
.50 Field Engineering H. G. Sellery
.60 Radio Warning Services J.V. Lincoln
.70 Vertical Sounding Research J. W. Wright

83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING 76 K. A. Norton

Asst. chief for Research and Development R. S.Kirby
.10 Data Reduction Instrumentation W. E. Johnson
.40 Radio Noise W. Q. Crichlow
.50 Tropospheric Measurements M. T. Decker
.60 Tropospheric Analysis P. L. Rice
.70 Spectrum Utilization A. P. Barsis
.80 Radio Meteorology R. E. McGavin 77
.90 Lower Atmosphere Physics M. C. Thompson

" Russell B. Scott was named acting director of the Boulder Laboratories to replace Brown who had taken a 2-year
assignment with the State Department. (See footnote 54.)
l2
In August 1963 Dr. Astin, director of NBS, announced that Scott's position as acting director of Boulder
Laboratories was changed to manager of Boulder Laboratories. The position was abolished October 1965 at time of
transfer of the CRPL to the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA). Scott retired from his position
as consultant to the Cryogenics Division on November 30, 1965. Scott continued his position as professor-adjunct in
the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Colorado. He died September 24, 1967.

appointed chief of the CRPL, replaced Brown who had served for 8 years as acting chief of
I,i
Dr. C. Gordon Little,
the CRPL, but was now leaving NBS on a State Department assignment. Little joined NBS in 1958 to head the
Radio Astronomy and Arctic Propagation Section.
74
An interesting headline and article appeared on the first page of the November-December 1962 issue of The
Bureau Drawer (a Boulder Laboratories in-house publication) announcing the October reorganization of the CRPL.
The reader was introduced to the subject of the many personnel changes by reading:

CHAIN OF CHANGES SWEEPS BOULDER LABORATORIES

Changes in CRPL
Remember October? It was the month of the big hail in Boulder and the autumn gust that shook
the high branches of the BL organizational trees. Most of the leaves went up.

There was the appointment of Dr. C. Gordon Little as first permanent chief of the Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory, and the establishment of a numerical division 89.00, for the personnel
attached to his office. . . .

' 5
Walter B. Chadwick retired at the time of this reorganization. He had been chief of the Propagation, or
Prediction, Services Section since the organization of the CRPL in 1946.

76
Later, Division 83 was renamed Tropospheric and Space Telecommunications Division. (See footnote 87.)
77
Later, B. R. Bean replaced R. E. McGavin as section chief, McGavin remaining in the section.

768
85 RADIO SYSTEMS R. C. Kirby
Asst. chief D. W. Patterson
Asst. chief W. Utlaut
F.

.10 Applied Electromagnetic Theory J. R.Johler

78
.20 HF and VHF Research W. F. Utlaut
.30 Frequency Utilization G. W. Haydon
.40 Modulation Research C. C. Watterson
.50 Antenna Research H. V. Cottony
.60 Radiodetermination G. Hefley

87 UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE PHYSICS 7981 E. K. Smith

.10 Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics R. M. Gallet
.20 High Latitude Ionospheric Physics H. J. A. Chivers
.50 Ionosphere and Exosphere Scatter K. L. Bowles
.70 Airglow and Aurora F. E. Roach
.80 Ionospheric Radio Astronomy R. S. Lawrence

1963
79 MANAGER'S OFFICE R. B. Scott

1964
In early February, 1964, Department Order No. 90 brought a sweeping change at NBS in the organizational
structure for administration of the technical programs. Four Institutes were established, each covering a broad
range of technical fields. The four divisions of the CRPL constituted an Institute, with Dr. C. Gordon Little as
director. The two radio standards divisions, the Laboratory Astrophysics Division, and eight divisions at NBS
Washington constituted the Institute for Basic Standards, with Dr. Robert D. Huntoon as director. (The Cryogenics
Division at NBS Boulder became one of six divisions within the Institute for Materials Research.)

8283
200 INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS (IBS) R. D. Huntoon
(224 Laboratory Astrophysics Division, 250 Radio Standards Laboratory, 251 Radio Standards Physics Division, and
252 Radio Standards Engineering Division were NBS Boulder technical units of IBS)

500 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY C. G. Little (director)

(An Institute of NBS)
Deputy director J. W. Herbstreit
Admin, officer R. T. Frost
.10 Chief, CRPL Liaison and Program Development A. H. Shapley
.20 Consultant, Radio Wave Propagation J. R. Wait

78
Upon the appointment of W. F. Utlaut as assistant chief of the division, L. H. Tveten was appointed chief of the
HF and VHF Research Section.
79
Later, F. L. Taylor was appointed assistant chief of the Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division.
80
Later, the Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics Section was discontinued.
81
In the fall of 1963 a new section was created in the division, known as Atmospheric Collision Processes, with
Eldon E. Ferguson as chief.
82
Dr. Merrill B. Wallenstein, a physical chemist, entered the Institute for Basic Standards in July 1964 and later
served as deputy director and acting director. He died July 1, 1968.
83
In 1967 Huntoon was appointed to head the Office of Program Development and Evaluation in the Office of the
Director. He retired from NBS in July 1968.

769
582 IONOSPHERE RESEARCH AND PROPAGATION 8
R. W. Knecht
Asst. chief T. N. Gautier
Asst. chief for Technical Planning and Administration J. A. Kemper
.01 Boulder Magnetic Observatory A. J. Bilik
.05 Ultralow Frequency Research W. H. Campbell
.10 LF and VLF Research D. D. Crombie
.20 Ionosphere Research K. Davies
.30 Prediction Services M. Leftin 85
.40 Sun-Earth Relationships T. E. Vanzandt (acting)
.50 Field Engineering H. G. Sellery
.60 Radio Warning Services J. V. Lincoln
.62 North Atlantic Radio Warning Services E. J. Wiewara
86
.63 North Pacific Radio Warning Services (vacant)
.70 Vertical Sounding Research J. W. Wright

583 TROPOSPHERE AND SPACE TELECOMMUNICATIONS R. S. Kirby

(The division organization remained essentially the same as of October 1962, with changes
87 88
indicated in footnotes.)

585 RADIO SYSTEMS R. C. Kirby

(The division organization remained essentially the same as of October 1962.)

587 UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE PHYSICS E. K. Smith

(The division organization remained essentially the same as of October 1962.)

INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS R. D. Huntoon

224 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS (.11 LA) — NBS Group L. M. Branscomb

250 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY 89 J. M. Richardson

Asst. chief for Program Evaluation and Development H. W. Lance
Asst. chief for Technical Planning and Coordination E. C. Wolzien

251 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS 90 L. Y. Beers

Asst. chief G. F. Hudson
Asst. chief for Technical Planning and Coordination W. D. Goring
.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research A. H. Morgan
.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services D. H. Andrews
.03 Radio and MW
Materials J. L. Dalke
.04 Atomic Frequency and Time Interval Standards R. C. Mockler
.06 Radio Plasma K.-B. Persson
.07 Microwave Physics R. W. Zimmerer (acting)

KJ
Previously, in the summer and fall of 1963, a number of changes had been made in the Ionosphere Research and
Propagation Division. These were retained in the division structure of 1964 when the CRPL became an Institute.
x:
'Mrs. Margo Leftin was formerly Margo (Minadora) PoKempner, chief of the Prediction Services Section.
86
Later, the position was filled by L. W. Honea as the engineer-in-charge of the Anchorage, Alaska field station.
8?
Administrative Bulletin 63-5 of March 27, 1963, announced the change of name of the Radio Propagation
Engineering Division to the Troposphere and Space Telecommunications Division.

In the summer of 1964 K. A. Norton was appointed consultant to the director of CRPL, and R. S. Kirby became
chief of the Troposphere and Space Telecommunications Division.
89
With the establishment of the Institute for Basic Standards and with the existence of the Radio Standards
Laboratory (unit) for several years, there were now two levels in the echelon of administration and of planning
operations that had not existed previously in NBS administration. Changes several years later brought a
discontinuance of the "Radio Standards Laboratory" level in the echelon of administration.

'"Administrative Bulletin 63-5 of March 27, 1963, announced the change of name of the Radio Physics Division to
the Radio Standards Physics Division.

770
 91 92
252 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING G. E. Schafer
Asst. chief for Technical Planning and Coordination W. Anson
J.
9*
.11 LF Calibration Services F. D. Weaver
.21 HF Calibration Services K. R. Wendt
.22 HF Electrical Standards C. M. Allred
.23 HF Impedance Standards R. C. Powell
.31 MW Calibration Services R. E. Larson
.32 Microwave Circuit Standards M. B. Hall

1965
Early in 1965 another wave of changes and reorganization came over much of the organizational structure of
the Boulder Laboratories, and mainly to the CRPL and to the administration of the Boulder Laboratories. Changes
in the CRPL became effective February 1, 1965 to meet new space-age responsibilities of the Institutes of NBS.
Organizational structure of the RSL remained essentially the same.

160 OFFICE OF THE MANAGER, BOULDER LABORATORIES R. B. Scott

94

Asst. manager for Planning and Facilities S. W. J. Welch

95
161 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES H. D. Stansell
.30 Fiscal T. M. Rizzi
.40 Supply B. F. Betts
.50 Office Services R. G. Bulgin
.60 Photo and Printing Services C. M. Benedict
.70 Drafting Services J. C. Harmon
96
162 SHOPS F. P. Brown (acting)
Asst. chief R. S. Perrill

163 PLANT E. A. Yuzwiak

97
.10 Design and Construction G. M. Musick (acting)
.20 Plant Services R. J. Stadlbauer
.30 Maintenance and Operation E. G. Clark

500 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY C. G. Little (director)

Deputy director for Program Planning and Liaison J. W. Herbstreit

al
Administrative Bulletin 63-5 of March 27, 1963, announced the change of name of the Circuit Standards Division
to the Radio Standards Engineering Division.
IJ
In September 1964 Schafer entered a 1-year fellowship program of the Department of Commerce. Dr. Helmut M.
Altshuler joined NBS to serve as acting chief of the Radio Standards Engineering Division during Schafer's
absence.

In the spring of 1966 the operations of the Low Frequency Calibration Services Section were phased out and the
measurement equipment moved to Gaithersburg, Md. where the calibration services were continued by the
Electricity Division.
94
See footnotes 71 and 72.
95
Herbert D. Stansell died December 5, 1965.
96
Although F. P. Brown was chief of the Shops Division at NBS Washington, he served also for a period of time as
acting chief of the Shops Division at NBS Boulder. Later, Rodney S. Perrill was appointed chief of the Shops
Division at Boulder.
97
G. M. Musick was later replaced by W. L Arnold.

771
510 IONOSPHERIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS 9899 R. C. Kirby
Asst. chief D. W. Patterson
.10 ELF to MF Propagation Branch D. D. Crombie
.11 VLF/LF Research Section D. D. Crombie
.12 Radiodetermination Section R. L. Gallawa
.13 Electromagnetic Theory Section J. R. Johler
.19 HF Propagation Group K. Davies
.20 HF and VHF Propagation Branch W. F. Utlaut
.21 Ionospheric Radar Section L. H. Tveten
.28 HF Propagation Theory Group K. Davies and L. A. Berry
.29 Radar Facility Group J. C. Carrol
.30 Ionosphere Predictions Branch T. N. Gautier
.31 Prediction Services Section M. Leftin
.32 Field Engineering and Operations Section H. G. Sellery
.39 Group
Prediction Research T. N. Gautier
.40 Communications Technology Branch D. W. Patterson
.41 Frequency Utilization Section G. W. Haydon
.42 Information Transmission Section C. C. Watterson
.43 Antenna Section H. V. Cottony
.49 Systems Group D. W. Patterson

520 TROPOSPHERIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS R. S. Kirby

.10 Data Reduction and Instrumentation W. E. Johnson
.20 Atmospheric Spectroscopy B. R. Bean (acting)
.30 Optical Propagation R. S. Lawrence
.40 Electromagnetic Interference Environment W. Q. Crichlow
.50 Millimeter Wave Propagation M. T. Decker
.60 Tropospheric Propagation Predictions P. L. Rice
.70 Spectrum Utilization Research A. P. Barsis
.80 Radio Meteorology B. R. Bean
.90 Tropospheric Physics M. C. Thompson
530 SPACE ENVIRONMENT FORECASTING R. W. Knecht
Asst. chief for Technical Planning and Administration J. A.Kemper
100
Research Programs
High Altitude Nuclear Detection Studies A. G. Jean
Solar Flare Detection Techniques A. G. Jean
Radio Phase Studies K. Davies
High Latitude Ionosphere Physics G. C. Reid
Magnetoionic Storm Theory R. J. Slutz
Numerical Forecasting Techniques R. J. Slutz
Solar Proton Event Detection D. K. Bailey
Infrasonics V. W. Goerke
Ionosphere Responses L. R. Megill
Solar Radio Astronomy W. K. Klemperer
Solar Activity C. S. Warwick
Boulder Magnetic Observatory A. J. Bilik
Space Environment Data Services J. V. Lincoln
Space Environment Forecasting Services J. V. Lincoln
High Altitude Disturbance Detection H. J. A. Chivers

The Ionospheric Telecommunications Division was organized from various segments of the several divisions that
constituted the CRPL just previous to the reorganization of February 1, 1965. The name Telecommunications was
defined as: "the transfer of information of any type for any purpose over distances greater than the range of the
human voice."
99
In order to maintain clarity in the names of the technical units and in the echelon structure that evolved in the
complexity of reorganization of this division, it was necessary to use the terms Branch, Section, and Group after
each of the several kinds of technical units, contrary to the format used elsewhere by the author in this appendix.
100
Division 530 chose to designate its technical units as "Research Program" areas rather than use the long-used

NBS name of "Section" with the accompanying numerical designation.

772
540 AERONOMY E. K. Smith
Deputy division chief F. E. Roach
.03 Geomagnetism Group W. H. Campbell
.07 Equatorial Airglow Studies F. E. Roach
.09 Instrumentation Group G. R. Sugar
.20 Laboratory Plasma Physics C. K. McLane
.30 Atmospheric Collision Processes Eldon E. Ferguson
.40 Rocket and Satellite Experiments W. Calvert
.50 Ionosphere and Exosphere Physics
(Jicamarca Observatory) D. T. Farley
.60 Ionospheric Structure J. W. Wright
.70 Optical Aeronomy M. Gadsden
.80 Ionosphere Radio Astronomy R. S. Lawrence

On October 13, 1965 the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, with the four technical divisions, was formally
transferred to the newly-established Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA), within the
101102
Department of Commerce. (Refer to ch. XX.)

1966
In the late summer of 1966 a number of new appointments were made in organization of the Radio Standards
Laboratory as a result of new sections being established, new appointees to the Department of Commerce Science
and Technology Fellow Program, and several persons serving in consultant positions.

250 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY J.M. Richardson 103104

Chief (and deputy director for Radio Standards, H. M. Altschuler (acting)
Institute for Basic Standards, NBS Washington)
Asst. chief for Program Evaluation and Development H. W. Lance
Asst. chief for Planning and Coordination E. C. Wolzien

251 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS L. Y. Beers

.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research A. H. Morgan
.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services D. H. Andrews
.03 Radio and MW
Materials J. L. Dalke
.04 Atomic Frequency and Time Standards J. A. Barnes
.05 Quantum Electronics D. A. Jennings (acting)
.06 Radio Plasma K.-B. Persson

101
Previously, on July 13, 1965, the Reorganization Plan consolidating the Weather Bureau and the Coast and
Geodetic Survey to form ESSA became effective, with the CRPL to be transferred to the new agency of the
Department of Commerce at a later time.
102
Some services at Boulder Laboratories, such as Library services, Personnel services, and Computer services, were
transferred to ESSA.
103
John M. Richardson was named deputy director for Radio Standards of the NBS Institute for Basic Standards in
December 1965.
104
John M. Richardson, chief of the Radio Standards Laboratory (and deputy director for Radio Standards, IBS),
was granted leave of absence to attend Harvard University Graduate School of Public Administration. In the fall of
1967 Richardson was appointed director of the Office of Standards Review, a newly established unit in the
Department of Commerce. In the summer of 1976 Richardson was named director of the Office of
Telecommunications, Department of Commerce, after association with the office since 1970.

773
252 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING H. M. Altschuler
C. M. Allred (acting)
Asst. chief for Technical Administration and Coordination P. H. Lowrie
Asst. chief for Program Planning and Development A. J. Estin
.21 HF Calibration Services K. R. Wendt
.22 HF Electrical Standards C. M. Allred
P. A. Hudson (acting)
.23 HF Impedance Standards R. C. Powell
105

106
A. E. Hess (acting)
.31 MW Calibration Services R. E. Larson
.32 MW Circuit Standards M. B. Hall
.42 Electromagnetic Field Standards R. C. Baird

1967
A separation of technical disciplines in the Radio Standards Physics Division resulted in the formation of two
divisions on September 24, 1967. The three frequency and time sections constituted the new Division. The other
three sections remained unchanged and constituted the Radio Standards Physics Division. The Radio Standards
Laboratory, as an organizational unit with three divisions, continued for but a few months thereafter.

253 TIME AND FREQUENCY J. A. Barnes

Asst. chief R. D. Harrington 107
.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research A. H. Morgan
.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services P. P. Viezbicke (acting)
.04 Atomic Frequency-Time Standards R. E. Beehler

1968
INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS E. Ambler 108

For a period of several months, and with completion by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 1968, many
changes were made in the organizational structure of the Boulder Laboratories of NBS. Department Order 90-B,
dated May 15, 1968, established the position of deputy director, Institute for Basic Standards at Boulder. im All NBS
organizational units at Boulder Laboratories were placed within the Institute for Basic Standards (IBS) and unified
under single and local management in the Office of Deputy Director. 110

INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS, AT BOULDER

270 OFFICE OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR B. W. Birmingham
.01 Office of Program Development 111 R. M. Flynn
.02 Office of Management 112 R. W. Stockwell

105
Robert C. Powell participated in the Department of Commerce Fellowship Program, assigned to the Office of the
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology.
1
'"' Alfred E. Hess served as acting chief of the HF Impedance Standards Section, followed by Cletus A. Hoer as
acting chief. In turn, Hoer was followed by Leslie E. Huntley as chief of the section.
107
Previously, Robert D. Harrington had participated in the Department of Commerce Science and Technology
Fellowship Program, being assigned to the Environmental Science Services Administration.
108
Dr. Ernest Ambler was named director of IBS early in 1968. Previously, Ambler was chief of the Inorganic
Materials Division. Later, Dr. Robert J. Corruccini was appointed assistant director of IBS and, in September 1968,
was appointed deputy director. He retired in December 1972.
1<ia
Previously, beginning January 1, 1968, Bascom W. Birmingham, chief of the Cryogenics Division, was designated
Executive Officer at the Boulder Laboratories, as an additional duty. This action was taken by Astin due to the
retirement of Welch (Executive Officer) at the close of 1967 and the abolishment in October 1965 of the position of
manager of Boulder Laboratories. During the period of January-May 1968, the executive officer had a broader area
of activity than previously and served as the NBS spokesman for the Boulder Laboratories.

""Effective July 1, 1968, the code numbers of NBS Boulder divisions were changed to those given in the
organizational structure indicated hereafter.
111
Later, known as Office of Program Coordination.
112
Later, known as Office of Executive Assistant.

774
271 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS 113 H. S. Boyne (acting) 114
.01 Solid State Electronics R. J. Mahler
115
.05 Quantum Electronics D. A. Jennings
.06 Plasma Physics K B. Persson

272 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING H. M. Altschuler

Asst. chief for Technical Administration and Coordination P. H. Lowrie
Asst. chief for Program Planning and Development A. J. Estin
.21 HF Calibration Services K. R. Wendt
.22 HF Electrical Standards C. M. Allred
.23 HF Impedance Standards R. C. Powell
116
C. A. Hoer (acting)
.31 MW Calibration Services R. E. Larson
.32 MW Circuit Standards M. B. Hall
.42 Electromagnetic Field Standards R. C. Baird

273 TIME AND FREQUENCY J. A. Barnes

Asst. chief R. E. Beehler
.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research J. L.Jesperson
.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services P. P.Viezbicke
.04 Atomic Frequency and Time Standards D. W. Halford

274 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS (JILA) L. M. Branscomb 117

Deputy chief S. J. Smith

275 CRYOGENICS D. B. Chelton

11 *
281 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES B. F. Betts

282 INSTRUMENT SHOPS R. S. Perrill

119

283 PLANT E. A. Yuzwiak

113
Later, in October 1969, a new section was established, LaserMeasurement Techniques, with Dr. Estal D. West as
chief. Also, the Solid State Electronics Section was consolidated with the Quantum Electronics Section.
114
Later, in June 1969, Dr. Harold S. Boyne was made chief of the Radio Standards Physics Division, after serving
for several years as acting chief. Thomas W. Russell was designated to serve as associate chief for Programs.
115
In July 1972 the Quantum Electronics Section was renamed Gaseous Electronics Section and Dr. Thomas A.
Dillon named as acting chief (later as chief).
116
Later, Leslie E. Huntley was appointed chief.
117
On September 1, 1969, Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb became director of NBS. Dr. Stephen J. Smith became acting
chief of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division, and later served as chief.
118
In June 1971 J. S. Roettenbacher became acting chief of the Administrative Services (later, Supply Services)
Division, and later was appointed chief of the division.
119
In 1969 Perrill was replaced by William A. Wilson.

775
1969
272 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING 120 R. C. Sangster
12

.21 HF Calibration Services K. R. Wendt

.23 HF Impedance Standards L. E. Huntley
.24 RF Transmission and Noise C. M. Allred
.25 RF Power and Voltage P. A. Hudson
31 IYTW Calibration Sprvirp«; XV. J_i, 1—JCX 1 oUl 1
.32 MW Circuit Standards G. E. Schafer
122

.42 Electromagnetic Field Standards R. C. Baird

Director: L. M. Branscomb, 1969-1972 123

1970
272 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING 124 126 R. C. Sangster
Asst. chief for Technical Affairs A. J. Estin
Manager, Technical Liaison R. E. Larson
127
Manager, Resources and Administration P. H. Lowrie
128
.10 Senior Research Scientists
.20 Pulse and Time Domain N. S. Nahman
.30 Automation 129 C. M. Allred
.40 Circuit Standards L. E. Huntley
.50 Power-Current- Voltage Standards P. A. Hudson
.60 Noise and Interference M. G. Arthur
.70 Fields and Antennas R. C. Baird
.80 Systems and Instrumentation N. T. Larsen
.90 Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center W. J. Anson

120
January 1969 two new sections were established in the Division, the RF Transmission and Noise Section, and
In
the RF Power and
Voltage Section. At the same time the High Frequency Calibration Services Section and the
High Frequency Electrical Standards Section were abolished.
121
Dr. Sangster became chief of the Radio Standards Engineering Division on May 1, 1969. Prior to
Raymond C.
entering NBS to division chief, Sangster was director of research at the Bayside Laboratory of General
become a
Telephone and Electronics Laboratories, Inc., L.I., New York.
122
G. E. Schafer replaced M. B. Hall, with Hall being appointed to serve as a senior research scientist in the Radio
Standards Physics Division.
123
M. Branscomb became director of NBS on September 1, 1969, on the day following Dr. Astin's
Dr. Lewis
retirement. Previously, Branscomb had been chief of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division at Boulder, also
chairman of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) at Boulder. He had been nominated to the
position of director by President Nixon on June 17, 1969.
124
This reorganization, effective May 3, 1970, reflected the new program orientation of the division. During 1969 the
HF Calibration Services Section was phased out and in November 1969 the name of the Calibration Services MW
Section was changed to MW
Measurement Applications. The calibration services provided by the two former
sections were assigned to various sections of the reorganized division. Also, in November 1969 the name of the MW
Circuit Standards Section was changed to MW Standards, and the name of the EM Field Standards Section to EM
Fields and Antennas Section.
12 '
The name of the Radio Standards Engineering Division was changed to Electromagnetics Division, effective June
30, 1970, by Department Organization Order 30-2B.
This action was preceded by a memo by the deputy director, IBS/Boulder, to the director of IBS that stated, in
part:
I wish approval for change of the name of Division 272 from "Radio Standards Engineering
Division" to "Electromagnetics Division."

As noted above, the use of the word "radio" as a term in the name of an NBS organizational unit came to an end
on June 30, 1970, yielding to the broader term "electromagnetics." Concurrent with this change was the change in
name of the Radio Standards Physics Division to Quantum Electronics Division.
12fi
On
July 1, 1971, R. E. Larson was designated associate chief of the Division, A. J. Estin as assistant chief for
Technical Affairs, and D. H. Russell as assistant chief for Resources and Administration.
127
Later, Lowrie was replaced by David H. Russell.
m A group of five high-level research scientists constituted the Division's "think-tank."
129
On July 1, 1971, the Automation Section and the Systems and Instrumentation Section were combined as the
272.55 Systems, Automation and Instrumentation Section, with George R. Sugar as chief. In April 1972 Sugar and
N. T. Larsen were designated co-chiefs of the section.

776
270 OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF IBS/BOULDER B. W. Birmingham 10
Measurement Services
Office of J. L. Dalke
Program Coordinator Services Office R. D. Harrington
Program Information Office J. F. Brockman 131
132
Executive Officer A. R. Hauler

1972
Acting director: L. M. Kushner, May 1972-February 1973 133

273 TIME AND FREQUENCY 134 J.A.Barnes

135
Assoc. chief R. E. Beehler
Program Teams:
136
Quantum Electronic Frequency Standards J. A. Barnes
Atomic Time Standards D. W. Allan
Frequency-Time Measurement Methods D. Halford
13 '

.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research J. L. Jespersen

.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services P. P. Viezbicke

1973
Director: R. W. Roberts, 1973-1975 138

272 ELECTROMAGNETICS 139 R. C. Sangster

Asst. chief, Resources and Administration D. H. Russell
Asst. chief, Technical Affairs R. E. Larson 140
.10 Senior Research Scientists (five)

.20 Pulse and Time Domain N. S. Nahman 141

142
.40 Circuit Standards A. J. Estin

130
In September 1970 the Office of the Deputy Director was reorganized, with certain positions abolished and others
established. Other changes were made in March 1971.
131
In March 1971 Brockman was replaced by Ralph F. Desch, in charge of the Program Information Office.
132
The Executive Officer was assigned supervision of IBS/Boulder central service organization in support of the
technical programs of IBS/Boulder and ESSA Research Laboratories, including the Administrative Services,
Instrument Shops, and Plant divisions; also several staff units.
133
Upon the resignation of Branscomb, director of NBS, in April 1972, Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner served as acting
director of NBS until Dr. Richard W. Roberts became director on February 3, 1973. Kushner had been deputy
director since May 1969. Formerly, he had been director of the Institute for Applied Technology.
134
Effective November 1, 1972, the Atomic Frequency and Time Section (273.04) was abolished, with the research
programs divided among three program teams under the leadership of Barnes, Allan, and Halford.
130
Roger E. Beehler had been named associate chief of the division in October 1970.
136
In January 1973 Dr. Helmut Hellwig was appointed to replace Barnes in this position.

137
In September 1973 George Kamas was appointed acting chief of the section for the 10-month absence of
Jesperson who had been designated a Commerce Science Fellow.

Dr. Richard W. Roberts became director of NBS on February 3, 1973. Roberts was the seventh director of NBS
138

and the second to have been selected from outside the ranks of NBS personnel (Condon was the first; Stratton had
been selected to establish NBS). However, Roberts served a year at NBS in 1959-1960 as a National Academy of
Science Postdoctoral Fellow.
Previous to coming to NBS, Roberts held high-level positions at the General Electric Co., Schenectady, N.Y.,
his latest having been manager of Materials Science and Engineering at the G. E. Research and Development
Center.
139
Over a period of 7 months, from July 1972 through January 1973, a number of staffing assignment changes were
made in the division, resulting in the organization indicated.
140
Previously, R. E. Larson had been Manager, Technical Liaison.
141
In July 1973, Nahman resigned to teach at Toledo University. The Pulse and Time Domain Section (272.20) was
abolished and its functions absorbed in the Power-Current- Voltage Standards Section.
142
Previously, Estin had served as assistant chief of the Division for Technical Affairs.

777
 .50 Power-Current- Voltage Standards P. A. Hudson
.55 Systems, Automation, and Instrumentation Programs
Automation G. R. Sugar
Systems and Instrumentation N. T. Larsen
Automatic Network Analyzer Applications W. E. Little
.60 Noise and Interference C. K. S. Miller
.70 Fields and Antennas R. C. Baird
.90 Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center W. J. Anson

271 QUANTUM ELECTRONICS 143

H. S. Boyne
(Effective July 1, 1973, the three sections of the Quantum Electronics Division were abolished, with the research
programs divided among five program teams, each team with a designated leader.)

Program Teams:
Laser Parameter Measurements E. D. West
Optical Electronics R. J. Phelan
Gaseous Electronics T. A. Dillon
Laser Metrology Development J. Levine
Laser Wavelength and Frequency Measurement D. A. Jennings

1974
INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS A. O. McCoubrey 1

Beginning in the summer of 1974, the technical programs of the Quantum Electronics Division were
transferred to the Electromagnetics Division and to the Time and Frequency Division, with the Quantum
Electronics Division phased out by March 1975 as an organizational unit. By early 1975 realignment of the two
divisions had been completed. 140

276 ELECTROMAGNETICS 146

H. S. Boyne 147148
Deputy chiefs, Technical Programs R. A. Kamper
C. M. Allred
Asst. chief, Resources and Administration D. H. Russell
Group
Optical Electronics R. J. Phelan
.10 Laser Parameter Measurement Group R. L. Smith
.40 Circuit Standards A. J. Estin
.50 Power-Current- Voltage Standards P. A. Hudson
.55 Systems, Automation, and Instrumentation N. T. Larsen
Automated Measurements Applications W. E Little
.60 Noise and Interference C. K. S. Miller
.70 Fields and Antennas R. C. Baird
.90 Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center W. J. Anson

14i
The name of the Radio Standards Physics Division was changed to Quantum Electronics Division, effective June
30, 1970, by Department Organization Order 30-2B.

Dr. Arthur O. McCoubrey joined NBS on March 18, 1974, to serve as director of the IBS, succeeding Ambler who
144

had been named deputy director of NBS. Previously, he had been vice president of Frequency and Time Systems,
Inc., Danvers, Mass.
Upon the retirement of Corruccini at the close of 1972, Dr. David T. Goldman became deputy director of the
IBS.
145
At the time of the transfer, the two divisions were renumbered.
14t
'New program emphasis in the reorganized division was on Cryoelectronic Metrology and Measurement
Assurance Programs.
147
Dr. Raymond C. Sangster, former chief of the Electromagnetics Division, was assigned to the position of Program
Manager for Strategic Planning, an NBS-wide project.
UK
Initially, acting status.

778
277 TIME AND FREQUENCY J. A. Barnes
Office of Program Development R. J. Mahler
.03 Precision Laser Metrology D. A. Jennings'
.04 Frequency-Time Standards H. Hellwig
.05 Gaseous Electronics E. W. Smith 149
.06 Time and Frequency Services R. E. Beehler

1975
151
Acting director: E. Ambler, July 1975-

276 ELECTROMAGNETICS H. S. Boyne

Effective July 1, 1975, the section structure of the Division was abolished and a Program structure established,
with designated personnel as Program Chiefs (later, the Programs were assigned numbers as an aid in tabulating
or noting the 10 Program titles). The positions of two associate chiefs of Technical Programs were retained in the
reorganized Division.

Associate chiefs, Technical Programs R. A. Kamper

C. M. Allred
.01 Microwave Metrology Services D. J. Russell
.02 Power, Current, and Voltage Standards P. A. Hudson
.03 Microwave Circuit Parameters A. J. Estin
.04 Time Domain Analysis N. S. Nahman
.05 Antennas and Fields R. C. Baird
.06 Noise and Interference C. K. S. Miller
.07 Remote Measurement Science W. E. Little
.08 Laser Power and Energy R. L. Smith
.09 Systems and Instrumentation N. T. Larsen
.10 Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center W. J. Anson

274 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS 152

P. L. Bender 158

149
Jennings and Smith, each concurrently, requested to be relieved of administrative duties as chiefs of their
more fully in research, including laboratory work. On March 4,
respective programs (or sections) in order to engage
1976, Dr. M. M. Hessel became acting chief of both the Precision Laser Metrology and the Gaseous Electronics
Programs (or Sections). Later, Jennings was designated acting chief of .03 Precision Laser Metrology, and Smith
acting chief of .05 Gaseous Electronics.
150
Effective on January 5, 1975, the Time and Frequency Services Section was established, a combination of two
former sections, Frequency-Time Dissemination Research and Frequency-Time Broadcast.
151
Dr. Ernest Ambler became acting NBS on July 1, 1975, being designated to the position by the
director of
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Technology. Ambler filled the vacancy left by Roberts who
for Science
transferred to the Energy Research and Development Administration as assistant administrator for Nuclear
Energy. Ambler had been serving as deputy director of NBS.
152
Effective February 27, 1977, the Laboratory Astrophysics Division was renamed Quantum Physics Division.
153
In August 1975 Dr. Peter L. Bender was designated acting chief of the division. The chief, Dr. S. J. Smith,
participated in the Commerce Science and Technology Fellowship Program, returning during the summer of 1976
to the position of chief of the division.
154
Effective September 1, 1976, S. J. Smith was appointed acting associate director for Research Coordination,
Institute of Basic Standards. He had served as chief of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division and was replaced by G.
H. Dunn as acting chief on January 1, 1977.

779
1977
276 ELECTROMAGNETICS H. S. Boyne
Effective July 1, 1977, by Administrative Order 77-51
Associate chiefs, Technical Programs R. A. Kamper
C. M. Allred
.01 Guided Wave Metrology R. A. Kamper (acting)
.02 EM Sensing Metrology W. E. Little
155

.03 EMI/Radiation Hazards C. K. S. Miller

.04 Signal Waveform Metrology C. M. Allred (acting)
.05 Antenna Systems Metrology R. C. Baird

Author's (WFS) note: One cannot help but be struck by the similarity of the frequent and
significant changes that have taken place during recent years in the organizational
structures of the technical units of NBS Boulder Laboratories with the description given by
Toffler in his 1970 book, Future Shock (Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Random House, New
York, 1970). In Chapter 7, Organizations: The Coming Ad Hocracy, under the section titled
"The Organizational Upheaval," Toffler stated:
There was a time when a table of organization sometimes familiarly —
—
known as a "T/O" showed a neatly arranged series of boxes, each
indicating an officer and the organizational sub-units for which he was
responsible. Every bureaucracy of any size, whether a corporation, a
university, or a government agency, had its own T/O, providing its
managers with a detailed map of the organizational geography. Once
drawn, such a map became a fixed part of the organization's rule book,
remaining in use for years at a time. Today, organizational lines are
changing so frequently that a three-month-old table is often regarded as an
historic artifact, something like the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Organizations now change their internal shape with a frequency and —

—
sometimes a rashness that makes the head swim. Titles change from week
to week. Jobs are transformed. Responsibilities shift. Vast organizational
structures are taken apart, bolted together again in new forms, then
rearranged again. Departments and divisions spring up overnight only to
vanish in another, and yet another, reorganization.

Little transferred to Bureau of Mines, June 4, 1977; replaced by D. A. Ellerbruch, acting, June 5, 1977.

780
 APPENDIX D

JOHN HOWARD DELLINGER— LONG-TIME PUBLIC SERVANT OF

RADIO IN GOVERNMENT

Proem

Beginning in 1907, John Howard Dellinger served the U.S. Government for 41 years as
a physicist in radio science and engineering until he retired in 1948 as chief of the Central
2 1
Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards. This span of years '

covered a period that saw radio develop from a new form of communication to a new and
expansive field of science and a means of worldwide communication. Dellinger became a
recognized leader in the new science and technology.

1
Information for this biography came largely from that contained in the personal papers (five boxes) of Dellinger
deposited at the National Archives in 1964 by the National Bureau of Standards, under Accession No. NN365-25;
also, thatcontained in the official files (approximately 58 cu. ft., in 51 boxes) of Dellinger deposited at the National
Archives in 1965 by the Bureau under Accession No. NN365-90.
Over the years Dellinger prepared several versions of a "Professional Record of J. Howard Dellinger." The last
and most extensive of these records was the one prepared for Cochrane (Measures for Progress), with letter of
transmittal dated July 9, 1962 (6 months before Dellinger's death). This record, in tabular form, listed 97 items
(plus sub-items) in 6 categories. Most numerous of these items were the 34 related to the category of Service at
International Conferences, and 20 related to Additional Special Services. (NBS Historical File Box 6.) Some —
material was obtained from the file on John Howard Dellinger, National Personnel Records Center, GSA (Civilian
Personnel Records), St. Louis, Mo.
In contrast to the nearly 100 items tabulated by Dellinger in his professional record (1962), and to the
numerous biographical sketches that were published from time to time, the sketch that was prepared for an early
edition of Webster's Biographical Dictionary was very short. The sketch read, and has been continued to the 1974
edition, thus:

Del-'lin-ger (deT-In-jer), John Howard, 1886-1962. American radio engineer, b. Cleveland, Ohio.
Physicist. (1907), chief of radio section (1918-1946), U.S. Bureau of Standards; chief engineer,
Federal Radio Commission (1928-29); chief of radio section of research division, aeronautics
branch, Department of Commerce (1926-34). Author of articles on radio and electricity; special
editor, Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition.
Again, what might be written of Dellinger as a long-length biography was noted in the opening paragraph of
an article on his death printed in The Bureau Drawer (a Boulder Laboratories inhouse publication) of January 1963
which read as follows:
Dr. J. Howard Dellinger, whose achievements and honors would fill a good-sized book, died Dec.
28 in Washington, D.C., after devoting half a century to the development of radio propagation.

Alas, the author (WFS) of this historical account had difficulty in compressing a "short" biography of Dellinger into
a chapter-length appendix to this book-length Achievement in Radio.
Other sources of information were: newspaper items, articles in periodicals, and miscellaneous sources.
2
In order to keep this biographical sketch of Dellinger to a reasonable length, and to minimize repetition of
material found in chapters II through X and XVI through XIX, the author has condensed the material following
the World War I period that might otherwise have been included. The reader is referred to specific chapters for
further information. It was the author's purpose in preparing this biography to note various segments of Dellinger's
life in some detail that could not be handled, even adroitly, in chapters II through X and XVI through XIX.

781
 Growing up in Cleveland

John Howard Dellinger was born July 3, 1886, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was John
P. Dellinger, of Canadian birth, naturalized as a citizen of the United States of America in
3
1884. His mother was a native American.
Dellinger was educated in the public schools of Cleveland, graduating from East High
School in 1903. At the age of 17 he sought out jobs that would be a source of income and by
which he would gain experience with the world beyond that of his school experience. His
first job, of which he made a written record, was for a 6-week period in the summer of 1903
as a signal clerk with the American District Telegraph Co. of Cleveland. The wages were $20
4 '5
per month.
In the fall of 1903 Dellinger entered Western Reserve University (now Case Western
Reserve University) in Cleveland, remaining through his junior year to 1907. In 1906 he was
selected for Phi Beta Kappa. During the period from 1903 to 1907, he was continuously
employed at one or more jobs while pursuing his academic studies. Two of these
employments were on the staff of the University. 6

Washington and the Bureau of Standards

The summer of 1907 brought a marked change in Dellinger's life, one that within a few
years would steer him with a life's career in radio science and engineering. After taking the
Civil Service examination, Dellinger was recommended by S. W. Stratton, director of the
Bureau of Standards, for selection and appointment to a position of laboratory assistant at
$900 per annum. The recommendation was by letter to the Secretary of Commerce and
7,8
Labor, dated July 2, 1907. Dellinger could celebrate his birthday of July 3 as the day on

3
It is strange that of the manifold effects left by Dellinger among his official and personal papers he left no record
of his family history or a family tree. Seemingly, his many the more
interests did not include genealogy. It is all

strange because his papers and memorabilia include a variety of subjects, some being of a whimsical nature. He
seemed more interested in the present and to where life would lead him than to know from whence he came.
The information on his parents came solely from a Descriptive Record, dated August 6, 1918, filed with his
Personnel Record at the National Personnel Records Center, GSA (Civilian Personnel Records), St. Louis, Mo.
Included with the Record was a small photo, probably taken in 1918. A description gave his height as 5'7", weight
130 lbs, and his eyes blue.

4
A written summary of his many early jobs was found among Dellinger's personal papers (NN365-25, Box 4).

Immediately following his job as signal clerk, Dellinger worked the remainder of the summer of 1903 as a collector
for thewell-known newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer. For his efforts he was paid $6 per week for a 48-hour
week.

"Beginning in November 1903, Dellinger served a 2-year stint as a lamplighter for the Cleveland Lighting
Department, at $18 per month for 15 hours of work. During one summer of that period he again served as a
collector for a newspaper firm, this time for the Cleveland Leader.
During the academic year of 1905-1906 Dellinger was a laboratory assistant in the Adelbert College of Western
Reserve University. For this work he was paid $20 per month for 15 hours of work per week. In the summer of
1906, and again in 1907, he was employed as an assistant in the engineering corps of the C. and P. Division,
Pennsylvania R.R. During the academic year of 1906-1907 he was again employed by Western Reserve University,
this time as a laboratory instructor in physics at $60 per month for a 48-hour week.

Dellinger took the Civil Service examination for the position of assistant physicist on May 8, 1907, in Cleveland.
1

Early in June he received the Report of Rating, with an average percentage on his subjects of 80.75. This seemingly
low rating could not be unexpected for he had not yet completed his junior year at college when he took the
examination.
In a letter, dated June 14, 1907, Stratton wrote to Dellinger (addressed to 1855 East 101st Street, Cleveland)
that he would be in Cleveland on Sunday, June 16, "and would like to confer with you regarding the work of the
Bureau, and your qualifications." On June 25 Dellinger wrote to Stratton, stating that he would accept a position as
a laboratory assistant. Stratton replied on June 29,

I am pleased to know you have decided to come to the Bureau and will do all I can to make your
work interesting and profitable. (NN365-25, Box 4.)

8
Stratton's letter used the name of John H. Dellinger. Dellinger used this name officially until 1938 when, at his
request, an act of a Personnel Recommendation, dated July 25, 1938, signed by L. J. Briggs, director of NBS,
changed the name on NBS records from "John H. Dellinger" to "J. Howard Dellinger." However, most of
Dellinger's publications were signed "J. H. Dellinger."

782
which he received his appointment to the Civil Service position. He took the oath on July 16
and entered on duty the same day, serving with the National Bureau of Standards from that
9 10
day in 1907 to 1948. '

Further schooling and the beginning of a career in radio

Shortly after coming to the Bureau, Dellinger enrolled at George Washington

University, Washington, D.C., to complete his undergraduate studies, receiving an A.B.
degree a year later, in 1908. The same University honored him with a Doctor of Science
degree in 1932. Beginning in 1908, Dellinger continued his physics and mathematics studies
by taking courses in the Bureau of Standards Graduate School.
Upon entering the Bureau, Dellinger was assigned to the Electricity Division and
during the next decade he had assignments in several of the sections. Judged by his
publications and by notes that he wrote of his activities, Dellinger had the opportunity of
carrying on research in a variety of areas in electricity. Within the decade he authored or
11
co-authored 17 publications on electrical subjects.
After 2 years in Washington, Dellinger was married on October 11, 1909, to Carol Van
12
Benschoten of the Cleveland, Ohio area. Their first address was in Washington, D.C., and
13
later in Chevy Chase, Md.
During the academic year of 1909-1910 Dellinger took a course in Theoretical Electricity
in the NBS Graduate School that covered Maxwell's equations for electromagnetic waves.
At the time he was assigned to the Bureau's Inductance and Capacity Section, under Harvey
14
L. Curtis as chief. On the basis of fundamental knowledge of radio waves derived from this
course, Dellinger was selected to devise a method of calibrating a wavemeter that had been
submitted to the Bureau in 1911 for "standardization." His success with the project resulted
not only in the Bureau's first calibration of an instrument at radio frequencies, but
13
introduced Dellinger to the field of radio engineering.
One can get an insight into the rather rapid growth of interest by Dellinger in the field
of radio by perusing his "Program" reports from 1909 until he resigned from the Bureau in

9
There were two short lapses in the 1907-1948 period when Dellinger was not with NBS. The first was during
academic year 1912-1913 when he attended Princeton University, the second was in 1928 when he was chief
engineer of the Federal Radio Commission.
10
A brief resume of the steps in Dellinger's advancement in the position of physicist from 1907 to 1948 follows:
1907-1910 Laboratory Assistant
1910-1917 Assistant Physicist, P-2
1917-1919 Associate Physicist, P-3
1919-1924 Physicist, P-4, Chief of Radio Section
1924-1928 Senior Physicist, P-5, Chief of Radio Section
1928-1943 Principal Physicist (Radio), P-6, Chief of Radio Section, (Principal Scientist, 1928-1936)
1943-1946 Head Physicist (Radio), P-7, Chief of Radio Section
1946-1948 Head Physicist (Radio), P-8, Chief of Central Radio Propagation Laboratory

11
Among the published areas of his researches, as well as some of the unpublished areas, were:

Measurement of mercury ohm (the contemporary resistance standard)

Resistance and conductivity measurements, including measurements for copper wire tables
Magnetic measurements
Electrical and thermal properties of insulators
The International System of electrical and magnetic units
Calculation of Planck's radiation constant c,

(Dellinger's several early research papers that were not published have remained in the Radio File.)

12
Carol Van Benschoten was born May 11, 1884, at Lagrange, Lorain County, Ohio, a small town southwest of
Cleveland.

13
When first going to Washington in 1907 Dellinger lived at 1845 Calvert St. Upon marriage the Dellingers lived for
several years at 1421 Columbia Rd. They then moved Chevy Chase, Md., first at 6607 Delafield St., then for many
to
years at 618 Pickwick Lane in the beautiful Rollingwood section of Chevy Chase. After his retirement in 1948 they
lived at 3900 Connecticut Ave. (near the Bureau), in Washington. (Information from NBS directories.)

14
It was Curtis who became the "prime mover," beginning in 1908, to urge for graduate courses to be taught at the
Bureau (see ch. XVIII, p. 695).
lD
For a more detailed account of Dellinger's first measurement at radio frequencies see chapter II, p. 38.

783
 16
1912 to complete his studies for a doctor's degree. From 1911, he increasingly became
17
involved with radio.
Dellinger resigned from the Bureau on October 18, 1912, to complete his graduate
studies by a year's residence on a fellowship at Princeton University, and to complete his
work on high-frequency ammeters for a doctor's dissertation. 18 Dellinger received his
doctor's degree in physics in the spring of 1913. The title of his dissertation was "High-
frequency Ammeters," and was published by the Bureau under the same title. 19 In returning
20
to the Bureau he simply wrote a letter to the director, and he was reinstated.
From notes and memorabilia gathered by Dellinger, there appears to have been
considerable social activity at the Bureau during the period 1914-1918 (interestingly, this
21
period spans that of World War I), and presumably before and afterwards. Dellinger was
very much a part of the scene and took an active and leading role in various events. 22
From 1913 to the time that the Bureau of Standards became involved with World War I
work, Dellinger's assignments in the Electricity Division and in the newly formed Radio
Section were quite varied. He was much occupied in writing in the area of electrical and
magnetic units, resulting in a long paper published by the Bureau as Scientific Paper 292,
entitled "International System of Electric and Magnetic Units," with the release date of
October 11, 1916. Another paper, entitled "Calculation of Planck's Constant c 2 ," was
published as Scientific Paper 287, and released August 16, 1916. An earlier paper on

16
"Program" reports (NN365-25, Box 4). Prepared as handwritten notes by Dellinger on small-size Department of
Commerce and Labor stationery.

17
During the period 1909-1910 Dellinger recorded his Bureau work assignments as being in the area of electricity,
with no mention of radio.
Early in 1911 he was reviewing the subject of electric (radio) waves and studying Maxwell's equations. Later in
the year he was observing the nature of resistance and inductance at radio frequencies.
By September 1911 he was assigned the task of assisting the Department of Commerce and Labor in revising
radio regulations for consideration at the Second Internationa! Radiotelegraph Conference at London (see ch. II, pp.
42-43).
By the close of 1911 he had improved upon his method of calibrating wavemeters and of measuring small
inductances at radio frequencies. This work continued into 1912.
During 1912 Dellinger was active in a variety of tasks associated with radio, including editorial review of
papers.
Minor tasks related to and to electricity in general, recorded by Dellinger in these "Program" reports,
radio,
were found by the author numerous to note in this account. These reports reveal that Dellinger had
to be too
already developed a methodical and detailed approach to recording information.
18
In a letter, dated September 25, 1912, Dellinger informed Stratton of his desire to further his graduate studies in
physics at Pr nceton University by resigning from the Bureau, but that he wished to be reinstated in June of the
;

following year.

19
Paper 206, Bull. Bur. Stand., Vol.
Scientific 10, No. 1, Jan. 1914, pp. 91-159. In 1915 the paper was also published
in two German periodicals.
20
Dellinger's letter was in longhand, and read:

Palmer Physics Laboratory

Princeton, N.J.
May 12, 1913
Dr. S.W. Stratton
Bureau of Standards
Washington, D.C

Dear Dr. Stratton: My work in Princeton is finished, and I have attained my Ph.D. The final
examinations were much sooner than I expected. I should like to return to the Bureau work
whenever you can arrange for it. I shall be in Washington after next Monday, May 19.
Yours truly
(signed) J. H. Dellinger
(NN365-25, Box 4)

21
File folder: History of Social Events and Publicity (NN365-90, Box 36).

22
As a member of the Bureau of Standards Musical Association, Dellinger sang first, and also second, tenor in the
Glee Club. Mrs. Dellinger sang soprano in the Ladies Chorus. Dellinger played the violin in the Bureau orchestra.
Dellinger took a leading role in staging some of the children's parties and picnics sponsored by the director, S.
W. Stratton. Later, after World War I when he became chief of the Radio Section, Dellinger encouraged the staff
members to engage in section picnicking.

784
Planck's Constant, co-authored with Edgar Buckingham of the Bureau, was published in
1911.
With the increasing activity in radio at NBS and elsewhere, by 1916 Dellinger was
giving time to the subject. His work formed a significant part of the famed Circular of
full
the Bureau of Standards 74, Radio Instruments and Measurements; also the Signal Corps
textbook entitled, The Principles Underlying Radio Communication (see ch. Ill, pp. 52-53 and
pp. 53-54). Later, in 1919, the Bureau published Dellinger's lengthy paper on "Principles of
Radio Transmission and Reception with Antenna and Coil Aerials" (Scientific Paper 354 ), the
result of several years of study (see ch. VI, p. 115).

World War I

World War I brought on a beehive of activity within the Radio Section, and Dellinger
became fully occupied with war-related projects. Yet with all of the activity, there was time
for some relaxation in socializing among the many persons brought into the section by the
war effort. Among these members of the section was George C. Southworth who, later, in
the 1930's, became well known for his pioneer work with waveguides at the Bell Telephone
Laboratories and, in 1950, for his 675-page treatise, Principles and Applications of
Waveguide Transmission. Southworth tells of his associations with the Dellingers during the
23
war period in his autobiography.
During World War
was "reached" by the draft, as was every man between
I Dellinger
the ages of 21 and 30 45), who was a U.S. citizen. Being by then a resident of
(later, 18 and
Maryland, Dellinger's draft board was based at the county seat of Montgomery County,
Rockville. In the summer of 1917 he was deferred by reclassification to Class III, on the basis
of a statement by the Secretary of War via the Secretary of Commerce, that:

He (Dellinger) is engaged in technical researches required for the effective

operation of military forces and his work is of direct and immediate
military application. His services are indispensable to this Department.

In June 1918, his case was reopened. Again, he was deferred, this time on the strength
24
of Stratton's statement to the draft board.

23
Quoting from Forty Years of Radio Research (published in 1962 by Gordon and Breach, New York), pp. 42-43,
Southworth stated:
. . .at the Bureau was extremely pleasant. The Dellingers were unusually hospitable and
life

all ofus were frequent guests in their home. I remember one evening in particular when Prof.
W. F. G. Swann, recently from England, was present and played beautifully on the cello. During
the evening there was much singing, including not only the old Stephen Foster standbys, but
such hits of the season as: "It's a Long Long Trail," "Beautiful K-K-Katie" and "When It's Over
Over There". A high point came when Professors Swann, Grover, Smith, and some other equally
dignified gentlemen proceeded to barber shop some of the popular songs of the period.

Southworth's employment at the Bureau spanned the period June 30, 1917, to September 13, 1918. W. F. G.
Swann was a physicist with the Bureau in 1917-1918 on war work. Later he became director of the Bartol Research
Foundation and was recognized for his studies of cosmic rays. He was an accomplished cellist. F. W. Grover was
from Union University, C. M. Smith from Purdue University; each was a contributor to the Signal Corps textbook
prepared by the Radio Section, The Principles Underlying Radio Communication.
24
In his letter to the Local Board, for Montgomery County, dated June 28, 1918, Stratton stated, in part:

Dr. Dellinger is working on very important military work being in charge of the preparation of

textbooks which are in use and to be used in all the schools of instruction operated by the Signal
Corps for the men in its radio service.

. . . Dr. Dellinger's wide acquaintance with radio instruments especially fits him for this
work. . . .

785
This photograph of Dellinger was attached to his Descriptive Record for civilian employees, dated August 6, 1918.
This was a personnel record of 3 pages with 32 entries, to be filled in by Federal employees during World War I
when Dellinger was busily engaged in the Radio Section on war work. The record is on file at the National
Personnel Records Center, GSA (Civilian Personnel Records), St. Louis, Mo.

Chief of the Radio Section

World War I brought about a number of developments from the Radio Section, many of
them under Dellinger's guidance (see ch. III). Following the emergency of war work, the
section (or Radio Laboratory) was reorganized into two subsections, with Dellinger as head
of Radio Research and Testing (Section 6a). Then, in 1921, another reorganization, and
Dellinger was appointed chief of the single Radio Section, and remained so until 1946 when
the section became a division (see ch. IV, p. 71). Dellinger's 25 years as a section chief is an
uncommonly long period in Bureau annals.

Encompassed by broadcasting

Some of the wartime radio projects were continued for a spell after World War I. Then
came radio broadcasting in 1920, and for the next decade Dellinger found himself, as a
Government official, to be very much a part of the phenomenal growth of a technology that
would touch all people, but a technology that brought on a welter of problems.

786
 With the country enmeshed in a tangle of problems brought on by the first years of
broadcasting, Dellinger took an active role in the preparation of agenda and writing of
reports for the National Radio Conferences that met yearly for four successive years
beginning in 1922 (see ch. XVI, p. 644). In 1927 Congress established the Federal Radio Commis-
sion as the agency to exercise control over the swelling number of broadcasting stations. The
Commission turned to Dellinger to serve as its first chief engineer. His term of office extended
several months beyond the initial 4-month appointment (see ch. XVI, p. 645).
Concurrent with the problems created by the broadcasting industry and the impact
upon the listening public, the Federal Government had its own problems relating to radio
communication. The result was the formation in 1922 of the Interdepartment Radio
Advisory Committee (IRAC), Dellinger serving as the first secretary, and taking an active
role in the committee's affairs for 26 years (see ch. XVI, pp. 647-648).
Over a period of many years Dellinger was engaged in various capacities in the all-
important task of solving the problems of frequency allocation of broadcasting stations.
Throughout the 1920's, and particularly during the first half, Dellinger wrote many articles
for the reading public on contributions being made by the Bureau of Standards to the
broadcasting industry, to the area of radio measurements, and, to some extent, to the study
of radio propagation. Also, by making use of the broadcasting medium, Dellinger and his
associates informed listeners of the wonders of radio (see ch. IV, p. 90). In turn, there were
many newspaper and magazine accounts of Dellinger's radio work and that of other members
25
of the Radio Section.

The first, then many trips abroad

was called upon to make his first trip abroad, the first of many such
In 1921 Dellinger
trips thathe would be engaged in for the next 40 years. Going forth to a meeting in Paris of
the Inter-Allied Provisional Radio Technical Committee, Dellinger was girded with the
credentials of a Department of Commerce "staff pass" and a "Greeting" document, both
signed by Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce. 26

25
At the time of the Third National Radio Conference, in Washington, D.C., October 6-10, 1924, Dellinger was
quoted by a newspaper as saying that the broadcasting of moving pictures was not an idle dream and was a
certainty within 5 years. Although Dellinger's prediction came true, the 5 years had to stretch to more than 20
years before movies via radio broadcasting (TV) began to appear in American homes. The newspaper concluded its
account of Dellinger's remarks by stating:

Radio sets will be reduced in size until the pocket receiving set may some day be little more
bulky than the watch. A radio in every home may be replaced by a radio in every pocket.

Although development of the transistor was more than 20 years in the future, Dellinger's 1924 prediction of a
pocket radio required that some day such a device would come into existence.
Five months after the 1924 National Radio Conference the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Magazine Section) of March
29, 1925, gave more than a full-page spread to Dellinger's work in radio, with the title, "Greater Radio Marvels Are
Yet To Come," and the subtitle, "Dr. J. H. Dellinger, chief of the radio laboratory of the Bureau of Standards, says
tomorrow's achievements will dwarf today's." Thus, 22 years later, the Cleveland Plain Dealer took the occasion to
hail a native son who was one of its collectors of subscriber accounts in 1903 (see p. 782, footnote 5). Again, in this
article, Dellinger predicted the coming of television within 5 years, and the magazine section headed the article with
a picture of a family viewing a football game on a large screen, with the picture caption, "Imagine having a football
game brought into your living room." But, again, Dellinger's prediction of 5 years had to stretch out several decades
before the American people could enjoy "live" performances in their living rooms. The article enumerated many of the
"radio marvels" yet to come as Dellinger, in 1925, foresaw the future of radio. (NBS Historical File-Box 6.)

26
This document read:

May 31, 1921

TO ALL WHO SHALL SEE THESE PRESENTS, GREETING:
Know ye, that, reposing special trustand confidence in the integrity and ability of Dr. J. H.
Dellinger, Ido hereby designate him to represent the Department of Commerce at the
forthcoming meeting of the Provisional Technical Committee of the International Conference on
Electrical Communications to be held in Paris on June 20, 1921.

(signed) Herbert Hoover

Secretary of Commerce

787
 UNITED STATES
Numbe;
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
WASHINGTON
This is to certify that

John ffillmyr,
having been appointed

Department of Commerce, is authorized to exercise

and perform the duties of said office in accordance
with the laws of the United States and the regulations
of the Department of Commerce, and his authority
will be respected accordingly.

Dellinger's "departmental staff pass" issued by theDepartment of Commerce, dated May 24, 1921, and signed by
Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce. was issued shortly before he made his first trip abroad, as the
It
Department of Commerce representative on the Interallied Provisional Radio Technical Committee, meeting in
Paris in the summer of 1921.

Radio propagation and the ionosphere

Bellinger's long-time interest in radio propagation appears to have begun about 1920
when the fading phenomena associated with signals on broadcast frequencies began to
receive his attention. By 1925 the Radio Section was well equipped with sensitive recording
equipment and began an extensive program of signal-intensity observation. Then, in 1929,
Gilliland, under Dellinger's direction, initiated the section's program on direct observation
of reflections from the ionosphere, a program that would expand with the years to
worldwide scope (see ch. VII). In 1935 Dellinger began his series of publications on daytime
radio fadeouts, usually described as sudden ionospheric disturbances (SID) and sometimes
referred to as the "Dellinger effect." By 1937 he had a dozen publications on this subject,
including the causal link to solar flares. Radio propagation in all its aspects became the
dominating technical area in Dellinger's later career.

Radio and aeronautics

Although the use of radio by the Radio Section as an aid in aeronautics dates back to
before 1920, an intensive development program was not initiated until 1926 when the Air
Commerce Act led to the creation of the Aeronautics Branch in the Department of
Commerce (see ch. VI, p. 153). The action resulted in a program being established within the
Radio Section, under Dellinger's supervision, for the Research Division of the Aeronautics
Branch. 27 The program continued until 1934 when it was curtailed as an economy measure
brought on by the Great Depression. Yet, by 1931, the Radio Section had demonstrated success-
fully its blind landing system; and by then its radiobeacon navigation system had been in use

27
Interestingly, the noting of this supervisory duty is among the very few items given in Dellinger's own short
biographical sketch listed in an early edition as well as in the latest edition (1974) of Webster's Biographical
Dictionary (see footnote 1).

788
for several yearson some of the airways. Dellinger, the Radio Section, and NBS, could well be
proud of these accomplishments. Dellinger's publications in this area were limited to the
broader aspects of the development program.
Dellinger's close association with the use of radio in aeronautics during a decade of
development brought him into active participation with the the Radio Technical
Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA); he took part in its establishment in 1935. It is an
advisory group for coordinating the application of radio, electronics, and
telecommunications in aeronautical operations (see ch. XVI, pp. 650-651). Dellinger served as
chairman for 17 years, beginning in 1941, and then as Technical Advisor for life. In 1957 he
was awarded a plaque bearing the inscription:
With sincere appreciation and gratitude to Dr. J. Howard Dellinger from
the membership of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics for his
outstanding leadership and dedicated service as Chairman from January
1941 to October 1957.

Although not directly involved in the laboratory development of the radiosonde during
the last half of the 1930's, Dellinger gave general supervision to this highly successful
development program carried out by the Radio Section for the Navy and the Weather
Bureau, initially in support of aeronautics.

IRPL— THEN CRPL, AND RETIREMENT

With all of the diversified activities of the Radio Section over which Dellinger gave
guidance, supervision, and inspiration for many years, without question his leadership was
most productive in the area of radio propagation. Thus, when the United States became
engulfed in World War II, shortly thereafter the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory
(IRPL) was established within the Radio Section by the Joint U.S. Communications Board
and placed under Dellinger's direction. 28 The IRPL served well during the next 4 years in
centralizing radio propagation data, including innovative data products, and furnishing the
information to the armed services. Dellinger was an indefatigable leader in a period of
rapidly growing progress in describing the global ionosphere and the lower atmosphere
effect on propagation on the newly exploited very high frequencies.
By 1946 the Radio Section, including the IRPL, had grown to 160 people. On May 1,
1946, a new division was created within NBS, to be known as the Central Radio Propagation
Laboratory (CRPL), with Dellinger appointed as chief. This action was supported by the
armed services to continue in peacetime the successful IRPL experience. Various working
groups of the former Radio Section were now organized as sections. Under Dellinger's
leadership the CRPL grew rapidly in staff personnel and in the diversity of its technical
programs.

^Before the IRPL, during the last few days of 1940, development was begun by several members of the Radio
Section, under Dellinger's general supervision, on a proximity fuse for nonrotating projectiles, using reflected radio
waves as the triggering principle. However, the project was transferred to the newly organized Ordnance
Development Division of NBS.

789
Photo of Dellinger taken in 1947. An early printing appeared in the February 1948 issue of the Proc. IRE.

From records of Office of Information Activities, National Bureau of Standards

 Nonetheless, with the expectancy of a bright and productive future for the CRPL,
all of
Dellinger chose to retire from NBS and Government service, effective at close of day, April
30, 1948, exactly 2 years after becoming chief of the CRPL, and with actual service of 39
29 30
years, 4 months, 10 days. He was nearly 62 years of age. Later (February 14, 1949),
'

Dellinger was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service,
with the citation "for many years of outstanding scientific accomplishment in conducting
and directing extensive and highly important research in radio propagation and related
fields."
With retirement, Dellinger pursued a somewhat more leisurely life. A particular effort
was stimulating closer technical links between two of his favorite international
organizations, URSI and CCIR (see below). This interest continued until his death on
31
December 28, 1962. Mrs. Dellinger died March 16, 1965. They had no children.

URSI

The international part of Dellinger's recognition as an authority in radio can be

attributed largely to his long association with, and participation in, the international
organization known as URSI (International Scientific Radio Union). Dellinger's introduction
to URSI came early, on the occasion of the organization of the American Section in January
1921, at which time he was elected technical secretary. In the summer of 1921 he attended a
meeting in Paris in relation to the International Radio Conference and at which time the
young international URSI organization took part XVII, pp. 667-668). Dellinger was a
(see ch.
voting delegate to nine URSI General Assemblies. He was general chairman of the
committee which hosted the second URSI Assembly in the United States in 1957. At the
memorial lecture for the presentation of the first URSI J. H. Dellinger Gold Medal, held in
1966, the then chairman of the U.S. National Committee gave high praise to Dellinger's
32
service to URSI (see ch. XVII, pp. 675-676X

29
In a letter I March 30, 1948) to Condon, director of NBS, Dellinger wrote:

I am applying for retirement from Government service effective April 30. . . .

It was extremely difficult to reach this decision. I think none has had a more pleasant and
rewarding Government career than I have. The atmosphere of this Bureau has been and is one
in which the mind and spirit may flourish, to a degree not matched in many other organizations.
My field, radio, has been perhaps the most live and stimulating of all the lines of work of the
Bureau. This field has grown and progressed amazingly during the entire period of my forty
years here, so I could never feel that my work was becoming static The personal relations
. . .

here have enhanced the attractiveness of the technical side of the work. . . .

3
"To time of retirement, after a rewarding career at NBS, two festive occasions were
felicitate Dr. Dellinger at
staged by the CRPL staff. On Lawn Party was held for the
April 26, a few days before his retirement date, a
Dellingers on the Bureau grounds, to be joined in by many Bureau personnel.
On May 17, the Dellingers were feted by friends and coworkers with a testimonial dinner at the nearby
Kennedy-Warren apartment hotel dining room.
31
Funeral services were held on December 31, 1962, at the All Souls Memorial Unitarian Church, Washington, D.C.
Dellinger had been a member of the Board of Trustees and president of the Unitarian Laymen's League.
32
On this occasion, at Munich, Germany. Professor Millet G. Morgan stated, among his many commendations of
Dellinger, that:

Through all years in which he forged the constitution of our National Committee, served as
chairman of the General Arrangements Committee for the General Assembly in Colorado (1957),
and was writing a history of URSI, Dr. Dellinger was the ultimate authority on the affairs of our
National Committee and one could not imagine carrying on without him. At our 1961 Spring
Meeting, he was nominated to be our first life-time honorary member and he was subsequently
appointed as such by the President of our Academy of Sciences.

Like so many of us, Dellinger combined his interest in radio science with an interest in radio
engineering.

Dr. Dellinger was a Vice President of our Union from 1934-1952 and an Honorary President from
1952 until his death ten years later. . . .

791
 CCIR
Although his participation in the international CCIR (International Radio Consultative
Committee) was not as extensive as with the nongovernmental URSI, nevertheless Dellinger
took an active part in its affairs for many years, beginning with the first Plenary Assembly
at The Hague, Netherlands, in 1929. Thereafter, he attended a number of Plenary
Assemblies, the last in 1959; and then a Study Group meeting on Space Systems and Radio
Astronomy in 1962 (see ch. XVII, pp. 660-662).

THE IRE

For 39 years, beginning in 1923 when he joined and was selected as a Fellow, Dellinger
was very much a part of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE). He was vice president for
the 1924 term and president in 1925, then became very active on numerous committees. He
served on the Board of Directors from 1924 to 1931, and was then awarded life
membership. 33 In 1938 Dellinger was awarded the IRE Medal of Honor.

In recollection— Bits out of the past

Residents of Washington were thrilled to view the flight of the Graf Zeppelin over the
city in October 1928. However, few knew that Dellinger was selected, along with some other
Government officials, to accompany Dr. Hugo Eckner, commander of the large dirigible, on
a flight to the Middle West. Although the invited passengers were kept in readiness at the
Lakehurst, N.J. base, the flight was finally cancelled after October 23, due to a succession of
34
delays caused by unfavorable weather over the entire planned course.
Disappointing as the cancelled flight probably was to Dellinger in 1928, the flights of
spaceships around the Moon in 1966 and 1967 led to Dellinger's name (John H. Dellinger)
35
being selected for designating one of the craters on the far side of the Moon. This honor
also came to five other NBS staff members.
From Dellinger's own listing of his professional publications, as well as by a listing
prepared by the Department of Commerce Library, Boulder, Colo., his publications totaled

33
In 1928, in his address at the time of being inducted as president of the IRE, Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith in handing
accolades to the former presidents, said of Dellinger:

Dr. Dellinger, who may be termed a national and international "liaison" officer in every
important aspect of radio.
34
In newpaper accounts of the event Dellinger was listed as a "radio expert of the Department of Commerce."
(NN365-25, Box 5.)

35
Selection of names for Moon craters was by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the International
Astronomical Union, the report being published in Space Science Review, June 1971. The 513 persons so honored
were mostly those who had been associated with the space sciences. In the report Dellinger's biographical data
read:

Dellinger, John H. (1886-1962), USA physicist; Chief, Central Radio Propagation Lab., Nat. Bur.
Stand.; radio and telecommunications, development and applications, esp. in aviation; discovered
the relationship between solar flares and shortwave radio fadeouts (Dellinger effect).

792
140. (NN365-25, Box 3; also Radio File.) These papers covered a wide range of subject matter
36,37
in the field of electricity, with the greatest number in the more specialized area of radio.
Dellinger was a special editor (radio) of Webster's New International Dictionary during
the period of 1927 to 1948. Beginning in 1921, he was listed in Who's Who in America, and
later in International Who's Who. He was also listed in American Men of Science, and in
Webster's Biographical Dictionary. One can almost say that, for many years in Government
circles, Dellinger's name was synonymous with the word "radio." In fact, in 1911 he
suggested that the word "radio" be used rather than "wireless" in relation to an
international conference (see ch. II, pp. 42-43).
During his many years as chief of the Radio Section, Dellinger was involved in the
processing of nearly 50 patents on inventions that were developed by his staff members.
Thus, before the uniform patent policy was enacted in 1950 for Government employees,
Dellinger had gained a viewpoint of his own of the nonuniform policy that existed among
the various Government agencies. This was well expressed in a letter that he wrote several
months before he retired in answer to an inquiry. 38

36
Dellinger's last publication came out posthumously in 1963. It was entitled, "History of U.R.S.I.," a paper that
formed a portion of the URSI Golden Jubilee Memorial, published by Secretary General of URSI, Brussels,
Belgium.
31
As an insight into the scope of Dellinger's publications, one can obtain a one-man evaluation from the John
Howard Morgan (chairman of U.S. National Committee)
Dellinger Memorial Lecture by Professor Millet G. at the
General Assembly of URSI, Munich, Germany, September 7, 1966. Professor Morgan stated:
From Dr. Dellinger's list of 140 publications, I have abstracted a few titles, arranged
chronologically, in order to give you a synopsis of his interests and work during the span of his
career:

1910 Temperature coefficient of resistance of copper

1913 High frequency ammeters
1916 International system of electrical and magnetic units
1918 The principles of electrial measurements at high frequencies
1919 Electric wave transmission formulas for antenna and coil aerials
1920 The radio compass
1921 Radio fading
1923 The work of the International Union of Scientific Radio Telegraphy
1925 Application of radio transmission phenomena to the problems of atmospheric electricity
1926 Presidential Address at the First Convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers
1926 Applications of radio in air navigation
1927 The possibilities of directive radio transmission
1928 The status of frequency standardization
1929 The uses of radio as an aid to navigation
1932 Distant ranges of radio waves
1935 A new radio transmission phenomenon
1936 Direct effects of particular solar eruptions on terrestial phenomena
1939 The Sun and the ionosphere
1940 A radio transmission anomaly: cooperative observation between
the United States and Argentina
1948 Developments in radio sky-wave propagation research
and applications during the War
1952 Radio spectrum conservation
1961 Almost fifty years of URSI
1962 Space exploration

38
In a letter, dated February 2, 1948, Dellinger stated, in part:

In the nature of things the Government employee is charged with a public trust. In very many
cases he has more opportunities to receive the ideas of others than have non-Government people.
This is more true the higher he is in authority and the more technical his work is. He therefore
has not the same right to patent ideas as non-Government people. The Government's policy
. . .

must therefore in general be to restrict patent rights of Government employees.

In a Bureau such as this one and in the military services, and perhaps generally in the
Government services, it is not equitable or expedient to allow employees to profit from
patents. . . .

Dellinger then went on to state that exceptional service to the nation by Government employees, including that of
inventing, should be rewarded, mainly by promotion.

793
 In 1960, in his address at the banquet of the URSI-IRE Meeting at Boulder, Bellinger
made another of his predictions on the future of radio, this time in a more sophisticated
39
field, that of radio astronomy. He predicted:

It seems likely that the next great step forward in science as a whole will
come from our thinking of what radio astronomy is doing
field, radio. I am
and is leading to. I do not think men are ever going to go out among the

stars in spaceships But we are going out on radio waves; and with our
. . .

40
radio telescopes farther than with optical telescopes.

It may not be amiss to note a few of the traits that characterized Dellinger's personality

as observed by his fellow workers at NBS. He was an indefatigable worker. During the
morning hours he was almost unapproachable in his office except for emergencies (via
"ANKie," his long-time secretary). It was during the morning that he applied himself to
writing and the multitudinous tasks of administration. 41,42 In the afternoon he was easily
approachable for discussion or to carry on the business of the day. He had an aversion for
tobacco and alcoholic beverages; before World War II smoking was verboten in the Radio
Building, and thereafter smoking was restricted to certain areas. Although with a life career

(Continued)

Another viewpoint expressed by Dellinger near the time of his retirement was published as an editorial in the
June 1948 issue of the Proc. IRE under the title, "The Great Opportunity." It is given in part, below:
The Great Opportunity
J. H. Dellinger

To be sure, the vast field of radio and electronics

offers vast opportunity. It is the very symbol of
progress.But there is a unique aspect of its potentialities which has not received sufficient
emphasis. That is its opportunity to contribute to world friendliness, the prerequisite of world
peace. . . .

Despite constant repetition, people do not

its realize, at this juncture of world affairs, the awful
need for real international understanding. . . .

We are privileged to work in a field which does promote international understanding. First of
all, radio business and radio science provide unusually extensive contacts at the international
level. . . .

The physical nature of radio phenomena requires radio scientists, engineers, and business men
to think on a world scale. . . .

Radio simply could not operate without world collaboration in the control of interference. . . .

I may be pardoned for closing on a personal note.

have been especially fortunate in being I

associated with many aspects of radio science, engineering, and administration, and in being
selected as a representative of the radio engineering profession in some of them. I have seen the
forces of goodwill at work between radio men of different nations. I deeply believe that these
currents of goodwill and international friendliness are by no means negligible contributions to
the happier world future.

39
The 1960 Fall Meeting of the U.S. National Committee of URSI in joint session with several Professional Groups
of the IRE met at the Boulder Laboratories during December 12-14.
"'
Little did Dellinger realize in giving the 1961 address that his prognostication on radio astronomy would blossom
out 4 years later with a fundamental discovery in cosmology. On May 21, 1965, the New York Times announced on
its front page that scientists at the Bell Telephone Laboratories had observed "Signals (that) Imply a 'Big Bang'

Universe." Actually, scientists at Princeton University stated the implication (see Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 142,
1965, pp. 414-421).
For this fundamental discovery, by means of radio astronomy, Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson of the
BellTelephone Laboratories were awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in physics (shared with P. Kapitsa of the U.S.S.R.).
They were cited for their identification of the fossil heat remaining from the "Big Bang" that created the universe,
now a widely accepted theory (see Bell Laboratories Record, Vol. 57, January 1979, pp. 4-18).
41
To organize and keep tabs on his administrative duties and to plan the technical programs, during the period of
1917 through 1938, Dellinger used 5 x 8-inch cards, one for each week. On these cards he noted many items of
information and activities, under a number of categories, such as: Administration, Publications, Research Progress,
Visitors, Personnel, and Committees. (NN365-90, Box 30.)

42
Dellinger's administrative duties, committee work, and consulting activities took him to various Government
buildings in downtown Washington. To ease the parking problems he was well supplied with special parking
permits (16 permits found in NN365-25, Box 4).

794
in radio, Dellinger was not a radio ham, nor was he adept in the use of the Continental
(International) Morse code. He was not a participant or spectator of sports, although he
played golf for physical exercise. Speaking among themselves, he was affectionately called
"Dr. D." by his staff.
In celebration of the 60th Anniversary of NBS, the Boulder Laboratories highlighted
the occasion by inviting Dellinger to speak to the BL personnel. On the snowy afternoon of
March 3, 1961, Dellinger reminisced and directed attention to the Bureau's achievements in
radio in an informal address that he labeled, "Fifty Years of Radio at the National Bureau
of Standards." In his opening remarks, Dellinger said:

It was my great privilege to lead this work for most of the fifty years, and I

am highly honored to be the spokesman on this occasion.

With considerable emphasis, Dellinger stated that he considered that:

the most outstanding achievement of the Bureau's fifty years in radio has
been the basic establishment of radio science, along with electronics and its
other powerful offshoots, in our civilization.

Then, after a half-hour of recollecting, and revealing incidents for the first time to most of
his listeners, Dellinger brought his remarks to a close with counsel befitting that of a sage
on the obligations of scientists.
Dellinger's counsel was:

Let me conclude with a few words from the heart. A scientist, particularly
one with the unique opportunity and authority such as we have in the
Bureau, has certain obligations. One of these is to avoid letting his scientific
authority slip into arrogance. The crowning virtue of humility often comes
hard to a scientist. Most of us who have had the opportunity to participate
in the Bureau's work for a number of years have gone through many
moods: eagerness of inquiry, some disappointments, occasional elation,
great gratitude, and finally perhaps humility. . . .

Thereupon Dellinger quoted from poetry by Omar Khayyam, and also from the
43
Sanskrit poem:

Salutation of the Dawn

Look well to this day!
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well lived makes
Every yesterday a dream of happiness,
Every tomorrow a vision of hope,
Look well therefore to this day.

Dellinger delighted in quoting poetry; he was a long-time member of the Shakespearean Authorship Society.

795
796
 3

APPENDIX E
NBS RADIO PERSONNEL PATENT THEIR INVENTIONS 1

Patent
4
Title Inventor(s) Filed Issued Number

The high resistance contact Louis W. Austin Oct. 27, 1906 Mar. 5, 1907 846,081
thermoelectric detector for
electrical waves

Radio method and apparatus Frederick A. Kolster Mar. 31, 1916 Jul. 29, 1919 1,311,654

Apparatus for transmitting Frederick A. Kolster Nov. 27, 1916 Oct. 25, 1921 1,394,560
radiant energy

Radio method and apparatus Frederick A. Kolster Jan. 30, 1919 Feb. 27, 1923 1,447,165

Radio method and apparatus Frederick A. Kolster May 29, 1919 Aug. 24, 1926 1,597,379

Radio signal apparatus John A. Willoughby Oct. 31, 1919 Apr. 9, 1929 1,706,071
Percival D. Lowell

Radio receiving method and Frederick A. Kolster Nov. 26, 1920 Aug. 7, 1923 1,464,322
apparatus

Radio apparatus Frederick A. Kolster Nov. 26, 1920 Dec. 7, 1926 1,609,366

Radio receiving apparatus Francis W. Dunmore Feb. 4, 1921 Feb. 7, 1922 1,405,905

Radio frequency transformer Percival D. Lowell Sep. 9, 1921 Dec. 19, 1922 1,439,563

Power amplifier Francis W. Dunmore Mar. 21, 1922 Nov. 9, 1926 1,606,212
Percival D. Lowell

Radio receiving apparatus Percival D. Lowell Mar. 27, 1922 May 15, 1923 1,455,141
Francis W. Dunmore

Course shift-indicator for the Harry Diamond Jul. 6, 1931 Aug. 22, 1933 1,923,920
double-modulation type radio Francis W. Dunmore
beacons

Method of adjusting radio Harry Diamond Nov. 24, 1931 May 23, 1933 1,910,427
beacon courses

Radio beacon course shifting Frank G. Kear Nov. 24, 1931 Aug. 22, 1933 1,923,934
method

Triple-modulation directive Harry Diamond Mar. 9, 1932 Jun. 13, 1933 1,913,918
radio beacon system Frank G. Kear

1
Personnel of the Radio Section, Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, Radio Standards Laboratory, and successor
organizational units of the National Bureau of Standards at the Boulder Laboratories (see app. C). Many of the
patents in this list were assembled by Dr. J. Howard Dellinger and, more recently, by the Library of the
Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories.
2
E. J. Pawlikowski, Alvin J. Englert, and David Robbins of the NBS Patent Adviser staff in Gaithersburg provided
valuable assistance in compiling this list and in obtaining copies of needed patents.
3
Records in the Office of the NBS Patent Adviser show a total of 948 patents issued to all NBS personnel during
the period covered by this tabulation (1901-1977). The 120 "radio" patents here listed represent 12.7% of this total.
4
Listed in sequence of dates when applications were filed.

5
These were not members of the Radio Section, but the research was done in close cooperation with the section
staff.

797
 Patent
J
Title Inventor! s) Filed Issued Number

Method and apparatus for a Harry Diamond Mar. 9, 1932 Feb. 26, 1935 1,992,197
multiple course radiobeacon

Course indicator for the double Francis W. Dunmore Mar. 9, 1932 June 14, 1938 2,120,245
and triple modulation directive
radio beacons

Deviometer Francis W. Dunmore Apr. 12, 1932 Nov. 27, 1934 1,981,857

Radio beam and receiving device Francis W. Dunmore Aug. 5, 1932 Aug. 23, 1938 2,127,954
for blind landing of aircraft

Method of blind landing of Harry Diamond Aug. 5, 1932 Nov. 14, 1939 2,179,499
aircraft

Pointer type course indicator Francis W. Dunmore Oct. 25, 1932 Nov. 20, 1934 1,981,589

Twelve-course aural type, Harry Diamond Oct. 29, 1932 June 5, 1934 1,961,206
triple modulation directive
radio beacon

Course indicator for blind Francis W. Dunmore Nov. 10, 1932 June 7, 1938 2,119,530
flying and landing

Radio direction finder Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. Nov. 26, 1932 Dec. 16, 1941 2,266,038

Method and apparatus for radio Francis W. Dunmore Feb. 4, 1933 Feb. 26, 1935 1,992,927
beacon course and quadrant
identification

Radio transmitting and Harry Diamond Apr. 25, 1933 June 21, 1938 2,121,024
receiving system

Directive antenna system Harry Diamond May 5, 1933 Sept. 12, 1939 2,172,365

Radio system for collision Francis W. Dunmore May 11, 1933 Feb. 14, 1939 2,146,724
prevention

Radio system for azimuth Francis W. Dunmore May 16, 1933 Sept. 6, 1938 2,128,923
indication

Visual type radio beacon Francis W. Dunmore July 7, 1933 May 16, 1944 2,348,730
Frank G. Kear

Radio warning signal Harry Diamond July 18, 1933 Jan. 29, 1935 1,989,086
Francis W. Dunmore

Radio detection finder Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. Sept. 6, 1933 Feb. 7, 1939 2,145,876

Electrical control system Frank G. Kear Nov. 1, 1933 Jan. 20, 1942 2,270,308

5
Radio shielded plug Melville F. Peters Aug. 21, 1935 Jan. 9, 1940 2,186,039
5
Allen V. Astin
5
Thermal protection and radio Melville F. Peters Aug. 21, 1935 Apr. 16, 1940 2,197,006
5
shielding of spark plugs Allen V. Astin

Radio guidance of aircraft Harry Diamond Aug. 26, 1935 June 14, 1938 2,120,241
Francis W. Dunmore

Multistage ultra high radio Francis W. Dunmore Dec. 27, 1935 Jan. 5, 1937 2,066,674
frequency amplifier*' Leo L. Hughes

Automatic volume control for Harry Diamond Dec. 27, 1935 Mar. 8, 1938 2,110,761
radio receiving apparatus Francis W. Dunmore

Ultra high frequency radio Francis W. Dunmore Dec. 27, 1935 Oct. 4, 1938 2,132,208
amplifier

Aircraft blind landing beam Francis W. Dunmore Mar. 3, 1936 Jan. 4, 1938 2,104,028
system

b
The copy of the patent found in Dellinger's files has the notation in his handwriting, "withdrawn in favor of
Zotter, —
RCA, after interference started, Government receiving license June 1939."

798
 Patent
Title Inventor(s) Filed* Issued Number

Radio system for automatic Francis W. Dunmore Mar. 3, 1936 Oct. 18, 1938 2,133, 28;j
control of aircraft, as
during landing

Automatic steering system Francis W. Dunmore Mar. 3, 1936 Nov. 22, 1938 2,137,241

Warning system for indicating Francis W. Dunmore May 10, 1937 May 9, 1939 2,157,122
the proximity of aircraft

Measuring cloud height and Francis W. Dunmore May 4, 1938 Mar. 31, 1942 2,277,692
thickness

Art of radiometeorography Harry Diamond May 4, 1938 May 26, 1942 2,283,919
Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr.

7
Pressure switching Harry Diamond May 4, 1938 June 22, 1943 2,322,229
Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr.

Temperature measuring Francis W. Dunmore Dec. 22, 1938 Aug. 13, 1940 2,210,903

Humidity measuring Francis W. Dunmore Dec. 22, 1938 Sept. 15, 1942 2,295,570

Determining upper air wind Harry Diamond Dec. 22, 1938 Jan. 13, 1948 2,434,263
conditions by radio direction Francis W. Dunmore
finding Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr.

Pulse echo distance and K ran^ic \A/ Til 1 n m nrp h„v in 19^9 Jan _ — 1952
',111 99 -
, 1 •
' 1 2 582 971
direction finding

Altitude measuring Francis W. Dunmore Feb. 5, 1940 July 6, 1943 2,323,317

Evan G. Lapham

Humidity variable resistance Francis W. Dunmore June 8, 1940 June 9, 1942 2,285,421

Automatic weather station Harry Diamond Aug. 30, 1941 June 30, 1942 2,287,786
Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr.

T
June OA 1 A
Iv, 1945
Ci ET
June 1951 Z,55o,o5Z
Air launched radio station Percival D. Lowell o,

William Hakkarinen

Measuring potential gradients Francis W. Dunmore Sept. 21, 1945 Mar. 8, 1949 2,463,527
in space

Collapsible multicorner Francis W. Dunmore Sept. 27, 1946 Feb. 28, 1950 2,498,660
reflector for ultra high Harold Lyons
frequency radiant energy

Radio direction finder Evan G. Lapham Mar. 24, 1947 June 27, 1950 2,512,657

Atomic clock Harold Lyons Apr. 30, 1949 Jan. 11, 1955 2,699,503
Benjamin F. Husten

Regenerative shaping of Ralph J. Slutz Nov. 2, 1950 May 29, 1956 2,748,269
electric pulses

Holddown clamp Edward G. Clark Nov. 7, 1950 May 5, 1953 2,637,226

Micropotentiometers Myron C. Selby June 29, 1951 Feb. 19, 1957 2,782,377

Micropotentiometer Myron C. Selby June 29, 1951 Apr. 14, 1959 2,882,501

Magnetic microwave attenuators Frank Reggia Aug. 17, 1951 July 2, 1957 2,798,207

Gate circuitry for electronic Robert D. Elbourn Aug. 30, 1951 June 28, 1955 2,712,065
computers Ralph J. Slutz

Means for minimizing pulse Ralph J. Slutz Aug. 30, 1951 Dec. 13, 1955 2,727,143
reflections in linear delay
lines loaded with a
nonlinear load

Reflected-ray eliminators Howard E. Bussey Nov. 28, 1951 Sept. 11, 1956 2,763,001

'Original application May 4, 1938. Divided and this application November 22, 1941.

799
 Patent
4
Title Inventor(s) Filed Issued Number

Superheterodyne mixer with Gail E. Boggs Jan. 30, 1952 July 3, 1956 2,753,449
negative feedback for
stabilizing conversion gain

Square-wave amplifier circuits John H. Reaves May 29, 1952 Feb. 26, 1957 2,783,314

Stabilized synchronous Richard G. Nuckolls Oct. 17, 1952 May 22, 1956 2,747,030
amplifiers

Series-resonant high-voltage Peter G. Sulzer Apr. 28, 1953 June 8, 1954 2,680,830
supply

Crystal-controlled blocking Moody C. Thompson, Jr. Aug. 26, 1953 Sept. 4, 1956 2,761,971
oscillators

Stabilized nonlinear Gail E. Boggs Oct. 7, 1953 Apr. 21, 1959 2,883,527
amplifiers

Oscillators Peter G. Sulzer Mar. 23, 1954 Sept. 25, 1956 2,764,643

Apparatus for calibrating Alan C. Macpherson June 10, 1954 Apr. 17, 1962 3,030,577
microwave reflectivity
coefficient standards

Multi-phase oscillator Peter G. Sulzer July 14, 1954 Jan. 22, 1957 2,778,940

Magnetic core memory having Ralph J. Slutz Aug. 13, 1954 Sept. 20, 1960 2,953,774
magnetic core selection gates

Crystal-stabilized pulse-pair Moody C. Thompson, Jr. Apr. 21, 1955 Dec. 24, 1957 2,817,759
generator

Automatic radio control for Theodore R. Gilliland May 22, 1956 Feb. 18, 1958 2,824,218
clocks

Microwave calorimetric Alan C. Macpherson June 29, 1956 Aug. 5, 1958 2,846,647
wattmeter

Attenuator-thermoelectric Myron C. Selby Dec. 5, 1956 Apr. 19, 1960 2,933,684

high-frequency voltmeter Lewis F. Behrent

Adjustable waveguide Robert W. Beatty Aug. 6, 1957 Jan. 26, 1960 2,922,963
termination

High frequency power measuring Myron C. Selby Sept. 6, 1957 Apr. 21, 1959 2,883,620
bridge circuit Charles M. Allred
Paul A. Hudson
Ira S. Berry

Tool shaping machine Carl E. Pelander Mar. 4, 1958 Dec. 1, 1959 2,914,993

Tool shaping machine Carl. E. Pelander Mar. 4, 1958 Feb. 2, 1960 2,923,209

Quartz oscillator unit for Philip A. Simpson June 25, 1958 Apr. 5, 1960 2,931,924
operation at low temperatures Catherine Barclay
Francis P. Phelps

Self-balancing dc bolometer Glenn F. Engen July 7, 1958 Aug. 22, 1961 2,997,652
bridge

Cavity resonator Moody C. Thompson, Jr. Dec. 15, 1958 Apr. 25, 1961 2,981,908
Frank E. Freethey
Donald M. Waters

Alkali vapor frequency standard Peter L. Bender Apr. 14, 1959 June 29, 1965 3,192,472
utilizing optical pumping Earl E. Beaty

RF voltmeter calibration Myron C. Selby May 19, 1959 June 26, 1962 3,041,533
console Lewis F. Behrent
Francis X. Ries

Automatic RF level control Charles M. Allred June 3, 1959 July 4, 1961 2,991,430
Paul A. Hudson

800
 Patent
Title Inventor(s) Filed' Issued Number

Dry static calorimeter for RF Paul A. Hudson Nov. 9, 1959 Aug. 8, 1961 2,995,708
power measurement Charles M. Allred

Intermittent action camera Gifford Hefley Sept. 19, 1960 Feb. 25, 1964 3,122,076
Robert F. Linfield
Robert H. Doherty
Earl L. Berger

Satellite relay station using Richard Silberstein Oct. 28, 1960 June 25, 1963 3,095,538
antenna diversity selection

Modulated subcarrier system George E. Schafer Mar. 15, 1961 Oct. 26, 1966 3,281,679
for measuring attenuation and
phase shift

Time-multiplex system for the Robert H. Doherty Aug. 17, 1961 Jan. 26, 1965 3,167,770
distribution of serial pulse Thomas L. Davis
time codes with microsecond
synchronization

Distance measuring system with Moody C. Thompson, Jr. Dec. 28, 1961 June 8, 1965 3,188,634
automatic index compensation

Atmospherics direction finding Gifford Hefley Feb. 26, 1962 Oct. 8, 1963 3,106,709
system Robert F. Linfield
Thomas L. Davis
Robert H. Doherty

Signal-level comparing system Charles M. Allred Apr. 19, 1962 June 29, 1965 3,192,372

Movable resonant cavity tuning Maurice J. Vetter May 10, 1962 Nov. 24, 1964 3,158,825
probe in dielectric sleeve
having nonuniform outer surface

Broadband tuning transformer Glenn F. Engen June 4, 1962 Jan. 19, 1965 3,166,725
permitting independent matching
at adjacent frequencies

System for measuring peak pulse Paul A. Hudson Sept. 10, 1962 Mar. 8, 1966 3,239,758
power using sampling and Warner Ecklund
L.
comparison techniques Arthur R. Ondrejka

Refractometer that measures the Moody C. Thompson, Jr, May 13, 1965 Sept. 3, 1968 3,400,330
difference in refractive Maurice J. Vetter
indices of a gas at two
frequencies

Variable impedance coaxial J. E. Cruz Sept. 13, 1965 Dec. 17, 1968 3,417,350
device with relative rotation
between conductors

Distance measuring instrument Peter L. Bender Sept. 17, 1965 Jan. 28, 1969 3,424,531
using a pair of modulated James C. Owens
light waves

Coaxial transmission line M. C. Selby Oct. 22, 1965 Nov. 21, 1967 3,354,411
T-junction having rectangular
passageway dimensioned beyond
cutoff for higher order modes

Electrothermic instruments for M. C. Selby Aug. 4, 1967 Dec. 30, 1969 3,487,305
measuring voltage or current

Standard field strength meter Robert A. Lawton Dec. 15, 1969 June 22, 1971 3,586,973
Charles M. Allred

Radio frequency coaxial ammeter Winston W. Scott Jan. 20, 1970 Sept. 28, 1971 3,609,541
with thermal compensation

Power measuring and leveling Neil T. Larsen Mar. 17, 1970 Oct. 5, 1971 3,611,130
system using a self-balancing Frederick R. Clague
bridge

801
 Patent
Title Inventor* s) Filed
4
Issued Number

Double plate calorimeter for Alvin L. Rasmussen June 10, 1970 Nov. 23, 1971 3,622,245
measuring the reflectivity
of the plates and the energy
in a beam of radiation

Broad-band lumped-element Cletus A. Hoer May 20, 1971 Oct. 24, 1972 3,701,057
directional coupler

Electromagnetic field Ronald R. Bowman Sept. 16, 1971 July 31, 1973 3,750,017
measuring device Ezra B. Larsen
Donald R. Belsher

Rotary vane attenuator wherein Charles D. Stelzried Oct. 29, 1971 Nov. 14, 1972 3,702,979
rotor has orthogonally disposed Tom Y. Otoshi
resistive and dielectric cards David L. Nixon
Robert W. Beatty

Color subcarrier frequency D. D. Davis Aug. 20, 1974 May 18, 1976 3,958,269
comparator

Self-balancing dc-substitution Neil T. Larsen June 17, 1975 Feb. 22, 1977 4,008,610
measuring system Gerome R. Reeve

Antenna with inherent filtering Tadeusz M. Babij June 25, 1975 Feb. 15, 1977 4,008,477
action Ronald R. Bowman
Paul F. Wacker

Vector voltmeter Cletus A. Hoer Jan. 28, 1976 Jan. 4, 1977 4,001,681
Glenn F. Engen

Satellite controlled digital Joseph V. Cateora Feb. 13, 1976 Mar. 29, 1977 4,014,166
clock system Dicky D. Davis
D. Wayne Hanson
Waveform sampler Robert A. Lawton Mar. 25, 1976 June 21, 1977 4,030,840
James R. Andrews

802
 APPENDIX F

SOURCES OF INFORMATION USED IN

PREPARATION OF ACHIEVEMENT IN RADIO
1. Annual Reports of National Bureau of Standards.
2. Monthly, Quarterly (when used), and Annual Reports (dating back to 1913) for internal
use,prepared by personnel of the Radio Section and by sections of the Central Radio
2
Propagation Laboratory (from 1946 to 1954).

3. Annual Summary Reports of Boulder Laboratories (1954-1961).

3' 4
4. Publications of the National Bureau of Standards, including Letter Circulars.

5. National Bureau of Standards Technical News Bulletin (DIMENSIONS/NBS since

August 1973).

6. Publications by NBS authors in other periodicals.

7. Miscellaneous lists of publications authored by staff members of the Radio Section, the
Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, the Radio Standards Laboratory, and by various
5
divisions.

'During the period 1958-1965 the annual reports were entitled, Research Highlights of the National Bureau of
Standards; during the period 1966-1970 they were entitled, Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of
Standards; thereafter the annual reports have had various titles.
2
Much credit must be given to J. Howard Dellinger that such records were prepared, and fortunately have been
preserved —a legacy to historians. Originals of typed copies of Monthly and Annual Reports
of the Radio Section
are located at the National Archives (Washington, D.C.) in: Records of the National Bureau of
Record Group 167,
Standards; General Correspondence Files, 1901-1946. Carbon copies are located in the personal records of J. Howard
Dellinger, NN365-25, Box 4. Carbon copies are in binders in the Radio File (see Item 8, below).

'First use of theword "radio" (or "radio telegraphy") in NBS publications is of historical interest. It would set a trend
for use inhundreds of NBS publications for a period of more than 60 years. A survey of NBS publications revealed the
following, in the order of first usage by the early authors:

1. Austin's first use was the term "radio telegraphy" in the title of Scientific Paper 96 entitled, "On the Advantages
of a High Spark Frequency in Radio-Telegraphy," dated April 27, 1908.

2. was the term "radiotelegraphic"

Dellinger's first use in the first sentence of Scientific Paper 206, entitled,
"High-Frequency Ammeters," dated April 3, 1913.

3. was the term "radio communication" in the first sentence of Scientific Paper 235 entitled, "A
Kolster's first use
Direct-Reading Instrument for Measuring the Logarithmic Decrement and Wave Length of Electromagnetic
Waves," dated August 15, 1914.
However, Kolster, in his first paper published in the Proc. IRE (April 1913), used the title, "The Effects of
Distributed Capacity of Coils Used in Radio-Telegraphic Circuits."

By 1970, when the two radio divisions dropped the term "radio" from their names (see footnotes 125 and 143,
Appendix C), "radio" was almost completely supplanted by other words in NBS publications (and by NBS authors in
outside journals), except for the term "radio frequency" and its abbreviation, "RF."

4
A complete set of Letter Circulars is located only in the Technical Information and Publications Division, NBS
Gaithersburg.

"'These lists of publications had a rather limited distribution, although wide for NBS Letter Circulars. They listed
publications by NBS staff members on radio subjects spanning the period from 1905 (Austin) through 1978 (to 1965

803
 8. Unpublished papers and technical reports of the Radio Section; located in a Dewey
indexfile, now designated as Radio File. Miscellaneous papers are also located in the

Radio File.

9. Internal documents in the form of directories, administrative orders and bulletins,

memorandums, reports to the file, and announcements.

10. Division and section files.

11. Material in National Archives (Washington, D.C.), primarily records of Radio Section
J. Howard Dellinger's personal records.
6
and
12. Dellinger address, 1961 (Radio File), also (Department of Commerce Boulder
Laboratories Library Call No. TK 6547. D46 1961, Archives). Address, entitled "Fifty
years of radio at the National Bureau of Standards," presented by J. Howard Dellinger
on March 3, 1961, at the Boulder Laboratories in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of
NBS.
13. Memorabilia, including Boutell Collection. 7

(Continued)

for the CRPL), the publications totaling approximately 3680. Other listings included papers and reports for internal
distribution, for contractors, or reports that were classified.
The total of 3680 publications on radio subjects, noted above, appears for the first time as a summation of
considerable interest —a surprisingly high number of publications, all in the category of open-literature citation
(including NBS Technical Notes, feature articles in the Technical News Bulletins, NBS Monographs, etc.). The
summation does not include nonreferenceable documents and reports, such as: Letter Circulars, NBS Reports,
CRPL Reports, preprints, the CRPL Series D Propagation Predictions, and the earlier IRPL (alphabetical) Series. Of
the more than 100 papers written by Austin, only those that appeared in NBS publications are included in the total
noted above (see ch. II).

As a matter of further interest, the total noted above is divided into subtotals in four categories of considerable
significance (actually, the total was obtained by simply summing the numbers (or subtotals) of publications in these
four categories) which appear, as follows:

Publications by NBS staff members on radio subjects

Radio Section, period to May 1, 1946

Propagation subjects Non- Propagation subjects

173 292

CRPL, period from May 1, 1946

Propagation subjects* Non-Propagation subjects**
1486 1617

One other category of publications should be added, that of publications by the Quantum Physics Division
(presently named) of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) that are identified as written by NBS
authors, the total being 927 publications through 1978.

*For CRPL publications on Propagation subjects to October 13, 1965.

"For Non-Propagation subjects through 1978.
Note: Various categories could have been selected to arrive at the total of 3680 publications, but the author (WFS)
chose to use this system, both as a feasible means of summarizing and of yielding categories of special interest. It
was necessary to resort to using a variety of publication listings in order to arrive at the totals in each of these four
categories.

11
Accession Numbers NN365-90 for records (51 boxes) of the Radio
at the National Archives (Washington, D.C.) are:
Section (compiled and deposited by J. Howard NN365-25 for the personal records (5 boxes) of J.
Dellinger) and
Howard Dellinger. Box numbers are associated with the accession numbers to indicate the repository of specific
records. Another accession number of usefulness is NARG 167, NBS Blue Folder (plus box and document number)
for NBS correspondence in the National Archives Record Group.

This group of publications, reprints, and historical memorabilia relating to NBS and its activities was collected by
7

Hugh G. Boutell, chief of the Information Section at NBS from the early 1920's until his retirement in 1946. After
his retirement these items were selected for retention by Charles L. Bragaw, a member of the section under
Boutell, and later brought to the Boulder Laboratories by Bragaw when he transferred from NBS, Washington. The
material covers a period from 1876 to 1940 and includes, among other items, early lists of NBS scientific personnel
(1905 and 1907) and general descriptions of the work of the National Bureau of Standards at various times during
the early years. This material has been deposited with the Historical Information Collection within the Public
Information Division (NBS, Gaithersburg).

804
14. Minutes of the Boulder Laboratories Management Council (1954-1962), Minutes of the
Boulder Laboratories Administrative Council (1962-1965).

15. Minutes of the CRPL Executive Council, May 1, 1946-March 14, 1955.

16. Correspondence files.

17. Organization charts, NBS telephone directories, Boulder Laboratories telephone

directories.

18. Personnel records.

19. Interviews with persons who experienced or had knowledge of projects and events.

20. Measures for Progress, authored by Rexmond C. Cochrane, and the NBS Historical File
(atNBS, Gaithersburg) established by Cochrane, now maintained by Walter Weinstein,
historical information specialist, Public Information Division, NBS, Gaithersburg.

21. Radio Propagation Activity Report (1946-1949) a CRPL in-house publication.

22. The Bureau Drawer (March 1954 to January 1966); then as The Boulder Laboratories
LAB LOG (February-March 1966 to March 1969), an in-house publication of Boulder
Laboratories.

23. NBS Standard (October 1955 to present), an in-house publication.

24. Photographs:
a) NBS photos located at Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver, Colo.
Negatives filed at Boulder Laboratories.

b) NBS photos located at the Records Holding Area, Suitland, Md. Negatives at the
Records Holding Area.

c) Photo files of Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, Boulder Laboratories.

Negatives filed at Boulder Laboratories.

d) Photo files of Electromagnetics Division, Boulder Laboratories. Negatives filed at

Boulder Laboratories.

e) Photo files of Mary Ellen Johnson, Boulder Laboratories.

25. Magazine and newspaper accounts.

26. "Scrapbook" files of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce.
27. Boulder Laboratories "Scrapbooks."

28. The extensive resources of the Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories Library,
Boulder, Colo.; Library, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.; Library, National
Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Md.; Library of Congress; other libraries in the
United States.

29. NBS Directories of Committee Membership for 1962, 1969, 1973, and 1975.

30. The Bureau of Standards, Its History, Activities and Organization by Gustavus A. Weber, ,

a publication of the Institute for Government Research Laboratories, Washington, D.C.,

the Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 1925. Although written with great detail
in some subject areas, this publication has limited information on research of the Radio
Section.

'Personnel records of former NBS staff members were made available from the National Personnel Records
Center, GSA (Civilian Personnel Records), St. Louis, Mo., in most instances by official transcript by Walter
Weinstein, Public Information Division, NBS, Gaithersburg.

805
 APPENDIX G

COMMENTARY ON A RADIO TRANSMISSION PUBLICATION

This appendix was added during the period when the entire historical account was being
paginated and indexed in preparation for final printing. In selecting the major portion of
documents in the Radio File (see item 8, app. F) for deposition in the National Archives, one
author (WFS) unexpectedly found a folder containing several typed sheets that reproduced an
article published in the April 27, 1912, issue of Electrical World (Vol. 59, pp. 887-889) with the
title, "Marconi Lecture Before New York Electrical Society." The lecture was on April 17, 1912.

The typed copy was verified by searching out the original article. A much briefer account had
appeared a week earlier (April 20) with the same title.
Among a number of topics covered by Marconi in his lecture were several on the obser-
vations of transmission and reception of wireless signals in east-west and north-south direc-
tions over the Atlantic Ocean. These experiments were largely made under Marconi's guidance
in 1910.
It was the author's reaction when reading of these observations of 1910 that Marconi had
observed much of the same phenomena of radio transmission over the Atlantic that Dellinger
and Cosentino had analyzed of observations made during the period of 1935-1940 and published
in the October 1940 issue of Proc. IRE (Vol. 28, No. 10, pp. 431-437). A short account of their
study is found in chapter VII, pp. 200-201. Briefly, Dellinger and Cosentino concluded from
their analyses that transmission of radio signals at broadcast frequencies in a north-south
direction over the Atlantic is much superior to that in the east-west direction. They attributed
this anomaly to the condition that the transmission between North America and Europe at,
say, 40° and higher latitudes is greatly affected by ionospheric storms.
In much the same context, Marconi in 1912 stated of his observations that:

Recent observations reveal the interesting fact that the effects vary greatly
with the direction in which transmission is taking place, the results obtained
when transmitting in a northerly and southerly direction being often alto-
gether different from those observed in an easterly and westerly one. In
regard to moderate power stations such as are employed on ships, and which
use wavelengths of 300 m and 600 m, the distance over which communication
can be effected during daytime is generally about the same whatever the
bearing of the ships to each other or to the land stations, while at night
interesting and apparently curious results are obtained. Ships over 1000 miles
away off the south of Spain or around the coast of Italy can almost always
communicate during the hours of darkness with the post office stations situ-
ated on the coasts of England and Ireland, while the same ships when at a
similar distance on the Atlantic from the westward of these islands and on the
usual track between England and America can hardly ever communicate
with these shore stations unless by means of specially powerful instruments.

And again:

Valuable tests have been carried out by the United States Navy De-
partment regarding the ascertainment of the laws governing the relation of
the decrease in strength of signals with distance. Marconi carried out a series
of tests over longer distances than had ever been previously attempted in
September and October of 1910, between the stations of Clifden (Ireland) and

807
 Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) and a receiving station placed on the Italian steam-
ship Principessa Mafalda in the course of her voyage from Italy to the
Argentine. During these tests the receiving wire was supported by means of
a kite, as was done in the transatlantic tests of 1901, the height of the kite
varying from about 1000 to 3000 ft. Signals and messages were obtained
without difficulty by day as well as by night up to a distance of 4000 statute
miles from Clifden. Beyond that distance reception could be obtained only
during night time. At Buenos Aires, more than 6000 miles from Clifden, the
night signals from both Clifden and Glace Bay were generally good. It is
rather remarkable that the radiations from Clifden should have been de-
tected at Buenos Aires so clearly at night time and not at all during the day,
while in Canada the signals coming from Clifden (2400 miles distant) are no
stronger during the night than they are by day.

It can be readily assumed that all transmissions referred to by Marconi were at fre-
quencies that are affected by the ionosphere.
Although Marconi had no explanation for the anomalies of transmission of radio signals
over the Atlantic Ocean, it is rather strange that Dellinger and Cosentino made no reference
to Marconi's observations. These observations, made in 1910, showed anomalies that were
similar to the anomaly indicated by Dellinger and Cosentino in 1940.

808
 INDEX
Note: The index covers Chapters I through XX, Appendix D, and Appendix G. Material in footnotes is designated by
the letter "n" after the page number.

A air navigation by radio: WW

I (also, see Chapter VI), 60

Air Navigation Development Board (ANDB), 512, 515,

525, 576
A-battery eliminator, 85
air navigation system: curtailment of program, 1933,
ABRAHAM, Henri: French Scientific Commission, 52
165
absolute humidity, 523
523
development for Aeronautics Branch, 153
absolute humidity: climate variation of,
early development by NBS at College Park, Md., 153
absorption: in Antarctic, 444
elimination of night effect on radio beam, 165n
of radio waves, 605
improvements in radio beacon, 154
polar-cap, 442
installation of radio beacon at Bellefonte, Pa., 155
absorption event, 610n
laboratory model of beacon system, 154
absorption events, 609
minimization of night effect on radio beacon, 165
absorption line of ammonia, 619
multiple-beacon course system, 157
absorption of ionosphere layer: effect on distant
multiple-beacon development, 12-course, 157n
transmission, 239
night effect on radio beacon, 155
ac operation of electron tubes, 86n
radio, 572
ac operation of electron tubes: development, 85
radio beacon, 644
patent litigation, 87
radio beacon, aural type in operation, 157
patents, 87
premature announcement, 85, 86n
radio beacon developed, for U.S. Army Air
Service, 150
publications, 86
radio marker beacons, 156
ac operation of transmitter tubes: early
tuned-reed visual beacon course indicator, 152, 152n
development, 85
airplane guidance system: proposal by Post Office
Act of August 13, 1912 (regulation of radio stations), 644
Department, 1918, 148
Act of Congress, March 3, 1901: establishment of
airplane landing system: by electrical altimeter, 149
NBS, 99
by electrical induction method, 148, 649
ADAIR, Robert T., 367
by induction signaling, 148
Administrative Radio Conference, ITC: Atlantic City,
by radiation cone, 149
1947, 659
air-to-air communication: frequency-band study, 583
Administrative Services Division, NBS Boulder, 736
air-to-air propagation characteristics, 525
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), 459n,
air-to-ground communication: frequency-band
461, 476
study, 583
Aerial Mail Service, Post Office Department: safety
air-to-ground propagation characteristics, 525
of, 649
aerodynamic phenomena in stellar atmospheres, 624
ALEXANDER, Samual M., 586n
aeronautical committees in Government, various, 644
ALLAN, David W„ 301, 308
Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce,
allocation of FM stations: a method, 580
allocation plan: of station allocations, 645
153, 644
aeronomy, 735 ALLOT, Gordon (U.S. Senator, Colorado), 285

Aeronomy Division, 506 ALLRED, C. McKay, 357, 364, 365, 365n, 377, 381, 382

Aeronomy Laboratory, NOAA, 737 Alouette I (see Ionosphere, upper)

altimeter: by radar technique, 18
Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), 349
AGNEW, Paul G., 695, 695n ALTSCHULER, Helmut M., 282, 356n, 672, 700
amateur radio stations: ban lifted by FCC, 20
AGY, Vaughn L., 436, 441n, 442, 442n
closed by FCC, 19
AIA (see Aerospace Industries Association)
Air Commerce Act, May 20, 1926, 153, 644
Amendment to the Radio Act of 1912, 645
Aircraft Receivers Committee, IRE, 652
American Byrd Base, 608
"air disaster":European theater of WW
II, 404
American Engineering Council: Committee on Radio
Broadcasting, 92
Air Force: calibration needs, 348
Department of Defense, 348, 351, 353, 395 American Engineering Standards Committee: radio
standards, 92
Air Force Cambridge Research Center, 625
Air Force Missile Test Center, 546 American Geophysical Union: Committee on Earth
Currents and Polar Lights, 92
airglow: a simplified photometer for observation, 469
CRPL takes major role in IGY program, 468 American Institute of Electrical Engineers AIEE), 348, (

652, 684
international photometric unit for, 468
American Institute of Electrical Engineers: Standards
nature discussed, 466n
observations at Fritz Peak, 469, 722
Committee; Subcommittee on Telephony,
Airglow and Aurora Section, 469n Telegraphy, and Radio, 92

Airglow and Ionosphere Subcenter for IGY, 468

American National Standards Institute, 652, 654
airglow program: established, 466
American Physical Society, 680, 680n
importance of, 468
American Radio Association: Interference
Air Materiel Command, Air Force, 348
Committee, 92
air navigation: homing device, 166
American Radio Relay League (ARRL), 172, 183,
263, 285
radio-aid patents by Radio Section personnel, 166

809
American Radio Relay League (ARRL): Advisory gain measurements, 565
Technical Committees, 92 location at NBS, 115
assistance to IRPL, 414 model range, Boulder Laboratories, 566
cooperative program with Radio Laboratory, 93 model range. Sterling field station, 560
cooperative project on fading, 180 problems at NBS, 47
organized, 1914, 11 publications by Dellinger, 681
American Society for Testing and Materials, 654 radiation pattern measurements, 566
American Society for Testing and Materials: Insulating scaled-down models, 566
Material Committee, 92 scaled-down, similitude with, 566
American Standards Association, 653 submarine, 122
American Telephone and Telegraph Co., 343 theoretical designs, 571
American Telephone and Telegraph Co.: coaxial cable theoretical study, 122
installation, 17 twofold purpose of study, 118
long-distance voice communication, 12 types studied and used at NBS, 115
American URSIgrams Service, 675 antennas, "hybrid," 100-meters: designed and
ammeter, coaxial RF-dc, 381 studied, 120
ammeters: RF, 103 antennas and coil aerials, 679
ammonia clock, 619, 620 antennas for the automobile, 118n
ammonia clock, Model 2, 620 antenna studies: site on Green Mountain mesa, 722
ammonia clock, Model 3, 620 Anthony, Kans., receiving site, 530, 531
ammonia inversion transition: observation of, 17 Apollo 10 spacecraft: color TV pictures of Moon, 24
AMPERE, Andre M., 3 Apollo 11, 614
amplitude scintillations, 603, 605 APPLETON, E. V. and BARNETT, M. A. F., 173, 174
Analysis of Symetrical Waveguide Junctions: a doctor's APPLETON, E. V. and ECKERSLEY, T. L., 206
dissertation, 398 APPLETON, Sir Edward V. 14, 20, 173, 173n, 175, 227
Anchorage Radio Propagation Field Station, 453 229n, 340
ANCKER-JOHNSON, Betsy (Assistant Secretary of application of graphs of usable frequency to
Commerce for Science and Technology), 309 communication problems, 240
ANDERSON, Malcom M., 625 Applications of Waveguide and Circuit Theory to the
ANDREWS, David H., 281n, 292 Development of Accurate Microwave Measurement
ANDREWS, James R., 357, 388 Methods and Standards: NBS Monograph 137, 398
A New Concept in Microwave Measurement arctic ducts, 520
Techniques: a doctor's dissertation, 399 "Arctic Wolf project: Meteor-Burst Propagation
angular distance, 6, 517, Research, 465
angular distance, 0: defined, 517 arc transmitter, 9
Annual Report, NBS, to Secretary of Treasury Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, 23
Department: first, 99 Armed Forces, 345
Annual Report to Secretary of Commerce, 1917: war ARMSTRONG, Edwin H., 11, 12, 13, 17, 20
work, 51 Army Air Corps: stratosphere balloon flights, 122
anomalies of radio wave propagation, 92 Army Air Force, 347
Anomaly: "Far East", 448, 483 Army Air Service: remote radio control project, 84
ANSON, Wilbur J., 359, 369, 400, 654, 654n Army Department, 345, 348
Antarctic Eights station, 609, 609n, 610n Army Electronics Command, 24
antenna, coil: as direction finder 115 Army Signal Corps, 52, 53, 54, 56, 107, 347, 558
antenna: delta, multiple-wire, 600-ohm, 563 Army Signal Corps Radio Laboratory, 33
antenna, parabolic reflector type: development of, 118 Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, 22
antenna array, monopoles: study of, 570 ARNOLD, Harold D., 11
antenna arrays: electronically scanned, development ARN-2 Radio Noise Recorder, NBS, 558n, 559, 562
of, 567 around-the-world transmissions, 459
antenna for underwater reception and transmission: Arthur Fleming Award: first, 295
patent, 96, 96n ARTHUR, M. Gerald, 382
antenna gain: defined, 384n artificially ionized clouds in ionosphere: observations
antenna impedance: measurement of, 563 of, 459
antenna measurements: comment, 110 Associated Universities, Inc., 596n
antenna measurements above 1 GHz: extrapolation ASTIN, Allen V., 122, 280n, 307, 319, 319n, 342, 352,
technique, 386 683n, 691, 715n, 716, 724, 724n, 725, 728, 728n
near-field method, 386 Astronaut ALDRIN, 614
antenna radiation patterns: measurement of, 565 Astronaut ARMSTRONG, 614
antenna research, 44, 555, 563, 565 Astronaut COOPER, 615
Antenna Research Section, 565n, 567 ATHAY, R. Grant, 624
antennas, coil: studied, 115 atmospheric disturbances, 35
antennas, condenser: bedspring, 118n atmospheric duct, 520
studied, 117 atmospheric noise, 595
antennas, corner-reflector: measurements of, 563 atmospheric noise levels: automatic recording of, 558
60-degree, 564 recording, 558
antennas, directive (parabolic reflector), 10-meters: atmospheric radio noise, 555, 557
designed and constructed, 118 atmospheric radio noise: effect on reception, 556
antennas: early, at NBS, 44 measurement of, 557
for vertical-incidence ionosondes, 563 atmospheric refraction, 520

810
atmospheric refractive index, 518 Austin-Cohen transmission formula (equation), 34, 34n,
atmospheric refractive index: variations of, 519 172, 176, 176n, 470, 470n, 474, 474n
atmospheric variables: seasonal factors, 513 automated measurement systems, 356
atomic and molecular beam resonance experiments: automated systems: for antenna measurements, 357
first, 18 for calibration of micropotentiometers, 357
atomic-beam clock, 620 for calibration of power measurement devices, 357
atomic-beam frequency standard: cesium, first, 21 time domain reflectometer, 357
atomic bomb project, 316 Y-factor system for noise measurement, 357
atomic clock, 619 automatic amplitude distribution analyzer, 588n
atomic clock: first, 347, 619 automatic network analyzer, 357
first, accuracy stated, 296 automatic radio beacon transmitter for fog
first, described, 296 signalling, 139
first,on display, 25th anniversary, 309 automatic weather station, airlaunched: development
patent, 298n by Radio Section, 321
term explained, 293 "Grasshopper," 137
world's first, 20, 293 automatic weather station: for Navy Department, 136
atomic clocks: basic patent, 298 water-borne, free-floating buoy, 138
control by oxygen spectral line, 297 Awards by IRE: to NBS members, 683, 683n
inversion frequency of ammonia, reported by Cleeton AYERS, Edmund D., 698
and Williams, 293
NBS Model 2 Ammonia Clock, 296, 297, 298
NBS Model 3 Ammonia Clock, 296, 297, 298
Atomic Collision Data Center, 630 B
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), 715
Atomic Frequency and Time Interval Section, 308, 631 backscatter: characteristics, 436
atomic frequency standard: ammonia molecular beam explained, 436n
clock, maser principle, 300 backscatter observations, 458
cesium beam, described, 299 backscatter program, 458
NBS cesium beam given tentative value, 277, 308 Baie St. Paul, 610n, 611n
NBS-I, 620 Baie St. Paul station, 610
atomic frequency standards: comparison of cesium BAILEY, Dana K., 442, 444, 444n, 445, 464, 484, 485,
beam technique with laser technique, 301 486, 486n,487, 487n, 491n, 494, 494n, 495, 495n, 496,
potentialities, 300 496n, 498n, 556n, 572, 616, 616n, 660, 662
atomic frequency standards program, 347 BAIN, Alexander, 3
atomic oscillators: controlled by spectral lines, 298 BAIRD, John L., 15, 16
Atomic Time Scale: AT(NBS), 308 BAIRD, Ramon C, 388, 621
attenuation of radio waves: Norton points out error in bakelite: described, 106n
Sommerfeld formula, 112 uses described, 106n
attenuation measurement: based upon Josephson BALLIF, Paul S., 719n, 723
effect, 367 BAMBERGER, Edwin C, 391
by bolometer measurement technique, 366 ban on amateur radio stations in U.S.: WW I, 12
by modulated subcarrier technique, 366 BARCLAY, Catherine, 260, 260n
by unmodulated twin-channel technique, 366 BARDEEN, John, and BRATTAIN, Walter Houser, 20
importance of, 361 BARGER, Richard L., 634, 634n, 636
attenuation measurements: papers by Beatty, 367 BARNABEI, Allen, 584n, 647n, 665
attenuator-thermoelectric high-frequency voltmeter BARNES, James A., 259, 292, 301, 308, 308n, 309n
(AT voltmeter), 379 BARNES, Stephen S., 610n
ATWOOD, Stephen S., 511 BARSIS, Albrecht P., 516, 536, 537, 538, 585
audibility meter, 99, 109 Bartol Research Foundation, 444, 483, 484
auroral absorption, 611, 611n Basic Microwave Research Section, 512, 598
auroral absorption zone, 442 Basic Theory of Waveguide Junctions and Introductory
auroral blackouts, 441, 610n Microwave Network Analysis: textbook, 398
"auroral propagation": an observed transmission basic transmission loss, 515, 516
phenomenon, 491n BATEMAN, Ross, 441n, 448n, 462n, 471, 487n, 491n, 495,
AUSTIN, Louis W., 29n, 30, 30n, 31, 32, 33, 33n, 34, 35, 495n, 496, 496n
36, 38, 45, 92, 115, 172, 175, 175n, 176, 176n, 216, 470, battery problem: of radio receivers, 85
470n, 555, 657n, 667, 667n, 668, 669, 671, 671n, 672, BEAN, Bradford R., 478n, 517, 520, 520n, 521, 522, 523
679n, 681, 682, 737n BEARDSLEY, James H., 391
AUSTIN, Louis W.: accolade by IRE, 36n BEATTY, Robert W., 358, 359, 366, 367, 367n, 368, 369,
American Men of Science listing, 31n 374, 389, 398, 398n, 400, 672, 696, 699, 700
association with Navy Department, 33 BECK, Emanuel A., 219, 600
association with URSI, 38 BEEHLER, Roger E., 292, 293n, 301, 305, 305n, 308
designation of positions, 34n BEERS, L. Yardley, 270, 285, 620, 631
employment by German government, 30n BEHRENT, Lewis F., 377, 378, 379, 380
evaluation by Dellinger, 34n BELL, Alexander Graham, 5
insight into personality, 38n BELL, Howard E., 309
list of publications, 35n BELLINI, Ettore, and TOSI, Alessandro, 10
relation with NBS, 36n Bell Telephone Laboratories, 15, 16, 18, 595, 598
resolution by URSI, on death, 38n BELSHER, Deloris, 719n
viewpoint on solar activity and radio phenomena, 36n BELSHER, Donald R., 386
811
Beltsville field station, 190n, 208, 209, 211, 215, 220 BRANSCOMB, Lewis, M., 628, 634n, 699
BELTZ, Howard H., 57 Brant Rock radio station, 34
BENDER, Peter L., 638 BRATTAIN, Walter H, 253, 253n
BENEDICT, Charles M., 626 BRATTAIN, Walter H: awarded Nobel Prize in
BERKLEY, Jessie B., 723, 723n Physics, 253n
BERKNER, Lloyd V., 165n, 196, 196n, 197, 215, 216, 229, BRAUN, Karl Ferdinand, 4, 6, 7
670, 671n, 672, 674, 674n, 682 breakdown voltage: measurement of, 107
BERRY, Ira S., 354n, 377 BREIT, Gregory, 173n, 202, 668, 680n
BETTS, Barton F., 723 BREIT, Gregory, and TUVE, Merle A., 15, 173, 175, 203
Beverage antenna, 614n BREYFOGLE, Louis D., 61 In
beyond-line-of-site radio paths, 516 BRICKWEDDE, Ferdinand G., 726n
Bibliography on Aircraft Radio: 89 BRIGGS, Lyman J., 37, 218, 315, 316, 319, 405n,
Bibliography (Radio) Committee, IRE, 652 406n, 663
Big Bang theory, 24, 794n British Atomic Energy Research Establishment, 625
BIRMINGHAM, Bascom W., 309n, 726n British Broadcasting Co., 13
BIRNBAUM, George, 337, 338, 389, 391, 518, 519, 688 British Inter-Service Ionosphere Bureau (ISIB), 556
black-body radiation theory, 598 BRITTIN, Wesley, 628, 631
BLAIR, Byron E., 290n, 292 broadcasting: development of, 403
BLAIR, James C, 471n effecton Radio Section, 69
blind landing of plane: first, by radio, 16 broadcasting, first: of music and speech, 8
blind landing system, 511 broadcasting of ionospheric propagation
BMEWS, 23 information, 235
Board of War Communications: IRAC related to, 647 BROCKMAN, James F., 699
BOGGS, Gail E., 579 BRODE, Wallace R., 700, 724n
BOGGS, Marshall S., 161 BROIDA, Herbert P., 633
BOHNER, C. E. (Signal Corps), 146, 150n Brookhaven National Laboratory, 518, 519
bolometer bridge: NBS Type II, 376 BROWN, Frederick W., 696, 724, 724n, 726, 728
self-balancing, 37 5n BROWN, Jack N., 426, 426n, 459, 47 In
bolometers: described, 372n BROWN, William W., 280n
bolometer unit efficiency: defined, 373n BRUNETTI, Cledo, 319
"Bolovac": voltage and current standard, 380 brush-cathode plasma, 627
Booker-Gordon scatter theory, 549, 550, 551 BUDDEN, Kenneth G. (England, guest worker at NBS),
BOOKER, Henry G. (consultant to CRPL), 465, 465n 470n, 474n, 502
BOOT, H. A. H. and RANDALL, J. T., 18 Bureau Circulars: information on radio for public, 81
"bootleg" tubes, 81n Bureau (see National Bureau of Standards)
BOTTOM, Virgil E., 394 Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, 323, 328
Boulder Chamber of Commerce, 709, 709n, 710, 710n, Bureau of Air Commerce, Department of
711, 712, 713, 723, 726 Commerce, 650
Boulder Chamber of Commerce: Boulder Liaison Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, 737n
Committee, 724 Bureau of Lighthouses: assistance to, 44
Bureau of Standards Committee, 711 Bureau of Lighthouses, Department of Commerce, 643
Boulder citizens visit NBS Washington, 725 Bureau of Markets: broadcast of reports by WWV, 78
Boulder, Colo., 596, 599, 733, 735, 736 Bureau of Markets, Department of Agriculture, 649
Boulder community, 709, 711, 712, 725 Bureau of Navigation: assistance to, 44
Boulder Laboratories, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce,
733, 736 244, 643

Boulder Laboratories (NBS), 348, 349, 351, 352, 356n, Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce:
358, 377, 394, 565, 624, 686, 690, 698, 715n, 718, 719, direct-reading decremeter, 105

719n, 725, 726, 726n, 727, 728, 729n, 733, 736, 736n radio inspectors, 97

Boulder Laboratories: Campus Development Plan, 719 Bureau of Navigation (Department of Commerce and
Labor), 42
early staff, 723
"Open House" at conferences, 688
Bureau of Ships, Navy Department, 323, 328, 392, 573
staff migration, 1954, 725
Bureau of Standards (also, see National Bureau of
Standards), 11, 12, 16
Boulder Laboratories dedication: contributor's
plaque, 727 Bureau of the Budget, 348
Eisenhower's address, 729n
BURGESS, George K, 69
"Open House", 727 BUSH, Vannevar, 316
Presidential party, 728
BUSSEY, Howard E., 391, 391n, 394, 514, 514n, 518,
519, 588n
BOURS, Reginald W., 412
BOUTELL, Hugh G., 49n Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1928-1930, 196
BOWLES, Kenneth L., 425n, 426, 426n, 436, 437, 437n, Byrd station, 610n
438, 439, 446, 447, 448, 460, 465, 483, 498, 500,
606, 611
BOWMAN, Ronald R., 366, 386, 388
BOYD, Louise A., 225, 226 c
BOYLE, Don R., 357, 383
BRADY, Allen H, 457 CADY, W. G. (Wesleyan University), 248, 249, 254, 260
BRAGAW, Charles L., 726 CADY, W. G.: on quartz crystals, 248n
BRANLY, Edouard, 5 CAHOON, Burgette A., 523

812
Calibration Coordination Group (CCG), Department of organizational growth, 419
Defense, 355, 355n origin of name, 415n
calibration facility: Boulder Laboratories, funding shaping a program, 418
problems, 348 Central Radio Propagation Laboratory staff, 723
calibration of field strength meters: service initiated, Certificate of Merit, Franklin Institute: to Harold
1932, 111 Lyons, 296
calibration of frequency standards: via color TV cesium beam frequency standard: adoption as U.S.
programs, 280 Frequency Standard, 302
calorimeter, dry, static: for lower radio analysis and minimization of errors, 302
frequencies, 377 comparison, NBS-I with NBS-II, 302
calorimeter (flow), dual-dry load: for lower radio comparison of NBS-4 with NBS-5, 303
frequencies, 378 evaluated accuracy, 303
calorimeters: for laser measurements, 634 NBS-I, 301, 305
CALVERT, Wynne, 425n, 503, 505, 506, 506n NBS-II, 301, 302, 305, 308
Cambridge Research Center, U.S. Air Force, 459, NBS-III, 302, 303, 305
459n, 464 NBS-4, 303, 308
Cambridge Research Laboratories, U.S. Air Force, 476 NBS-5, 302, 303
CAMPBELL, Eugene, 363, 383 transition frequency determined, 301
CAMPBELL-SWINTON, A. A., 10 cesium beam frequency standard (NBS), 634, 636
capacitance, 100 CHADWICK, Walter B., 415n, 428, 441n
capacitor (condenser): standard, fixed, 101 CHAMBERS, George R., 527
standard, variable, 100 Chesapeake Bay Annex, Naval Research Laboratory,
standard, variable, high-voltage, 101 324, 333, 336, 338
CAPPS, Frederick M., 537, 580 Chevy Chase Experimental Station, 188
carbon dioxide laser, 635, 636 Cheyenne Mountain, 525
carborundum crystal detectors, 10 Cheyenne Mountain: transmitter site, 721
CARLE, Richard F., 282, 292, 292n, 605 Cheyenne Mountain experiments, 518, 525
Carnegie Institution of Washington, 21 Cheyenne Mountain experiments: investigation of
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Dept. of radio fields, near and far, 531
Terrestrial Magnetism, 410, 414 recording devices, 533
CARPENTER, Robert J., 464 transmitting facilities, 532
CARROLL, Thomas J., 317, 317n, 511, 580n, 584, 672 UHF receivers, 533
CARTER, Nancy F., 476, 476n UHF transmitter, 1046 MHz, 532
cascaded amplifiers: first, 11 VHF receivers, 533
CASE, William E., 394, 633 VHF transmitters, 533
Cassiopeia, 595 Mountain program, 527, 533
Cheyenne
cathode-ray oscillographs: design and construction, Mountain project, 525, 713, 721, 723
Cheyenne
WW I period, 63 Mountain propagation experiments, 525
Cheyenne
cathode-ray oscilloscope: first, 6 Mountain receivers, 533
Cheyenne
cathode rays: properties of, 7 Mountain transmitters, 532
Cheyenne
cathode rays identified: Nobel Prize in Physics, 7 CHISHOLM, James H., 527
cavity Q-meter: use of, 337 CHIVERS, Hugh J. A., 443, 608, 609, 610, 610n,
CCIR (see footnote 11, Ch. XVII, for source of 611, 615
abbreviation), 660n Circuit Standards Division, 354
CCIR Worldwide Prediction Charts: radio noise, 562 Circuit Standards Division: of three sections, 354
Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL), 38, 69, reorganization of, 1962, 354n
71, 73, 194, 197, 292, 343, 345, 347, 348, 403n, 406n, Circular 74, 100, 102, 103, 104, 110
410n, 412, 413, 414, 420, 420n, 424, 424n, 425, 426, Circular 74 , WW
I publication, 52, 53, 53n, 694

427, 428, 429, 431, 435, 436, 439, 440, 440n, 441, CLAGUE, Fred R., 375
442, 443, 444, 446, 447, 448, 448n, 450, 457, 459, CLARK, George H., 34, 34n
459n, 461, 461n, 462, 462n, 465, 466, 468, 469, CLARK, Thomas A., 606, 606n
470n, 471, 474, 475, 475n, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, CLEETON, C. E. and WILLIAMS, N. H., 17, 293
483, 484, 485, 488, 498, 499, 500, 500n, 501, 502, CLEMENTS, Alvin J. D., 290
503, 504, 505, 507, 511, 512, 513, 514, 516, 518, 521, climatology, worldwide, 523
525, 555, 555n, 557, 558, 559, 563, 571, 578, 580, climatology, worldwide: variations of, 524
583, 584, 587, 598, 599, 603, 608, 611, 613, 614, 616, clocks: atomic, 2
619, 646, 648, 653, 654, 655, 659, 660, 662, 664, 666, Coast and Geodetic Survey: assistance to, 44
669, 674, 675, 676, 703, 704, 706, 708, 709, 710, 713, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Department of
722, 723, 724, 724n, 725, 726, 733, 733n, 735, 737 Commerce, 644, 733
Central Radio Propagation Laboratory: a division of coaxial connectors: laboratory types, 400
NBS, 416 NBS involvement, 399
authorization of establishment, 415 COBLENTZ, William W., 124
established May 1, 1946, 415 COCHRANE, Rexmond C: account of Radio Section
evaluation by Ad Hoc Committee, 1953, 418 during the 1920's, 69, 70, 72, 88
first steps in establishment, 416 COHEN, Louis, 32, 32n, 34n, 100, 679, 681, 682, 695n
listings of radio-wave propagation COHEN, Louis: association with Army Signal Corps
publications, 476n Radio Laboratory, 33
mission stated, 415n participation in NBS educational programs, 33
national defense orientation, 418 scientific papers, 33
numerical growth of staff, 419
COHEN, Robert, 425n, 426, 426n, 446, 447, 483, 498 Conference on High Frequency Measurements,
coherer: Branley, 5 Second, 1951, 685
coherer detector, 5n Conference on High Frequency Measurements, Third,
coil aerials (antennas): WW I development, 57 1953, 686
COILE, Howard L. (Air Force), 353 Conference on High Frequency Measurements,
COLBY, Norman C, 346 Fourth, 1955, 686
COLE, Frank W. (architect), 713 Conference on Non-Linear Processes in the
College Park (Maryland) Airfield, 93 Ionosphere, 1963, 428
Collier Trophy, 1948, 650, 650n Conference(s) on Precision Electromagnetic
Collins Radio Co., 487 Measurements, 359
collision prevention of airplanes:
experiments by (International) Conference on Precision
Radio Section, 167n Electromagnetic Measurements, 1962, 687, 688
Colorado National Guard Radar Armory, 713 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
Colorado- Wyoming Science Fair, 700 Measurements, 1964, 689
color television, 555, 590 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
color television: all-electronic system patent applied Measurements, 1966, 689
for, 19 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
demonstration with electronic equipment to FCC, 18 Measurements, 1968, 380, 689
FCC decisions, 591 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
first broadcasting of, 19 Measurements, 1972, 689
standards compatible with black-and-white, 21 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
standards for field-sequential system, 21 Measurements, 1974, 689
three-color system, rotating disc: demonstrated, 18 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic
three-spiral scanning disc: demonstrated, 16 Measurements, 1976, 689
color television, with electronic equipment: first Conference on Radio Noise, Harvard College
demonstrated to public, 20 Observatory, 1958, 605n
color television system: three-gun tube, patent, 19 Conference on Radio Propagation, CRPL, 1947, 416,
Columbia, command module, 614 513, 597
Columbia Broadcasting System, 16, 18 Conference on Radio Propagation and Standards,
Committee for the Standardization of High Precision 1954, Boulder, 551, 698, 726
Coaxial Connectors, 400 Conference on Radio Telephony, Department of
Committee on Propagation, OSRD, 317 Commerce {see First National Radio Conference)
committee representation: proliferation within the Conference on Standards and Electronic
CRPL, 653 Measurements, 1960, 400, 687, 687n, 690, 691
communication: early forms, 1 Conference on the Limitations of Armaments
communication problem: cause explained by (1921-1922), 657n
Gilliland, 231 Confidential Bulletin, NBS, 65, 66
Communications Act of 1934, 17, 646 Confidential Bulletin, NBS: purpose of, 65n
Communications and Transportation (Division C of conjugate point, 608, 609, 610n
NDRC), 316 conjugate point program, 595n, 607n, 609, 610,
Communications (Section C-l of Division C, 610n, 611
NDRC), 316 conjugate point project, 609, 610n
Communications Section of the Communications and conjugate points, 607n, 608, 609n, 610n, 61 In
Transportation Division (NDRC), 403 conjugate point studies: concept, 443n
comparison of standard clocks: by TV technique, 290 CONRAD, Frank (Westinghouse), 120, 181
computer facility, ESSA, 736 Consultative Committee on the Definition of the
computer facility, NBS Boulder, 735 Second, 307
computer signals, 1 continental polar air mass: studies of, 523
CONDA, Alyce M., 478n control at a distance by radio: first U.S. patent, 8
condenser: see capacitor COOK, Clarence O, 364, 365, 384
condenser discharge: oscillatory, mathematical COOLIDGE, Calvin (President), 15, 153, 647, 663n
analysis, 4, 4n COOMBS, William C, 613n
condenser discharges: oscillatory, 3 cooperative research with universities, 75
CONDON, Edward Uhler, 293, 295, 309, 309n, 414, Coordinated Study of Correlation of High Frequency
415, 416, 416n, 441n, 462n, 590, 590n 591n, 630, Direction- Finder Errors with Ionospheric

695, 703n, 704, 706, 706n, 708, 708n, 709, 710, Conditions (NBS Research Project 13.2-92 for
712n, 723, 724n NDRC), 319
CONDON, Edward Uhler: appointed JILA fellow, 630 Coordinated Study of Ionospheric Transmission and
"Fellow Emeritus", 630 Direction Errors at High Frequencies (NBS
Professor Emeritus, 630 Research Project C-13 for NDRC), 318
tribute to, 630, 631 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC(NBS), 308
CONES, Harold N„ 563 CORD, Marian S., 620
Conference on Arctic Communication, 1959, 442n, 664 correlation between ionosphere and radio
Conference on Electronic Standards and transmission, 237
Measurements, 1958, 368, 686, 698 correlation computer, 588n
Conference on High Frequency Measurements: COSENTINO, A. T. (Ministry of Interior, Argentina),
biennial conferences, 653 201, 807, 808

Conference on High Frequency Measurements, First, cosmic noise, 595, 597, 598, 598n, 606, 607n, 608n, 613n
1949, 684 cosmic noise absorption, 598

814
cosmic noise project, 597 D
cosmic noise research, 513
cosmic radio noise, 595, 596, 597, 597n, 598, 598n Daily Camera, Boulder, 712, 725n, 728
cosmic radio waves, 597n DALKE, John L., 391, 392, 392n, 394
cosmic ray particles, 607n DALLMAN, O. Russell, 725
cosmic ray research: by forward scatter, 444 DANIEL, Frances T., 581
Cosmos I satellite {see Ionosphere, upper) DANIELSON, Bruce L., 634, 634n
COTTONY, Herman V., 441n, 489, 497n, 498n, 557, data processing: expanded program by computers, 587
563n, 564, 565, 565n, 566, 567, 568n, 570, 597, Data Reduction Instrumentation Section, 588
615n, 700 data reduction systems, 587
Council of National Defense, 316 DAVIES, Kenneth, 436, 458, 458n
Countermeasures Section, Bureau of Ships, 328, 336 DAVIS, Dicky D., 290n, 292
COX, Richard T., 245, 245n, 248 DAVIS, Robert M. Jr., 425
CPEM (Conference on Precision Electromagnetic DAVIS, Thomas L., 574
Measurements): Executive Committee, 690 DAY, Gordon W., 634, 634n
CRAIG, D. Norman, 124 DAYHOF, Edward S., 622
CRAM, Ernest R. (Army Signal Corps Radio DAYWITT, William C, 382, 383
Laboratory), 33n DECKER, Martin T., 538, 547, 576, 583, 585, 585n, 614
CRARY, James H., 219 decremeter: direct reading, by Kolster, method
CRAWFORD, Myron L., 378 described, 105n
NBS, Boulder: electromagnetic
credit courses by Kolster, direct-reading, 11, 41, 42, 104, 105, 643,
measurements and standards, 358 679, 680
CRICHLOW, William Q., 483, 555n, 557, 559, 559n, 561, decremeter, Kolster Type B, 244
562, 573, 573n, 597, 666 decremeter and wavemeter, combination, 643
critical frequencies: measure of solar activity, 450 Dedication Program Committee, Boulder
relation to sunspot numbers, 449 Laboratories, 726
variation with sunspot cycle, 449 Defense, Department of, 655
critical frequency, 598n Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), 460n
critical frequency: definition of, 209n Defense Research Telecommunication
critical frequency, Jupiter, 606 Establishment, 609n
CRITTENDON, Eugene C, 69 Definitions and Standards Committee, CCIR, 661
CROMBIE, Douglass D., 457, 461n, 475, 475n, 477n, de FOREST, Lee, 9, 10, lOn, 11, 17, 172
478, 478n DELLINGER, J. Howard, 29n, 38, 48, 49n, 52, 53, 54,
CROOKES, William, 5 54n, 57, 58, 61, 63, 65, 69n, 71, 73, 82, 88, 90, 91, 92,
CROW, Edwin L„ 700 93, 95, 95n, 96n, 100, 103, 106, 110, 115, 117, 118,
CRPL (see Central Radio Propagation Laboratory) 150n, 152n, 153, 159, 161n, 171, 176, 176n, 180, 181,
CRPL Building, 735n 181n, 182, 182n, 183, 186, 187, 188, 193, 194, 200, 201,
CRPL Exponential Reference Atmosphere, 517, 521, 522 202, 221, 222, 222n, 223, 224, 225, 230, 231, 233, 236n,
CRPL News: a monthly paper, 416 237, 241, 243, 244, 245n, 249, 254, 263, 265, 316, 317,
CRPL Radio Warning Service, 601 340, 380, 389, 403, 403n, 405n, 406, 406n, 412, 414,
CRUZ, Jose E., 469 415n, 416, 416n, 432, 441n, 451n, 465, 470, 563, 576n,
Cryogenic Engineering Conference, 1954, Boulder, 726 578n, 584, 584n, 644, 645, 645n, 647, 647n, 648, 649,
Cryogenic Engineering Division, 725 650, 651, 652, 653, 657n, 658n, 659; 660, 661, 662,
Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory, 716n 662n, 663, 663n, 666, 666n, 668, 668n, 669, 670, 670n,
cryogenics laboratory, 715 671, 672, 672n, 676, 676n, 679, 679n, 680, 680n, 681,
crystal detectors, 4 681n, 682, 682n, 683, 683n, 695, 695n, 703, 704, 727n,
crystal detectors: study in WW I period, 62 737n, 807, 808
CULSHAW, William, 621, 683n, 700 DELLINGER, J. Howard: addresses NBS staff,
CURIE, Jacques and Pierre, 5 demonstration lecture on radio, 1920, 78
current standard: RF, electrodynamic type, 380 assignment to Electricity Division, 39
RF, electrodynamic type, improved, 380 DELLINGER, J. Howard: biographical sketch,
CURTIS, Harvey L., 695, 695n Appendix D
CURTISS, Leon F„ 122 address, NBS 60thAnniversary, 795
CXFD equipment: development of, 328 Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, 788
flight testing, 328, 330 at George Washington U., 783
limitation today, 330 at Princeton U., 784
operational requirements, 329 at Western Reserve U., 782
tactical operation, 328 biographical citations, 793
CXJX equipment: radar jammers, 331, 332, 333 broadcasting interests, 787
radar reflectors, 331, 332 boyhood years, 782
simulated search radar, 331, 332 calibration of wavemeter, NBS first, 783
Cygnus, 595, 597 Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL),
Cygnus-A, 603, 605 chief, 789
cylindrical shock waves from exploding wires, 626 Civil Service appointment, 782
Cytac navigation system: defined, 573n death, 791
study of, 573

815
 "Dellinger effect" (SID), 788 detection factor, 108
enters NBS, 782 detector: two-element vacuum tube, U.S. patent, 10
Federal Radio Commission (FRO, chief engineer, 787 deuterated ammonia, 619
Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), participation, DEUTSCH, Ralph, 331, 334, 345
president, 792 development of wireless telegraphy: Nobel Prize in
Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC), Physics, 1909, 10
participation, 787 Dewey Decimal Classification: of Radio Section
International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR), documents, 89
participation, 792 of radio subjects, 89
International Scientific Radio Union (URSI), Dew Line, 2
participation, 791 DIAMOND, Harry, 93, 110, 123, 123n, 124, 128, 131, 132,
Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL), 133, 136, 137, 155, 156, 157n, 159, 165, 165n, 166,
chief, 789 167n, 317, 319, 319n, 320n, 321, 470n, 511, 572, 648,
marriage, 783 648n, 649, 652, 661
moon crater, named to honor Dellinger, 792 diathermy generators, 343
National Radio Conferences, participation, 787 dielectric constant: measurement of, 106
patent policy viewpoint, 793, 793n dielectric loss: measurement of, 106
professional record, selfnoted, 781n dielectric properties: development of a radio frequency
publications, early, 784 permittimeter, 391
publications, partial listing, 783n fallout from "Phantom" project, 389
publications, self-listing, 792 international comparison, 391
radio, career, viewpoint of, 794n measurement with coaxial-type re-entrant cavity
radio, predictions, 782n resonators, 391
radio astronomy, prediction, 794, 794n of petroleum deposits, 391
Radio Section, chief, 786 dielectrics: measurement of mechanical properties, 107
Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), Differential Phase Variation of Low Frequencies
participation, 789 project, 576, 577
retirement, 791, 791n DIMENSIONS/NBS, 66
social activities, NBS, early, 784 DIMENSIONS/NBS: a viewpoint, 66n
television, predictions, 782n direction finder: tests with lighthouse tender Tulip,
traits, 794 1920, 139
work assignments, early, NBS, 784n Direction-Finder Committee, NDRC, 316, 317
WW I activities, 785 direction-finder errors: correlation with ionospheric
DELLINGER, Howard: chief engineer
J. of Federal conditions, 404
Radio Commission, 95 direction-finder projects, with NDRC, 404
"Credo," of administration of Radio Section, 75 direction finders: interest by Navy, 44
doctoral dissertation, RF ammeters, 43n WW I development, 57
first NBS calibration of radio instrument, 40 direction-finder system: Bureau of Standards system,
lectures and writings of mid-1920's, 95 140, 145
reports on personnel losses, FY 1920, 73 tests, 1919, Chesapeake Bay, 140
viewpoint, on employment of radio staff, 1922, 74 tests, 1921, Lower New York Bay, 144
viewpoint, relation of radio work to government, 70 direction finding, by radio, 643
viewpoint in 1922, by chart, 70 directive radio beacon: crossed- coil antenna, 150
word change, "wireless" to "radio", 43n (see air navigation system)
"Dellinger effect" (also, see sudden ionosphere Director, NBS, 99
disturbance), 222 direct reading decremeter and wavemeter, 11
Dellinger Gold Medal (URSI), 676, 676n DISNEY, Robert T., 559
Dellinger Memorial Lecture (URSI), 676 distance ranges for radio transmission: charts, 197
DeMARS, P. A., 206 distress signal by wireless: first, 8
Denver Research Institute, 518 distribution analyzer, 588n
Department of Commerce, 345, 643, 644, 647, 649, 733, DITZEN, Robert W. 713
(architect),
735, 736, 736n, 737 D by Radio Section, 229
layer: early observations
Department of Commerce: Aeronautics Branch, 93 initial findings by Smith and Kirby, 426
Executive Committee on Aeronautical Radio, 91 multiple layers, 426
Liaison Committee on Aeronautical Radio observed by vertical-incidence reflection, 426
Research, 91 DOHERTY, Robert H, 461, 574
Special Committee on Air Transport Radio, 91 DOLBEAR, Amos E., 5
Supervisors of Radio, 111 DOOLITTLE, James H. (Army Air Service), 159
Department of Commerce and Labor: two new DORSEY, N. Ernest, 99
departments, 42n DOUGHERTY, Harold T., 534, 535
Department of Commerce Conference on Radio Draconid meteors: observation by radar, 462
Telephony (also, see National Radio Conference), 94 Drafting Committee, CCIR, 660
Department of Commerce Conference on Radio D region: characteristics of, 426, 426n
Telephony, Technical Committee, 94 DUDDELL, William D., 8
Department of Commerce Science and Technology DULK, George A., 606, 606n
Fellowship Program, 697 DUNBAR, Felix H„ 626
Department of Defense, 343, 347, 352, 354, 355 DUNCAN, R. D., 48, 103
destructive interference in microwave
transmission, 514

816
DUNMORE, Francis W., 71, 71n, 84, 84n, 85, 86, 87, 88, Electrical Communication, division of OSRD, 316
93, 110, 117, 118, 119, 120, 124, 126, 126n, 127, 128, electrical parameters of quartz plates: measurements
131, 132, 140, 144, 145, 146, 147, 150, 150n, 151, 152, of, 339
152n, 153, 153n, 157, 157n, 159, 161n, 166, 167, 167n, electrical quantities, 100
247, 265, 321, 323n, 326n, 327, 470n, 511, 563, electric current: magnetic properties, 2
572, 649 electric hygrometer: NBS designs, 126n
DUNN, Gordon H., 630n Electricity (Electrical) Division, 99, 100, 101, 352, 355,
DUNWOODY, H. C, 10 395, 681
DUTTON, Evan J., 517, 520n electrochemical recording telegraph, 3
electrolytic detector: U.S. patents, 7, 9
electrolytic detectors, 31

E electromagnetic characteristics of materials (see EM

characteristics of materials)
electromagnetic induction, 3
Eagle, lunar module, 614
measuring device, 109 Electromagnetic Measurements and Standards
ear: as a
Course, 696
early publications on radio: by NBS, 679
Electromagnetic Metrology Current Awareness
EARNSHAW, Kenneth B., 626
Service, 360
Earth, 521, 608, 613n, 614, 615, 638, 639, 640, 674, 675
Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center, 359
Earth Currents and Polar Lights Committee, AGU, 653
Electromagnetic Metrology Information Center:
earth-movement detectors, 632
document file, 360
Earth's curvature: effect on distant transmission, 238
literature searches, 360
Earth's magnetic field: effect on radio transmission in
electromagnetic propagation, 735
ionosphere, 239
electromagnetic radiation from plasmas, 626
earth-space communication, 615
Electromagnetics Division, 343, 355, 356, 356n, 383
earth-space radio propagation, 615
electromagnetic spectrum, 736
Earth vibrations: detection of, 632
electromagnetic theory of light, 3
EASTON, Ivan, 686, 687
electromagnetic waves: experimentally verified, 5
ECC (see Electronic Calibration Center)
ECCLES, W. H., 11, 172
fundamental concept by Maxwell, 4
Electromagnetic Waves in Stratified Media: a treatise
Echo Lake Cosmic Ray Symposium, 1949, 706
ECKERSLEY, T. L. (England), by Wait, 428, 479n
172, 485
electron density: profiles, 435, 437, 439
ECKLUND, Warner L., 388
electron paramagnetic resonance, 633
eclipses and ionosphere: April 7, 1940, annular eclipse
electron precipitation, 445
observed at Fort Clark, Texas, also at Meadows
field station, 217 electron tube: for current measurement, 103
April 28, 1930, eclipse observed at Kensington field measurement of voltage amplification, 109

station, 216 electron tube characteristics: manufacturer's data used

August 31, 1932, eclipse observed at Washington, D.C. after 1924, 108n
and Sydney, N.S., 216 electron-tube detector: Bureau Circular, 81
February 3, 1935, eclipse observed at Washington, electron tubes: measurement of properties, 107
D.C, 217 papers, published and unpublished, WW I period,

January 24, 1925, eclipse, Radio Section observed 60, 61

radio transmissions, 216 power loss study, 61

July 20, 1963, eclipse observed at Hanover, New properties of, 108
Hampshire, 219 standards 652
for,

June 19, 1936, eclipse observed at Washington, "standard" types, 649

D.C, 217 study by NBS during WW
I, 60, 61

June 20, 1955, total eclipse observed at Baguio, study in post-WW I period, 71
Philippines, 219 testing of, 649
May 20, 1947, total eclipse observed at Bucaiuva, Electronic Calibration Center, 259, 347, 351, 354, 355,
Brazil, 218, 219 358, 365, 371, 377, 380, 384, 395, 399, 698, 716n, 735
October 1, 1940, total eclipse observed at Patos, Electronic Calibration Center: computer
Brazil, 217 operations, 356
October 12, 1958, total eclipse observed on Danger dedication, 352, 687
Islands (Pacific), 219 facilities, 353
September observed by Austin, 216
10, 1923, eclipse financial support, 355
September 11, 1950, total eclipse observed on first calibration performed, 352
Attu Island, 219 functional operation phased out, 355
EDISON, Thomas A„ 5, 5n magnitude of operation, 1958-1974, 355
EDISON, Thomas A.: comment on book, 54 Electronic Computers Section, 586n
Edison effect, 5 electronic systems seminars: space and missile
Educational Committee, Boulder Laboratories, equipment, 358
696, 696n Electronics Division, 586
effective efficiency (of bolometer units): defined, 374n Electron Tubes Subcommittee, American Engineering
EHRET, Cornelius D., 8 Standards Committee, 652
EISENHOWER, Dwight D. (President), 726, 728, ELF propagation: attenuation, 478
729n, 732 ELF Symposium, 1960, 475
E layer: research on, 428 ELLENWOOD, Robert C, 112, 345, 368, 368n
Elco Division, Electric Boat Co., 336 ELLERBRUCH, Doyle A., 389

817
 n

ELLYETT, Clifton D., 425, 427, 427n fading: an early publication by NBS, 1921, 181
ELWELL, Lyman B., 634 a newspaper account by Dellinger, 1925, 182, 182n
EM characteristics of materials: early studies, 389 a variety of observations, 1925, 1926, 186
"Phantom" project, 389 conditions affecting distance range, 182
EM Fields and Antennas Section, 386 early tests over short distances, 1919, 180
Enabling Act, March 3, 1901, NBS, 29 large-scale cooperative testing program of 1925, 183
Energy Spectrum Recorder: NBS, 562 NBS-ARRL tests, general conclusion reported, 181
ENGEL, Francis EL, 118, 120, 149, 150, 150n, 151, 152, NBS-ARRL tests, patterns of fading, 181
153, 247, 572 NBS-ARRL tests, 1920-1921, 180
ENGEN, Glenn F., 357, 366, 369, 374, 375, 376, 376n, observations in Greenland region, 1923-1924, 180
399, 673 observations under conditions of total solar eclipse,
Engineering Aspects of Television Allocations: a report January 24, 1925, 186
to FCC, 585 of radio signals, 180
Engineering Division, Federal Radio Commission, 645 tests of 1925, conclusions, 186n, 187n
ENIAC, 19 fading of radio signals: cooperative program, Radio
Environmental Research Laboratories, 737 Laboratory and American Radio Relay League, 93
Environmental Science Services Administration fading phenomena, 538
(ESSA), 171, 409n, 419, 439, 453, 504, 512, 555, 561, fading range: defined, 539
662, 675, 677, 733, 733n, 735, 736, 737 FALLER, James E., 638, 639
ephemeris time: defined, 307n FARADAY, Michael, 3, 4n
Ephi: defined, 592 FARLEY, Donald T. Jr., 460
direction-finding system, 592 FARNSWORTH, Philo, 15
equation for radio refractive index: computation, 518 Fayetteville, Ark., receiving site, 530, 531
equatorial electrojet: definition, 447n FCC Ad Hoc Committee: frequency allocation, 584
equivalent black-body radiation, 597 study of VHF propagation, 580, 581
ERICKSON, Howard H., 605 Federal Airways System, 153
ERIKSEN, K. W., 609 Federal Bureau of Investigation, 269
ESAKI, Lee, 22 Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 18, 20, 21,
Espenshied-Affel coaxial cable: patent, 16 23, 131, 512, 513, 516, 580, 591n, 644, 646
ESSA: establishment by Presidential Order, 735 Federal Communications Commission (FCC): color
ESSA NEWS, 733n television problems, 590
ESSA Research Laboratories (ERL), 735, 736, 737 successor to Federal Radio Commission, 17
ESSEN, Louis, 686 Federal Government, 736, 737
ESTIN, Arthur J., 382, 723n Federal Radio Commission, 91, 95, 96, 253, 645, 645n, 646
Evans Signal Laboratories, 20 Federal Radio Commission: "kilohertz" introduced, 264
EVENSON, Kenneth M., 633, 634, 634n minimizing radio interference, 252
EWEN, H. I. and PURCELL, E. M., 21 Order of Sept. 7, 1928, 645
excitation of multiply charged ions: measurements renamed Federal Communications Commission,
of, 630 1934, 95
Executive Order 10096: patents, 96 tight control on assigned frequencies, 1932, 253
exosphere, 595n, 607, 608, 610n, 611, 611n, 612, 612n Federal Specifications Board, 649, 649n
exosphere: defined, 437n Federal Specifications Board, Committee on Radio
exosphere physics, 611 Apparatus, 91
Exosphere Project, 611, 612 Federal Specifications Board, Technical Committee on
Experimental Ionospheric Research Section, 471, 555, Radio Apparatus, 649
557, 563, 595, 597, 598, 598n FEINSTEIN, Joseph, 465, 466, 466n, 474n, 551, 600, 600n
Experimental Microwave Research Section, 512 FELDMAN, Albert A., 363, 363n
Explorer I, 22, 675 FERRIE, Gustave (General), 667
Explorer series of satellites, 24 ferrites: definition, 392n
Explorer XX (see Ionosphere, upper) investigation of, 392
Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference for FESSENDEN, Reginald A., 8, 8n, 9, 9n, 10, 33n, 470
Space Telecommunications, 1963, 665 FEY, R. Lowell, 280n, 292, 301
Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference for the field intensity measurement equipment: calibration at
Aeronautical Service, 1964, 584, 665 VHF, 112
extraterrestrial, 595, 607n field intensity measurements: 1920s through WW II,

extraterrestrial noise, 603, 607n general. 111

extraterrestrial noise absorption, 608 field intensity measuring set: for Radio Section, 111
extraterrestrial radio noise, 603 for Supervisors of Radio, Department of
extraterrestrial radio waves, 608 Commerce, 111
field strength meter: development of calibration
methods, 111
for near-zone measurements at high levels, 385
field strength meters, 579
F
fieldstrength meters: calibration by standard-antenna
method, 384
Fabry-Perot interferometer: laser adaption, 633
calibration by standard-field method, 384
Fabry-Perot interferometer, microwave, 622
development for FM and TV bands, 347
facsimile recording: basic principles established, 3
early calibration service, 384
facsimile transmission, 1
fieldstrength recorder: GS-4 model, 579, 579n
fadeouts of radio signals, 538

818
FINN, M. E., 48 frequency control: by quadrupole absorption
FINNEY, James W., 483n spectra 298
first American radio company, 8 frequency gap closed: in submillimeter range, 24, 24n
first broadcast for entertainment: 1906, 10 Frequency Maintenance Committee, CCIR, 660
first commercial picture across Atlantic via radio, 15 frequency measurement: by Lecher-wire system, 247
First Conference on High Frequency Measurements, early improvements in techniques, 245
295, 348 frequency measurements: international comparisons
first crystal-controlled radio transmitter, 14 1925-1927, 254
first FM transmitter: for scheduled broadcasting, 18 frequency meter: Bureau of Standards Type N, quartz
First Inter-American Radio Conference (1937), Second, crystal, 251
Third, Fourth, 666 frequency meters (quartz crystal): an expanded test
First International Space Science Symposium, 1959, 664 schedule, 252
First National Radio Conference, 13, 644, 647 frequency-modulation system: complete, 17
first presidential radio broadcast, 13 frequency-modulation transmitter: 40-kW, 18
first radar "discovery", 13 frequency monitoring of radio stations: a project of
first transatlantic transmission of photograph via Radio Section, 1923, 263
radio, 14 frequency monitors: advanced type, a new test program
two-way messages across Atlantic: by amateurs, 14
first by Radio Section, 253
Five-Power Preliminary Telecommunications frequency range of radio waves, 1
Conference, 1946, 659 frequency spectrum: efficient use of, 585
flash-over voltage: measurement, 107 frequency spectrum utilization, 578
F layer: research on, 428 frequency spectrum utilization: computer
Fi layer: discovery, 20n techniques, 586
FLEMING, John Ambrose, 10 frequency stability of signal sources: measurement
Fleming valve, 10 of, 259

FLORMAN, Edwin F., 133, 133n, 134n, 437n, 480, 576, frequency standard: ammonia, 620
578, 578n by use of cathode-ray oscillograph, 246
Fort Belvoir Radio Propagation Field Station, 453, 455n by use of harmonic amplifier, 246
Fort Carson transmitter, 528 portable type, advanced design by Morgan, 253
forward scatter: early evidence of, by others, 485 portable type, advanced design by Sulzer, 253
observations along geomagnetic equator, 498 precision LC-circuit meters used in 1920's, 248
forward scatter communication: at various frequency standards: quartz crystal, cooperative
frequencies, 492 program with other laboratories, 253, 254
blackouts, 493 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services Section, 292
comprehensive publication, 495 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research Section, 289,
distance experiment over water, 489 290, 292
distance experiments, 489 Frequency-Time Standards Section, 258, 306, 308
extended observations, 488 Frequency Utilization Research Section, 515, 555, 555n,
initial experiment by NBS, 1951, 486 557, 571, 573, 583, 584
problems of publication, 494 Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, 610n
replaced, by aid of satellites, 498 FROST, Robert T., 610n
studies at high latitudes, 489 FULLER, Leonard F., 172
successful system, one-way, 491 FULLER, Vivian L., 515
successful system, two-way, 491
summary of a published review, 496n
transmission explained, 496 G
two-way system 16-channel operation, 492
with various antennas, 489 GAINEN, Leon, 581
Fourth National Radio Conference: Committee No. 1, galactic noise, 595n, 607n
General Allocations of Frequency, Dellinger a galactic radio noise, 595, 597, 597n
member, 95 GALLET, Roger M., 429, 429n, 480, 481, 482, 485, 587n,
Fourth National Radio Conference: Committee No. 7, 605, 605n, 606, 606n, 609n, 611, 61 In, 612, 625, 665
Interference, Jolliffe a member, 95 Garden City, Kans., receiving site, 530, 531
Fourth Symposium on Cosmical Gas Dynamics, 624 GARDNER, F. G., 156
FRAZER, Donel N., 480 GATES, David M., 485, 706n
FREATHY, Frank E., 519n GATTERER, Lawrence E., 290n, 292
FREDERICK, Nolan V., 380, 392, 393, 394 GAUSS, Karl, 171
FREEMAN, Herbert M., 244, 248, 248n GAUTIER, Thomas N. Jr., 410n, 412, 441n, 456, 456n,
FREEMAN, Jacob J., 326, 327, 334, 345, 362, 362n, 381, 457, 457n, 462, 474, 584n, 664, 666, 700
381n, 382, 696 GEISSLER, Heinrich, 4

F-region irregularities, 605 General Allocations of Frequency Committee, National

French Mission of 1917: electron tubes, 107 Radio Conference, 1925, 644
French Scientific Commission (or Mission), 1917, 60 General Conference on Weights and Measures, 12th,
frequency: nature of, 243 1964, 307
Frequency and Time Seminar, 1968, 699 General Conference on Weights and Measures, 13th,
frequency-band nomenclature: by Atlantic City Radio 1967, 24, 267, 307
Convention, 1947, 470n General Conference on Weights and Measures, 15th,
frequency comparisons: international, by direct radio 1975, 637
transmissions, 1924, 254 geodesy, 735

819
geomagnetic micropulsations, 612 HARDING, Wesley B., 445
geomagnetism, 735 HARGREAVES, John K., 443, 608, 609, 610, 610n, 611
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, 607 HARMON, H. F., 118n
GEORGE, William D., 233, 253, 253n, 260n, 269, 270, HARPER, John D. Jr., 587n
271, 272n, 280n, 285, 292, 334, 339, 345, 349, 361, HARRINGTON, Mary B., 412
475n, 649, 672 HARRINGTON, Robert D., 392, 394
GILLILAND, Theodore R., 93, 201, 202, 203, 203n, 204, Harry Diamond Laboratories, 320n
204n, 205, 205n, 206, 208, 209, 209n, 211, 211n, 212, Harry Diamond Memorial Award, 320n
215, 216, 217, 226, 227, 231, 231n, 232, 236, 237, 238n, HARTMAN. William J., 547, 585, 585n, 614
240, 241, 318, 412, 421, 421n, 422, 422n, 433n, 449, HARTSFIELD, William L., 436
659, 661 Harvard College Observatory, 451n
GILLMOR, C Stewart, Jr., 608, 609 Harvard University, 19
OILMAN, Esther, 259 Harvard University: cooperative effort with NBS, 306
GLADDEN, Sanford C, 433n HARVEY, Morris E„ 374
G layer: observations by Radio Section, 229, 428 Haswell, Colo., receiving site, 530, 531
GLAZE, David J., 301, 303, 305, 309 HAULER, Arthur R., 628n
Global Positioning System (GPS), 306 Hawaiian Observatory, for LURE program, 640
GLOVER, Francis N., 425n HAYDON, George W., 584n, 585, 585n, 586, 588, 588n,
Goddard Space Flight Center Communications 613, 614n, 660n, 665
Center, 616n HAZELTINE, Louis A., 13
GOERKE, Vernon H., 219, 598n, 601, 601n, 603 HAZEN, Grace, 246, 246n, 249
GOLDSMITH, Alfred N., 19 headphone receiver: measurement by, 109
Goldstone Tracking Station, 22 HEATON, Vincent E., 233, 252, 252n, 253, 257, 258,
GORDON, W. E. (Cornell University), 436, 437n 258n, 260n, 269, 270n, 275n, 345
GRACELY, Frederick R„ 201, 225, 225n, 226, 412 HEAVISIDE, Oliver, 9, 35, 172
Graduate School, Boulder Laboratories, 696 HEBERLING, Emory D., 298, 326, 327, 345
Graduate School, National Bureau of Standards, HEFLEY, Gifford, 573, 575n, 592
695, 695n height of ionosphere: first measurements, by
GRANTHAM, Rodney E., 362, 362n Gilliland, 93
graphical determination of radio ray bending, 522 HEILPRIN, Lawrence, 412
"Grasshopper" (see automatic weather station, HEINARD, Whilden G., 381
air-launched) helium-neon laser, 634, 635
GRAY, James E., 308 HELLIWELL, R. A. (Stanford University), 481
Great Whale River, Hudson Bay, 610n HELLWIG, Helmut W., 303, 306, 308
GREEN, John L., 439 HENRY, Joseph, 3
GREENE, Frank M., 345, 384, 385 HERBSTREIT, Jack W„ 441n. 513, 515, 527, 527n, 540,
GREENHOW, Charles R., 382 540n, 555n, 573, 583, 584, 584n, 585, 585n, 597,
GREENSTONE, Reynold, 458 597n, 614, 615n, 662n, 664, 665, 672, 683n, 723, 733
GROSS, Gerald C, 645, 645n, 647n HERTZ, Heinrich, 1, 5, 5n, 29
ground antennas: 59n Hertz (Hz): definition, 243
ground conductivity: correlation with type of soil, 589 derived unit, 5n
early observations by Radio Section, 589 HESS, Alfred E., 369
effect on LF and VLF propagation, 589 heterodyne reception, 8n
GROVER, Frederick W., 53, 53n, 100, 102, 122, 122n heterodyne reception: early U.S. patent, 8
Guggenheim Fund for Promotion of Aeronautics, 159 HF Impedance Standards Section, 397
guided missile: automatic, first, 20 High-Altitude Nuclear Detection Studies
guided missiles, 316 (HANDS), 461
Gunbarrel Hill, 599 high-altitude nuclear tests, 608
GUNN, J. B., 23 High Altitude Observatory, 451, 451n, 604n, 606,
623n, 624
high-energy blast waves, 626
13 high frequency alternator, 9, 9n
high frequency alternator: frequency standard, 244
HAAS, Peter H., 380, 391, 392, 392n high frequency ammeters, 679
HAKKARINEN, William, 131, 137, 138, 138n, 323 High Frequency and Microwave Attenuation
HALFORD, Donald W., 301, 308 Seminar, 1968, 699
HALL, Elmer L., 106, 112, 233, 248, 248n, 257, 265, 269, High Frequency and Microwave Field Strength
339, 343, 389n, 653, 661 Seminar, 1966, 699
HALL, John L., 631, 631n, 634, 634n, 636 High Frequency and Microwave Noise Seminar,
HAMILTON, Wallace F., 290, 292 1966, 699
Handbook for CRPL Ionospheric Predictions Based on High Frequency Broadcasting Conference, 584n
Numerical Methods of Mapping: NBS Handbook High Frequency Broadcasting Conference
90, 429, 441 (1948-1949), 664
HANDS: Project VELA of Advanced Research Projects High Frequency Broadcasting Conference (1950), 664
Agency, 461n High Frequency Calibration Services Section, 354n
HANDS project: detection of nuclear explosions, 461 High-Frequency Direction-Finder Research: NBS
HANSON, D. Wayne, 290 wartime project, 317
HANSON, Rodney A., 588 High Frequency Electrical Standards Section, 388
HARDING, Warren G. (President), 13

820
High Frequency Measurements Subcommittee, IGY noise program, 559, 561
AIEE, 653 IGY program, 607, 608
high-frequency radio telephone broadcasting: an IGY program: airglow studies, 484
investigation for the FBI, 1935-1936, 232 automatic ionosphere recorders, 482n
High Frequency Standards Section, 260, 292, 345, 349, forward scatter experiments in the Antarctic, 483
367, 369, 378, 380, 381, 391, 695 forward scatter experiments near geomagnetic
High Frequency Unit of ECC, 351 equator, 483
High Latitude Ionospheric Physics Section, 609 ionosphere studies in Antarctic, 482
high-speed framing-type camera, 626 NBS operation of vertical sounding stations, 482
high-velocity shock wave, 626 operation of IGY World Warning Agency, 484
HINDS, Martha, 429n observations of Sputnik I, 484
HINMAN, Wilbur S. Jr., 110, 124, 124n, 128, 131, 136, prediction service improvement, 431

137, 159, 166, 319, 319n, 320n, 321, 648, 648n, 683n preparation of IGY World Instruction Manual,
hiss, 611, 612 World Days and Communications, 484
hiss: a VLF emission, 480 preparation of International Geophysical
hiss recorder, 480 Calendar, 484
HOER, Cletus A., 367, 394, 397 preparation of IQSY Manual for World Days
HOLT, Donald R., 388 Program, 485
HOMAN, Donald M., 397 procurement of Model C-4 ionosondes, 482
HONEA, Leo W., 219, 275n, 282, 285 publication "explosion", 485n
Honor Award Program: Department of Commerce, signals across geomagnetic equator, 446

first, 295 sporadic E studies, 483

HOOVER, Herbert (Secretary of Commerce), 15, 69, true height electron density study, 483
94, 94n World Data Center for airglow, at Boulder
HOOVER, Herbert (Secretary of Commerce): Fourth Laboratories, 484
National Radio Conference, opening address, 95 worldwide noise program, supervised by NBS, 483
HOOVER, Herbert: Secretary of Commerce, 153n, IGY Warning Messages, 455n
644, 647 IGY World Data Centers, 675, 675n
HORN, James D., 522, 523 IGY World Days program, 674
HORNBACK, Charles E., 461 IGY World Warning Agency at Ft. Belvoir, 455, 484

HORNBERG, Kenneth O., 527n impedance measurement: by modified reflectometer

hot summer, 1954, 725 technique, 369
hourly median transmission loss, 515 by three-arm junction with adjustable
HOUSE, L. L., 624 termination, 368
HOWE, David A., 309 by three-arm waveguide junction, 368
HOWE, H. Herbert, 474, 474n importance of, 367
How Radio Is Received, Ould, 91 slotted-line method, 367, 371
Huancayo Observatory, 456, 456n with reflectometer wholly of coaxial components,
HUBBARD, Henry D., 342, 342n 369, 371
HUDSON, Paul A., 377, 378, 388, 388n impedance standards: of the in-between frequency
HUFFORD, George, 551 range, 371
HUGHES, David E., 5 impedance standards of lumped parameters, 369
HULL, Albert W., 12, 15n incoherent scatter technique, 611
HULL, Albert W. and WILLIAMS, N. H., 15 inductance, 101
HULL, Lewis M„ 54, 61, 64, 246, 680n inductance: formulas for, 101
HULL, Ross, 17 Inductance and Capacity Section, 39n
HUND, August, 110, 250, 250n, 252, 257 inductive voltage dividers, 396
HUNTLEY, Leslie E., 369, 371, 400 inductors: standard, 101
HUNTOON, Robert D., 280n, 724n standard, Bureau of Standards design, 102
HURLBURT, Everett H., 368 standard, use of, 102

HUSTEN, Benjamin F., 258, 298, 298n, 345 "Industry Calibration Survey," by Quality Control
HUTCHINSON, Henry P., 441n Committee, AIA, 349
hydrogen-cyanide laser, 636 information to Armed Services: by IRPL and
hydrogen maser: transition frequency determined, 306 CRPL, 648
hydrology, 735 information via NBS Circulars, 81
In-house Symposium on Plasma and Astrophysics,
1960, 699
I Institute for Atmospheric Sciences, 733, 733n
Institute for Earth Sciences, 733, 733n
IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, 19 Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, Joint
iconoscope: patent, 14 (JILA), 718
IEEE Professional Group on Electromagnetic Institute for Oceanography, 733, 733n
—
Instrumentation and
Compatibility Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), 453,

Measurements, Boulder-Denver Chapter, 700 736, 737

IEEE Professional Group on Vehicular Technology, Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, National
Boulder-Denver Chapter, 701 Telecomunications and Information
IEEE Standard for Precision Coaxial Connectors, 400 Administration, 512
ignition noise: of aircraft engines, 156 Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and
IGY Alert, 455 Aeronomy (ITSA), 733, 733n, 735

821
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers international comparison of standards at radio
(IEEE), 645, 653, 654 frequencies, 673
Institute of Radio Engineers (also, see IRE), 38, 92, international comparisons of MW power
348, 652, 654, 682, 684 standards, 673
committee participation by NBS, 682 International Conference of Experts on
formation, 11 Wetterschiessen, 335
Fourth Annual Convention, Washington, 92 International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy:
Standards Committee, 92 Preliminary, 1903, 9
Subcommittee on Bibliography, 92 International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), 663
Subcommittee on Radio Telephone Transmitter and International Frequency List, 664
Receiver Terminology, 92 International Frequency Registration Board, 659
Subcommittee on Receiving Sets, 92 International Geophysical Calendar: purpose, 484n
Subcommittee on Vacuum Tubes, 92 International Geophysical Union, 663
Washington Section, 680 International Geophysical Year (IGY), 22, 655,
Institute of Radio Engineers Convention, 1929, 668 674, 675
Institutes for Environmental Research, 733, 735, 736 International Geophysical Year of the Quiet Sun
Instituto Geofisico del Peru, 438n, 439 (IQSY): program, 444
Instructions for the Use of Basic Radio Propagation International IGY Committee, 455
Predictions: NBS Circular 465, 429 International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR),
Instrument Landing System (ILS), 151, 165, 166 15n, 92, 562, 613n, 658, 660, 661, 662
Instrument Landing System (ILS): development International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR):
of, 153 American Committee on Frequency
instrument landing system: automatic control in blind Maintenance, 92
landing operation, 167n Committee on Transmitter Interference, 92
boundary marker beacon, 161 International Radio Convention, 1927, 153, 155
College Park to Newark flight, March 20, 1933, 165 International Radio Propagation Conference, 1944,
first complete blind landing, September 5, 1931, 161 340, 411, 663
glide path, 161n International Radio-Telegraph Conference: first,

landing beam, 161 1906, 10

NBS assistance in fog landing system, 159 International Radiotelegraph Conference, 1912, 657
runway localizing beacon, 160, 160n International Radiotelegraph Conference, 1932, 659
survey of European systems, 1927, 159 International Radiotelegraph Conference: first

underground antenna, 166 revisional conference, 1912, 11

Instrument Shops, NBS Boulder, 736 second revisional, 1927, 15, 38, 41

insulating material at radio frequencies: WW I third revisional, 1932, 16

period, 63 Washington, 1927, 92
insulating materials: electrical properties, Washington, 1927, Special Committee on Frequency
measurement of, 106 Measurements, 92
Insulating Materials Committee, ASTM, 653 International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies (ISIS):
Intelsat 1 "Early Bird", 24
satellite: a conglomerate of study groups, under
Inter-Allied Provisional Radio Technical Committee NASA, 502n
(1921), 657n, 662, 668 International Scientific Radio Union (URSI), {also, see

Inter-Allied Radio Conference, 1919, 657n URSI), 35, 36, 38, 92, 562, 666, 667, 670, 671, 672,
Interdepartment Advisory Committee on 673, 675, 676
Governmental Radio Broadcasting, 647 International Scientific Radio Union (URSI):
Interdepartmental Board on Radio Legislation, 647 American Section of Radiotelegraphy, 92
Interdepartmental Radio Conferences, 91 Committee on Methods of Measurement and
Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee Standards, 92
(see IRAC) history, 676
Interdepartment Radio Conference, 683 origin, 667n
interests in radio: early, 69 International Standard of Length, 1960, 636
WW I period, 69 International Symposium on Space
interference: by atmospheric static, 96 Telecommunications, Boulder, 1963, 570,
interference between surface and space 606n, 615
communication systems, 547 International System of Electric and Magnetic
Interference Committee, National Radio Conference, Units, 44
1925, 644 International System of Units (SI), 243
interference (see radio interference) International Telecommunication Conference,
interferometer, phase-shifting, 606 1938, 659

interferometer, radio, 606 International Telecommunication Conference,

International Administrative Aeronautical Radio Atlantic City, 1947, 20, 584, 659
Conference, 1948, 584n, 664, 665 International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 18,
International Amateur Radio Union, 285 657n, 659, 660
International Astronomical Union, 601 International Union of Radio Science (formerly
International Atomic Time Scale (TAD, 308 International Scientific Radio Union), 666, 667n
International Bureau of Weights and Measures Interservice Radio Propagation Committee
(BIPM), 307 (IRPC), 406n
International Civil Aeronautics Conference, 1928, 663

822
Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL), Explorer XX described, 504n
316, 317, 317n, 319, 404, 405, 406, 406n, 407, 409, Gold Medal award to Explorer XX group, 506, 506n
410, 410n, 411, 412, 413, 413n, 414, 420, 440, 449, model above F region, 502
452, 452n, 470, 555, 557 model above F region, described, 502
Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory: associated nearly ideal medium for study of plasma
laboratories, 412 phenomena, noted, 505n
conversion of projects from war to peace, 412 observations of spread F with Alouette I, 505
established, 648 observations with Alouette I satellite, 505
funding by Army and Navy, 407 Orbiting Geophysical Observatories (OGO),
sources of information on, 404n described, 507n
Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory Radio plasma resonance characteristics, with Explorer
Transmission Handbook, 1942, 555 XX, 506
Inter-Services Ionosphere Bureau (ISIB), England, 405 Sputnik I, additional observations by CRPL, 499n
investigation of ferrites, 393 Sputnik I, observations by High Altitude
ionization equilibrium, 623 Observatory, 499n
ionized gases: fundamental properties of, 624 Sputnik I, observed by CRPL, 499, 499n
ionosonde, 432 Sputnik III, observations of, 500n
ionosonde: CRPL Model C, 433, 433n Sputnik III, studied by CRPL, 501
Model C-3, 433 Topside Sounder contract with NASA (TOPSI), 503
Model C-4, 433, 435 topside sounding, with rockets, 503
observation of vertical-incidence reflections, 432 Ionosphere and Exosphere Scatter Section, 438
ionosphere, 171, 403 Ionosphere Astronomy Section, 605
ionosphere, Arctic, 607 ionosphere data, automatic processing, 587
ionosphere: characteristics at South Pole, 444 ionosphere data: first time on worldwide coverage, 407
characteristics of region of geomagnetic future use related by Gilliland, 1935, 232
equator, 447 ionosphere disturbance warnings: broadcast by station
complexity observed during early studies, 174 WWV, 453
defined, 437n broadcast by station WWVH, 453
early evidence of reflection, by Naval Aircraft ionosphere information: published in Proc. IRE,
Radio Laboratory, 176 1937-1941, 236
early evidence of reflection, by NBS, 177 ionosphere Radio Astronomy Section, 598n, 606, 61 In
early theoretical investigation, 174 ionosphere recorder: Model A, 214
evidence from long-distance transmissions, Model C-2, 563
1901-1902, 171, 172 ionosphere reporting service, 18
evidence from short-wave transmission, Ionosphere Research and Propagation Division, 459,
1924, 173 460, 504, 506, 616n
firstexperimental evidence, 172 Ionosphere Research Section, 598n
firstobserved by pulsed radio waves, 15 ionosphere storms: characteristics reported by Radio
height determined by Appleton and Barnett, Section, 228
1925, 173 first reported by Appleton, 227
height determined by Breit and Tuve, 1925, 173, 174 forecasting during WWII, 410

history of early concepts, evidence, and experiments, September 18, 1941, storm recorded at Meadows field
171, 172, 173 station, 228
model of, E and Fj regions, 428n WW II period, 411
model of, F> layer, 428n ionospheric absorption, 598, 608, 610n, 611
origin of names of layers, 173n ionospheric absorption, high latitude, 607
theoretical studies of, 465 ionospheric absorption events, 610n
use of term, 172n Ionospheric Data, CRPL, F Series, 601n
use of term by Radio Section, 1933, 172n ionospheric data tabulated by punchcard methods, 429
vagaries of radio transmission by, 35 ionospheric disturbances: prediction, 452
ionosphere, Earth, 606 ionospheric forward scatter: characteristics of,
ionosphere, Jupiter, 606 observed, 488n
ionosphere, upper: Alouette I satellite, 503 ionospheric mapping: explained, 429n
Alouette I 503n
satellite, described, ionospheric observations, 403
a proposal for use of rockets for study of, 1945, 499n ionospheric observations from international
Cosmos I satellite, observations of, 501n network, 429
CRPL directs Explorer XX program, 504 ionospheric phenomena: WW
II studies, 411
determination of true height, electron density Ionospheric Radio Commission, URSI, 672
profiles, 502 ionospheric reflection coefficient: definition, 481n
early probing, 498, 499n Ionospheric Research Committee, AGARD
electronic density data studies, 502 (NATO), 610
electronic density data studies, need of Ionospheric Research Section, 464, 482, 603
expressed, 502n ionospheric transmission and direction-finder errors:
electronic density measurements, with Orbiting coordinated studies (two) of correlation, 318-319
Geophysical Observatories (OGO), 507 ionospheric winds, 457
evidence of plasma resonances, with Explorer ionospheric winds: evidence from analysis of
XX, 505 back scatter, 458
evidence of spread F, with Explorer XX, 505 observation by a Doppler technique, 458
Explorer XX, 505 observations at Sterling field station, 458

823
 observation with artificial clouds, 458 Joint Army-Navy Conference on Microwave Test
IQSY: two terms, words of the acronym, 483n Equipment, 1946, 648
IRAC (Interdepartment Radio Advisory Joint Communications Board, U.S. Joint Chiefs of
Committee), 647 Staff, 334, 343, 345, 413, 414, 415
IRAC: advisor to Executive Branch of Joint Education Program for Non-Professional
Government, 647 Training, 697
advisor to President, 647 Joint Institute of Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), 627,
all radio communication of interdepartmental 627n, 628, 630, 631, 632, 634, 638, 639
interest, 647 Joint Institute of Laboratory Astrophysics:
close relationship with FCC, 648 astrophysical research, 629
involvement in WW
II, 647 research programs, 629
problems of frequency allocations, 647 Joint Technical Advisory Committee (JTAC), IRE and
proposals for international conferences, 647 Electronic Industries Assoc., 498n, 584, 584n
relation with CCIR, 1929, 660 JOLLIFFE, Charles B., 74, 74n, 82, 83, 89, 91, 92, 95,
Subcommittee on Policy and Legislation, 91 108, 110, 186, 316, 316n, 317, 571, 644, 645, 649,
Subcommittee on Technical Problems, 647 652, 660, 668, 682, 693
IRE, Washington Section, 683, 684 JOLLIFFE, Charles B.: chief engineer of Federal

IRE Committee on Radio Wave Propagation, 202 Radio Commission, 95

IRE Professional Group on Antennas and study of regeneration, 81n
Propagation: BoulderDenver Chapter, 700 JONES, Donald L„ 480, 482, 626
IRE Professional Group on Instrumentation and JONES, Raymond N., 359n, 369, 371, 400
Measurement, 700 JONES, William B., 429, 429n, 587n
IRE Professional Group on Microwave Theory and JOSEPHSON, B. D., 23
Techniques: Boulder-Denver Chapter, 700 Josephson effect, 23
iron pentacarbonyl: properties of, 336 Josephson effect: applications, 23n
IRPL (see Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory) JUDSON, Elbert B., 200, 200n, 217,227, 229, 230, 421n,
IRPL Radio Propagation Handbook, with 422, 422n, 669
supplements, 410, 695 Jupiter, 605, 605n, 606, 606n
Jupiter: signals from, 605, 606

J
K
JACKSON, Henry B„ 9
JACKSON, Henry B., British Royal Navy, 511 KAMAS, George, 292, 605
JACKSON, W. E„ 157 KAMPER, Robert A., 367
JANES, Harris B., 538, 539, 542, 542n, 545, 546, 552 Karval, Colo., receiving site, 530, 531
JANET: meteor-burst communication system, 464n KATAHARA, Sadami, 286n
JANSKY, M. Jr., 182, 183n
C. KDKA: pioneer broadcasting station, 12, 78
JANSKY, Karl G., 16, 595, 595n, 596n, 597, 607n KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pa., 644
JARVIS, Stephen, Jr., 309 KDKA (Westinghouse): transmitter used for fading
JAVAN, A., BENNETT, W. R. and HERRIOTT, tests, 181, 182, 183
D. R., 22 KEAR, Frank G., 157, 157n, 159, 165n
JEAN, A. Glenn, 461, 461n, 474n, 478, 481, 482, 674 KELLAR, William J., 477n
JEFFERIES, John T., 623, 628 Kelly Committee, 724n, 725n
JENKINS, C. Francis, 14, 15 Kelly Report, 418n
JENNINGS, Donald A., 631, 633, 634n KELVIN, Lord (William Thomson), 4, 4n, 171, 243n,
JESCH, Ramon L., 369, 371, 400, 700 244, 292, 292n
JESPERSEN, James L., 290n, 292, 605 KEMPER, Jack A., 461, 461n
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, 614 Kendrick, Colo., receiving site, 530, 531
jetstream observation, 134n KENNEDY, John F. (President), 23, 614
Jicamarca Radar Observatory: a specialized facility, KENNELLY, Arthur E., 9, 26, 35, 172
437, 438, 439, 460 Kennelly-Heaviside layer, 92n, 172, 173, 202, 206,
JICKLING, Robert M., 369, 371, 389, 400 207, 208
Jodrell Bank Experimental Station: radio Kennelly-Heaviside layer: height determined, 14
telescope, 22 KENRICK, G. W., 206, 206n, 208
JOHLER, J. Ralph, 475, 477n, 478, 479n, 573, Kensington field station, 186, 188n, 193, 194

597, 597n KENYON, Frieda, 246, 246n

Johns Hopkins University: cooperative project on KERNS, David M., 358, 368, 368n, 372, 373, 374, 386,
fading, 180 388n, 398, 398n, 622, 683n, 696, 698
JOHNSON, Edwin C. (Senator), 590, 590n, 591, 705, KIEFFER, Lee J., 630n
706, 710n, 712, 715n term ordered by Federal Radio
kilohertz: usage of

JOHNSON, J. B., 15 Commission, 264

JOHNSON, Lyndon B. (President), 735 KINCHLOE, Adeline N., 73, 412, 416n
JOHNSON, Mary Ellen, 538 KINDER, Bobby J., 366
JOHNSON, Walter E., 518, 524, 588, 588n kinescope: demonstration, 16
Johnson noise, 15 KINNEY, James L., 161, 165
Joint AIEE-IRE Committee on High Frequency KIRBY, Richard C, 424n, 491n, 495, 495n, 496, 496n,

Measurements, 653 497, 497n, 498n, 613n, 660, 662n

824
KIRBY, Robert S., 424n, 534, 535, 536, 580n, 581, 581n, laser frequency measurements, 634
582, 582n, 584, 585, 589n, 590n, 697 laser intensity stabilizer, 631
KIRBY, Samuel S., 112, 192, 200, 201, 215, 216, 217, laser interferometer, 632, 633
220, 224, 227, 229, 230, 233, 234, 236, 237, 238n, Laser Measurement Technology Section, 634
240, 241, 421n, 422, 422n, 424n, 426, 426n, 449, laser power measurement, 633
465, 589, 668, 674 lasers as frequency standards, 306
KIRKPATRICK, Albert W., 546 laser seismograph, 633
KISLIUK, Paul A., 620 LAWRENCE, Robert S., 499n, 500n, 501, 501n, 507,
KISTNER, Maurice A., 587 598n, 603, 604n, 605, 605n, 606, 615, 665
KLEMPERER, Wilfred K., 426n, 439 LC-circuit measurement of frequency, 293
klystron: first practical, 18 leap second: adjustment of the UTC scale, 308
first
KNECHT, Robert W., 425, 443, 443n, 482, 483, 485, NBS stations add 1 second to UTC system, 287
502, 503, 505, 505n, 506n, 672 second adjustment of the UTC scale, 308
KOCH, J. Wesley, 572 Lefax Radio Handbook, 91
KOLSTER, Frederick A., 11, 40, 41, 46, 47, 48, 49, 57, LEINBACH, H. (University of Alaska), 442n, 607
61, 71, 71n, 91, 92, 100, 101, 104, 105, 105n, 115, LESTER, Gordon H., 123, 200, 200n, 233, 269, 282, 285
117, 139, 139n, 140, 144, 145, 145n, 146n, 159, 176, Letter Circular 66: an answer to inquiries on radio
244, 470n, 572, 643, 648, 649, 652, 652n, 657, 657n, receivers, 651
667, 668n, 669, 679, 680, 680n, 681, 682, 683, 737n Letter Circulars: information on radio for public, 81
KOLSTER, Frederick A.: air navigation by radio, noted, 103, 107n, 108, 109
WW I, 59, 60 LF propagation: attenuation over Arctic regions, 477
chief of Radio Section, 43 geometric-optical theory, 478
employment at NBS, 40n survey and tutorial-type publications, 478
patent cases, 45 waveguide-mode theory, 478
radio compass, 12,57, 58 Library, ESSA, 736
Kolster decremeter: importance of, 42 LIFSCHUTZ, Harold (Harold Lyons), 317
series of designs, 44 light-emitting semiconductors, 23
Kolster radio compass (see radio compass) LILLEY, Carlene M., 477n
KOMAREK, Ernest L., 357 limb flares: study of, 457
KOMPFNER, R., 19 LINCOLN, J. Virginia, 412, 450, 451n, 455,, 455n,
KRAL, Franklin, 218 456n, 484n
KRUSE, R(obert) S., 180, 180n, 181 Lindbergh reception, 1927: Radio Section aids, 83
KRYDER, Samuel J., 330, 338, 389 LITTLE, C. Gordon, 442n, 485, 598n, 603n, 607, 609n,
krypton (86Kr) lamp, 636 615, 615n, 665, 675, 733, 733n
krypton length standard, 634 LITTLE, William E., 357, 366, 371, 400
krypton standard line: asymmetry of, 636 LLEWELLYN, F. B„ 15n
KUSCH, Polykarp, 299, 299n, 305 locating airplanes by radio: by triangulation method,
KUSCH, Polykarp: awarded Nobel Prize in Kolster, 145
Physics, 299n crossed-coil antenna method, 146
KUSCH, Polycarp, and PRODELL, Albert G., 21n methods (three) proposed by Dunmore, 146
LODGE, Oliver, 5n, 6n, 7
logarithmic decrement, 105
L logarithmic decrement: definition, 105n
Long Branch (111.) field station, 437n, 572

laboratory astrophysics, nature of, 628 longitude effect: explained, 408n

laboratory equipment: standard inductors and LONGLEY, Anita G„ 515, 516, 581, 585n
capacitors, design and construction of, 44 LOOMIS, Alfred L., 18
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics LOOMIS, Mahlon, 4, 4n
(LASP), 628 Loran: defined, 573n
Laboratory for Special Radio Transmission Research, Loran-C clock, 574, 575
NBS, 672 Loran-C navigation system: explained, 289n
laboratory space: problems of, 45 use for standard frequency dissemination, 287n
laboratory-type coaxial connectors, NBS design, 400 Loran-C system of navigation, 574
LAMB, Robert C, 605 Loran system: first, 18
LANCE, Harvey W., 351, 351n, 358, 358n, 354n, 400, Lord Kelvin (see KELVIN)
687, 690, 691, 694, 700 Lord Rayleigh, Fourth, 468
LANGE, L. Jerome, 481 Lorentz polarization term: treatment by N. Smith, 239
LANGMUIR, Irving, 11 Louise A. Boyd Arctic Expedition, 1941, 225, 226,
LAPHAM, Evan G., 124, 131, 132, 257, 257n, 269 318, 440n
LARSEN, Ezra B., 386 Louise A. Boyd Arctic Expedition, 1941: commentary,
LARSEN, Neil T., 375 Dellinger Address, 1961, 225
LARSON, Richard R., 518, 519 Lowell and Dunmore patents: on ac operation of
LARSON, Roy E., 259, 351, 354n, 356n electron tubes, 88, 96
LARSON, Wilbur, 365, 366, 366n, 367 LOWELL, Percival D., 48, 71, 85, 86, 87, 88, 122, 131,
laser: coherent-light type, first, 22 132, 137, 138, 138n, 146, 150, 323, 563, 680n
pulse type, first, 22 LOWELL, Percival D.: submarine antenna, 58, 58n, 59
laser beam: transmission of TV signals by, 24 lower and upper atmosphere, 735
laser electronparamagnetic resonance absorption, 633 Lower Atmospheric Physics Section, 539, 540n, 542
laser energy measurement, 633

825
lowest useful high frequency: determined by MANNING, L. A. (Stanford U.), 675
nomogram procedure, 410 MANSFIELD, William V., 581

low frequency calibration services, Boulder MARCONI, Guglielmo, 1, 2, 6, 6n, 7, 8, 9, 13, 13n, 16, 29,

Laboratories, 395 35, 118, 171, 172, 180, 470, 511, 550, 646, 807, 808
Low Frequency Calibration Services Section, 354n, MARCONI, Guglielmo, and BRAUN, Karl Ferdinand:
355, 395, 397 Nobel Prize in Physics, 1909, 10
Low Frequency Calibration Services Section: facilities MARCONI, Guglielmo: first wireless signal across

moved to NBS Gaithersburg, 355 Atlantic, 8, 29

low-frequency EM waves: early interest by CRPL, 471 Marconi Centennial Series (lectures), 556n
early use, 471 Marconi lecture, New York, 1912, 807
LF ionosonde at Sterling field station, 473 Marconi lecture, publication, 1912, 807
LF ionosonde at Sunset field station, 473 Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America:
theoretical studies, 474 organized, 8
low-frequency instrumentation and measurement Marine Game Fish Program, 737n
techniques: development, Boulder, 395 Marine Minerals Technology Center, 737n
low-frequency papers: a proliferation, 476 market news: dissemination via radio, 649
Low Frequency Unit of ECC, 351 Mark 4 fire-control radar, 323, 324
Low Frequency Workshop, 1961, 698 MAROVICH, Edward, 469
Low-Level Phase Stability project, 540n MARTIN, A. D., 266n
LOWRIE, Patrick H. Jr., 356, 397 MARTON, L. L., 597n
LUCAS, Donald L., 588n maser: development of, 21
lunar landing: first, 24 origin of word, 21n
lunar ranging, 638 solid state, 21
Lunar Ranging Experiment (LURE), 638, 639 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 18, 486
lunar telescope, 639, 639n, 640n MATARRESE, Lawrence M., 394, 634
LURE program, 640 MATSUSHITA, Sadami, 425, 425n
LYONS, Harold, 20, 258, 293, 295, 296, 298, 298n, 299, MAXIM, Hiram Percy, 11
299n, 300, 300n, 309, 309n, 326, 326n, 327, 328, maximum usable frequencies: a much-quoted 1939
330, 331, 334, 336, 338, 345, 347, 348, 361, 619, 649, paper by N. Smith, 239
653, 684, 685, 698 determined by critical frequencies, 452
maximum usable frequency (muf): defined, 238n
improvement of prediction method, 409
M term introduced, 1937 publication, 238n
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, 24
McCAA, William D. Jr., 388 MAXWELL, James Clerk, 1, 4, 4n, 5, 29, 99, 292
McCRACKEN, Robert N., 299, 345 Maxwell bridge for low-loss magnetic measuements, 393
McCRACKEN, William P. (Assistant Secretary of Maxwell's equations, 4, 29
Commerce for Aeronautics), 153 May 1, 1946: formation of the CRPL, 703, 704
McDOWELL, Louise S., 62, 62n Meadows field station, 190n, 200, 201, 215, 217, 220, 224,
McDUFFIE, Rhoda E., 425 227, 229
McGAVIN, Raymond E., 534 Meadows field station, vacated, 340
MACHLAN, Howard, 309 measurement agreement, 396
McILWRAITH, C. G., 257, 661, 661n measurement front: broad, progress on, 347
MacMillan Arctic Expedition of 1923-1924, 183 "measurement gap", 349
McNISH, Alvin G., 411n, 441n, 450, 456, 456n, 457, measurement of variation in phase difference, 542
457n, 462n, 709, 723 Measurement Research Conferences: NBS-AIA, 349
MacPHERSON, Alan C, 368, 368n, 374 measurements: the doldrums period, 110
McQUATE, Paul L., 534, 535 Measurements and Standards in Plasma Physics and
magnetic characteristics of materials: an Astrophysics program, 622, 623, 627
overview, 393 measurements at 418 MHz, well beyond the radio
magnetic characteristics of powdered iron cores, 392 horizon, 538
magnetic detector: early U.S. patent, 9 measurements at RF: improved method, balanced
magnetic field, Earth, 607 transformer circuit, 110

Magnetic Measurements and Standards Project, 1950, measurement techniques: new, development of, 353
391 Measures for Progress, 316, 319
magnetic properties: development of a high frequency Mediterranean radio observations, 511
permeameter, 392 MEGILL, Lawrence R., 469, 469n
instrumentation for measurement of complex perme- Memorandum of Understanding: financing of ECC, 355
ability, 392 MENZELL, Donald H., 605n, 706, 706n, 708, 708n,
magnetic storm charged particles, 607n 712n, 727n
magnetometer design, 392 MENZELL, Donald H. (Harvard College
magnetometers, 609n, 610n Observatory), 428n
magnetosphere, 610n, 61 In, 612 Mercury Control Center, Cape Canaveral, 617n
magnetron: cavity type, high-power, pulsed, 18 Mercury Faith 7, 615
cyclotron type, 15 Mercury network, 616
initial theory, 12 Mercury orbital flights, 616
MAHLER, Robert J., 394, 633 Mercury program, 616
MAIMAN, Theodore H., 22 MERRILL, Ralph Gregg, 500n, 501, 501n

MALONEY, Leo J„ 534

826
Meteor-burst communication: an extended study, 465 MILLIKIN, Eugene D. (Senator), 705
a successful system, 464 millimeter-wave interferometry, 621
early CRPL experiments, 464 millimeter-wave research: objectives, 621
Meteor-Burst Propagation Research Project, 465 Mills cross antenna, 21, 606n
meteorological sounding equipment: development Mills cross antenna array, 606
of, 138n MILTON, John B., 292
meteorology, 735 minimum field intensity: determination for satisfactory
meteor trails: radar echo dependence on frequency, 462 communication, 409
methane-stabilized helium-neon laser, 634, 636 Ministry of the Interior, Argentina: cooperative project
methane-stabilized laser, 636 with NBS, 200, 201
Methods of Measurement and Standards Committee, Mirnyy Base, U.S.S.R., 608, 609
URSI, 668 Mirnyy Station, Antarctic, 610n
Metrology Guides, 360 Missile Development Division, 319n
mica: a strategic material, 339 missile tracking: meteorological effects, 545
measurement of power factor, 339 over-water measurements of phase and
MICKEY, L., 266n amplitude, 546
micropotentiometer: described, 379n simulated earth-to-space links, 546
micropotentiometers, 378 simulated tracking system, 545
microwave baseline tracking systems, 545 theoretical considerations, 545
Microwave Calibration Services Section, 354n, 389 missile-tracking systems, 545
Microwave Calibration Workshop, 1968, 698 MISTRAM baseline missile tracking system, 545,
Microwave Circuit Standards Section, 366, 367, 389, 725 546, 546n
microwave Fabry-Perot interferometer, 622 MIT Radiation Laboratory, 345, 346, 362, 372
microwave frequency dividers: controlled by spectral MIZUSHIMA, Masataka, 633
lines, 298 "mobile" field station, 190
microwave frequency standard, 619 MOCKLER, Richard C, 301, 301n, 307
microwave frequency standard: developed, 1945, 258 modulation measurement, 110
development of, 345, 346 modulation meter, 571
improvements, 1954, 259 modulation method: early U.S. patents, 8
new features added, 259 modulation research: at NBS Washington, by
microwave interferometry, 621, 622 CRPL, 571
microwave interferometry: diffraction theory in, 622 for digital-coding communication, 572
microwave Michelson interferometer, 622 for ionospheric forward scatter transmission, 572
microwave microcalorimeter, 374 modulation research program, 571
microwave microcalorimeter: improved design by Modulation Research Section, 57 In, 572
Engen, 374 modulation waveforms: frequency spectra, 571
microwave power standards: international MOGEL, H., 222n
comparisons, 377 "Mogel-Dellinger effect", 222n
microwave radio propagation, 512 molecular microwave spectra lines, 620
microwave refractometers, 518 molecular microwave spectral tables: NBS
microwave spectra, 620 Circular, 298

microwave spectral lines, 619 MONTGOMERY, G. Franklin, 271-note(f), 464, 487n,

microwave spectral tables, 620 495n, 572, 572n

microwave spectral tables: NBS Monograph 298 ,

monthly median transmission loss, 523
microwave spectroscopy, 2, 518 Moon, 614, 615, 638, 639, 640
microwave spectroscopy: first experimental work, 17 "Moonshine" (Project CXFD): radar deception
for measurement standards, 619 equipment, 328
microwave spectroscopy program, 620 Moon's surface: illuminated by ruby laser, 23

microwave standards: studies initiated by Radio MOORE, Holmes S., 581n

Section, 334-335 MOORE, Raymond T., 461
microwave standards program: funding, 347 MOORE, Roger C, 455n
initiated, 347 MORGAN, Alvin EL, 253, 275n, 292, 292n, 441n
Microwave Standards Section, 293, 336, 338, 345, 347, Morrow Board, 153n
348, 348n, 349, 367, 368, 373, 381, 389, 518, 619, MORSE, Samuel F. B., 3

695, 698n Mount Haleakala, Maui, measurement site, 544

microwave transmission: at 18 cm, 16 moving day: North site to South site, 725
Microwave Unit of ECC, 351 multiplex operation of FM transmitters, 23

Microwave Workshop, 1961, 698 MURPHY, Anabeth C, 474n, 475n

migration to Boulder, 724, 725 MURROW, Edward R., 295
migration to Boulder: committees, 724 mutual inductance: study by Cohen, 33
Resettlement Committee, 724
Steering Committee, 724 N
MIKLOFSKY, Harren A., 412
Milky Way, 595, 595n, 597 NAA: Navy station, Arlington, Va., 11, 34
MILLER, Charles K. S„ 356n, 382, 383 NAHMAN, Norris S., 388, 388n
MILLER, John M., 48, 53, 53n, 57, 60, 61, 73n, 652, NASON, Martin E., 616
680, 680n National Academy of Sciences, 655
MILLER, Lawrence W., 259 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
Miller effect, 60, 60n (NACA), 316

827
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics: National Radio Conferences: First, Second, Third,
Subcommittee on Communications, 91 Fourth; Committee on Frequency Allocation, 91
National Aeronautics and Space Administration First, Second, Third, Fourth; Committee on
(NASA), 502, 503, 507, 616 Interference, 91
National Board of Fire Underwriters: Radio National Science Foundation, 482, 596n, 608, 609, 610
Committees, National Electric Code, 92 National Science Foundation Floating Antarctic
National Broadcasting Co.: first color TV Research Station: noise station, 563
broadcasting, 19 National Sea Grant Program, National Science
first FM broadcast service, 18 Foundation, 737n
introduces public TV, 18 national standard of frequency: change-over to atomic
organized, 15 frequency standards, 258
National Bureau of Standards (NBS), (a/so, see NBS), early improvements, 256
315, 317, 334, 342, 343, 345, 348, 349, 351, 353, 355, moved to Boulder, Colorado, 258
356, 359, 367, 374, 375, 385, 388, 396, 400, 403, 404, refinements, 257
405, 413, 414, 415, 416, 419, 491, 492n, 555, 573, 595, National Symposium of the IRE Professional Group on
597, 602, 616, 627, 628, 630, 638, 643, 643n, 647, 648, Microwave Theory and Techniques, 1962,
651, 653, 654, 655, 660, 662, 663, 666, 674, 675, 677, Boulder, 699
679, 683, 684, 690, 691, 699, 704, 706, 708, 709, 710, National Telecommunications and Information
711, 712, 712n, 713, 715, 718, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, Administration (NTIA), 736n, 737
727, 728, 733, 733n, 735, 736 National Television System Committee (NTSC), 592
National Bureau of Standards: development of printed National Weather Records Center, Ashville, N.C.,
circuits, 19 520, 521
development of radio beacon, 12 Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory, 93, 176
first atomic clock, 20 Naval Research Laboratory, 14, 15, 16, 17, 33, 36
first blind landing by radio, 16
Naval Research Laboratory Expedition, Attu Island,
first cesium atomic beam frequency standard, 21
1950, 219, 600
first radio work, 31
Naval Wireless Telegraphic Laboratory, 92
frequency measurement of helium-neon laser, 24
navigational aids to mail-carrying planes: radio range
functions of, 1901, 99
stations, 15
initiates broadcasting (WWV) of ionosphere navigational aids to planes: by radio, 12
information, 1937, 235 navigation system: Loran, 573
ionosphere forecasting, 18 navigation systems: radio, study of, 573
name change, 38n Navigation Systems Section, 573, 574, 575, 592
responsibility for wireless telegraphy laboratory, 41
Navy Department, 323, 324, 326, 328, 335, 338, 345,
sites, 29
347, 348
speed of light measurement, 25 Navy Department: request for development of radio
National Conference of Standards Laboratories (also,
meteorographs, 124, 125
seeNCSL), 348, 690, 691 upper-air wind
Navy Department: request for
National Data Buoy Development Project, U.S. Coast measurement method, 132
Guard, 737n NBS National Bureau of Standards)
(also, see
National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), 315, NBS atomic time scale, 308
316, 317, 318, 319, 328, 403, 406, 440, 513
NBS Boulder Laboratories, 628, 630, 637
National Defense Research Committee Wave
NBS Boulder Laboratories: dedication of, 619
Propagation Group, Columbia University, 513 NBS Circular 462: Ionospheric Radio Propagation, 440,
National Electric Signaling Co. (Fessenden), 34
441, 695
national frequency standard for microwave frequencies:
NBS Circulars, 81
established, 334
NBS Frequency Standard, Jan. 1, 1960, 308
requested, 334
NBS Handbook of Physical Measurements, 695
National Geographic Society: stratosphere balloon
NBS Letter Circulars: a publication vehicle used by
flights, 122
Radio Section, 235
National Geographic Society-Army Air Force Eclipse
NBS Museum, 300
Expedition: Brazil, 1947, 218
NBS Precision Measurement Seminars, 358
National Geographic Society - NBS eclipse expedition: NBS time signals: on Coordinated Universal Time
Brazil, 1940, 217
system, 285
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NCSL: first meeting, 1962, 691
(also, see NOAA), 601n, 628, 736, 736n, 737
1964 meeting, 694
National Oceanographic Data Center, 737n 1966 meeting, 694
National Oceanographic Instrumentation Center, 737n 1968 meeting, 694
National Physical Laboratory (England), 557 1970 meeting, 694
National Primary Frequency and Time Standard: move 1972 meeting, 694
to Boulder Laboratories, explained, 275n 1973 meeting, 694
quartz crystals moved to Boulder Laboratories, 1974 meeting, 694
275, 725 1975 meeting, 694
National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency, 93 1976 meeting, 694
National Primary Standard of Radio Frequency: NCSL (National Conference of Standards Laboratories):
described, 254n purpose, 691
1929, 254 NDRC (see National Defense Research Committee)
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 23, 596, 596n NDRC, of OSRD (Office of Scientific Research and
National Radio Conferences, 94 Development), 345

828
negative temperature coefficient of resistance, 3 ocean environment, 736n
NELSON, Robert E., 369 oceanography, 735
neutrodyne circuit, 13 OCHS, Gerard R., 439, 460, 464
NEWELL, Allen C, 357, 388 ODABASI, Halis, 630
Newton apple tree, 719 ODISHAW, Hugh, 713n
NICHOLS, E. F.and TEAR, J. D., 14 OERSTED, Hans Christian, 2
NICHOLS, H. W. and SCHELLENG, J.C, 174 Office of Scientific Research and Development
nighttime errors of direction finders: caused by (OSRD), 18, 316, 317, 318, 319
reflections from ionosphere, 176 Office of Standard Weights and Measures, Treasury
nighttime signals: increased strength, 92 Department, 99
variations in strength, 93 Office of Telecommunications, Department of
NIPKOW, Paul, 5 Commerce, 736, 736n, 737
NIXON, Richard M. (President), 25 Office of Telecommunications Policy: IRAC
NOAA: establishment by Executive Order, 736 assistance, 648
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Office of U.S. Army Engineers, 340
Administration), 736 OHM, Georg Simon, 3
noctilucent clouds, 457n Ohm's Law, 3
noctilucent clouds: observation of movement, 457 oil baths: with precision temperature control, 397
NOEL, Adeline (see KINCHLOE), 73 OLIVER, Bernard M., 686
noise factor, EN, 597n Olson Construction Co., 715
noise figure standard: for noise figure of receivers, 381 Omega navigation system: explained, 289n
noise measurement: by sum-and-difference correlation use for standard frequency dissemination, 287n
radiometer, 382 ONDREJKA, Arthur R., 388
noise measurements: importance of, 381 operational radar installation: first, 17
noise comparator, 381 Operation Fish Bowl, 460n
theoretical studies, 381 optical distance, 511
noise measurement system: automated, 383 optical horizon, 511
noise-power comparator, 381 optical maser, 22
noise power equation, 15n optimum frequency selection, 240n
noise recording stations: worldwide network, 561 optimum frequency selection: by electronic
noise research: cooperation with CCIR and URSI, 562 computer, 588
noise spectra of nuclear explosions, 562 Orbiting Geophysical Observatories (see Ionosphere,
noise standard: improved Dicke-type radiometer, 382 upper)
low-temperature, microwave, 383 Ordnance Development Division, 319
nomograms: for round-the-earth LF radio Ordnance Development Division: changes of
signals, 471n name, 319
North American Radio Conference, 1933, 666 oscillator: vacuum tube, 11

North Atlantic Radio Warning Service, 453, 453n, 455,

oscillatory spark discharges, 3

616, 616n, 617n OSRD (see Office of Scientific Research and

North Atlantic Radio Warning Service: Silver Medal Development)

award to group members, 453n OSTROW, Sidney M„ 412, 429, 436
North Pacific Radio Warning Service, 453 OTTING, William J., 345
NORTON, Kenneth A., 112, 191, 200, 200n, 202, 208, OULD, Richard S., 53, 54, 62, 88, 91
216, 317, 317n, 318, 408n, 441n, 471n, 475, 476, OWEN, William E., 412
478n, 495n, 498n, 513, 515, 516, 517, 527, 549n, oxide-coated filaments, lln

550, 551, 555n, 573, 580, 580n, 581, 581n, 583, oxide-coated filaments: for thermionic vacuum
583n, 584, 585, 585n, 589n, 597n, 647, 655, 660, tubes, lln

669, 683n, 709, 723 oxygen line, 620

Norwegian Telecommunications Administration, oxygen spectrometer, 620
608, 609 OZANICH, Anton M. Jr., 523
NUCKOLS, Richard G., 298
nuclear explosion, 1962: observations of, 460
numerical mapping of ionospheric characteristics, 429 P
NUPEN, Wilhelm (Meteorological and
Geoastrophysical Abstracts, Washington, PAGE, Chester H, 319, 689

D.C.), 476n Page Consulting Radio Engineers, 492

NYQUIST, H., 15 Pan American Communications Conference, 1924, 665
Panel on Radiating Systems, Joint Research and
Development Board, 649
o PAPPAS, Carol F., 522
parametric amplifier: development, 21
oblique incidence: determination of maximum usable PARKINSON, Taintor, 183, 183n, 186, 188, 194, 195,
frequency at, 436 196, 683

oblique-incidence MUF, 598n patents: the many patents on radio beacons and blind
oblique-incidence observations, 436 landing system, 167
obstacle-gain paths: advantages, 537 vacuum tubes, 76n

OBV equipment: development of, 330 path-length stability of ground-to-ground links, 542
operation, 331 PATTERSON, Donald W.. 613n
operational purposes, 330 Pearl Harbor, 315, 316

829
Pearl Harbor: news by radio, 19 polarization errors of direction finders: a study, 318
PEAVY, Roswell C, 73, 416n, 704n, 726n commendations on study, 318
PECKER, Charlotte, 624 polarization of reflected waves: changes of, 427
PECKER, Jean-Claude, 624 POMERANTZ, M. A. (Bartol Research Foundation),
PELANDER, Carl E., 628n 444, 444n, 445, 484
PELLETT, Edwin 336
A., POPOV, Alexandr S., 6, 6n
pentode tubes: for broadcast receivers, 16 portable receiver: development in 1921, 82
PENZIAS, Arno A. and WILSON, Robert W., 24 Post Office, Department of, 649
Pereira, Luckman, and Stanton (architectural firm), POTTASCH, Stuart R., 623, 623n, 624
713,713n POULSON, Valdemar, 9
persistentanomalous field strengths measured far POWELL, Robert C, 354, 369, 371, 371n, 391, 392,
beyond the horizon, 551 393, 400
Personnel Division, ESSA, 736 "power equations": a development by Engen, 376
personnel problems: after WW I, 73 power measurement: by impedance method, 373
PERSSON, Karl-Birger, 627, 627n by microcalorimeter, 374
PETERSEN, F. Russell, 301, 306, 634, 634n calibration of coaxial power meters with waveguide
PETERSON, Robert L., 394 standard, 376
phase measurements over paths of varying DC-RF substitution error of coaxial bolometer
length, 540 units, 376
phasemeter: electronic, direct-reading, 576 early bolometric techniques, 372
phase scintillations, 603, 605 peak-pulse method, 388
phase-shift measurement: by balanced modulator power measurements: importance of, 371
technique, 389 power spectrum analysis of signal sources, 259
by modulated subcarrier technique, 389 power standard: for lower radio frequencies, 377
by unmodulated twin-channel technique, 389 POYNTING, John Henry, 5
Phase Shift Measurement Seminar, 1967, 699 Poynting theorem, 5
Phase Stability Analysis project, 539n, 540n PRATT, Haraden, 152n, 155, 155n, 165n, 652, 669,
phase stability in tropospheric propagation, 539 682, 683n
phase stability over low-level tropospheric path, 542 prediction of maximum usable frequencies, 404
PHELPS, Francis P., 260, 260n, 339, 339n prediction(s), ionosphere: a new service
PHELPS, Francis P.: in charge of quartz-crystal explained, 236n
group, 260n commentary, Dellinger Address, 1961, 230, 241
PHILLIPS, Marcella L., 412, 424, 450, 470, 471n, 584n prediction service: improvement by analysis of traffic
Philosophical Society of Washington, 181, 680, 681 logs, 431
photometer: explained, 466 improvements by IGY programs, 431
physics of upper atmosphere: Nobel Prize in Physics, prediction services: 1942-1946, 407
1947, 20 prediction(s) of maximum usable frequency: published
PICKARD, Greenleaf W., 10, 31, 172, 183, 186, 193, in Proc. IRE, 1939-1941, 237
193n, 216 predictions of useful distance for amateur
picture transmission, 1 communication: published in QST, 234
PIERCE, George W., 25 PRESTON, John L., 63, 106, 245, 248, 389, 389n, 651,
piezoelectric effect: explained, 248n 653, 680n
piezoelectric property of quartz crystals, 5 PRESTON, John L„ Bureau Circulars, 81n
piezo oscillator: portable type, temperature primary frequency standards (at radio frequencies):
controlled, 252 request for establishment, 343
PIGGOTT, W. R. (Radio Research Station, Principles Underlying Radio Communication: WW I

England), 443n publication, 694

Pikes Peak obstacle-gain experiments, 535 printed circuits: development of, 19, 19n
Pikes Peak transmission path, 528 problems imposed by radio broadcasting, 94
PINEO, Victor C, 133, 424, 437n, 462, 462n, 464, 464n, problems of interference, 95
489, 498, 498n problems of radio patents, 96
Pioneer 10 spacecraft: approach to planet Jupiter, 25 problems of the limited frequency spectrum, 95
Pioneer 1 1 spacecraft: near approach to planet Proc. IEEE: special issue on RF measurements and
Jupiter, 25 standards, June 1967, 359, 398
piston attenuator with phase shifter, high Project Bittersweet: forward scatter
precision, 365 communication, 492
PITTS, John J., 460 Project "Chick": a parachute-dropped radar
PIZZURRO, Ernest A., 412 jammer, 333
Plant Division, NBS Boulder, 736 Project CXFD: radar deception equipment, 328
Plasma Physics Building, 718, 735 Project CXJX, "false fleet" of ships, 331
PLUSH, Robert W., 475n Project Diana, Army Signal Corps, 271
PLYLER, Earle K., 578n Project Firefly, 459
POAST, La Verne M., 317, 319 Project Firefly: explained, 459n
point-to-point communication, 614 Project "Flapper": vortex generator, 335
communication systems, 614
point-to-point Project Mercury, 616, 616n
POKEMPNER, Minadora, 412, 429, 429n Project Mercury, ground communications network,
polar blackouts (see absorption: polar-cap) 616, 617n
polar-cap absorption (PCA), 494, 610n Project Mercury Radio Warning Service, 616,
Polarimetry Section, Optics Division, 339 616n, 617n

830
ProjectOBV: test equipment and monitor for R
CXFD, 330
Project Phantom, 460n RABI, I. (Columbia University),
I. 18, 299, 299n
Project Phantom: vapors and aerosols as radar Radar: use by English, 17
first
reflectors, 336 origin of word, 19n
prolonged space-wave fadeouts, 538 pulse-type, first, 17
propagation, ionospheric: African studies, 448 release of information, 19
Propagation of Very-Low Radio Waves Symposium, single antenna, with duplexer, 17
1957, 699 radar countermeasures: a defense stratagem, 327
propagation phase stability, 539 Radar Countermeasures Group, Radio Section, 328,
properties of ferromagnetic materials, 392 331, 335, 336, 460n
Provisional Frequency Board, 659, 660, 664 Radar Countermeasures Section, Bureau of Ships, 328
proximity fuse, 18, 319 radar development: early, 16
proximity fuse: for nonrotating projectiles, U.S. radar reflection: from Moon, 20
Army, 19 from planet Jupiter, 23
for rotating projectiles, U.S. Navy, 19 from planet Venus, 22
radio type, successful trials, 19 radiation, from Sun, 595n
radio type, used in combat, 19 radiation, trapped, Earth, 612
Publications Committee, URSI, 672 radiation hazard, 616
Public Buildings Service, GSA, 713, 723 radiation hazards, 616n
Public Law 267, 1912, 11 Radiation Laboratory: establishment, 19
Pulse and Time Domain Section, 388 Radiation Laboratory, MIT, 298, 334
pulsed cw transmitter, 15 radiation of galactic hydrogen, 21
pulse measurement techniques: nanosecond radiation produced from a plasma, 626
pulses, 388 radiative source function, 623, 624
pulse repeater: balloon-borne for detection of radar radio, 737, 737n
signals, 323 radio: acceptance of word, 42
PUPIN, Michael I., 7 a meaning, 1

PURCELL, E. M. (Harvard University), 487 a tool for probing Nature, 1

PURDY, Charles M., 469n distance range, 2

PURINGTON, Ellison S., 54, 73n impact on scientific world and society, 1

information on weather, 2
origin of word, 2
probing of space and the atom, 2
probing upper atmosphere, 2
Radio Act of 1927, 15. 95, 96
Radio Advisory Committee: first, 96, 97n
radio altimeter: dial reading, 18
radio amateur, 69
radio amateurs: reception of early broadcasting, 12
Q "Radioana", 34n
quantum electronics: maser-laser principle. Nobel Radio and Electronics Colloquium, 698
Prize in Physics, 1964, 23 Radio and Microwave Materials Section, 392, 394
Quantum Electronics Division, 632, 633, 634
Radio and Troposphere Commission, URSI, 672
Quantum Electronics Section, 633 radio astronomy, 2, 17, 595, 595n, 597, 597n, 598, 598n,
602, 603, 603n
quantum-mechanical uncertainty principle: comment
Radio Astronomy and Arctic Propagation
by Lyons, 309
Section, 598n
Quantum Physics Division, 628
Radio Astronomy project, 598n, 603n
Quarterly Bulletin of Solar Activity, International
radio beacon (also, see air navigation system)
Astronomical Union, 601
radio beacon: aural type, 12
quartz crystal inspection and testing service:
visual type, 12
assistance by Radio Section, 339
radio beacon system, 663
quartz crystal program: a tutorial paper, 252
radio blackout, 602
quartz crystal research: early, by Radio Section, 256
radio blackouts, 607n, 735
frequency drift, aging, 260
radio boom, 73, 80
quartz-crystal resonators: improved short -time
radio broadcasting boom, 647
stability, 258
radio broadcasting from airplane, 1928: Radio Section
quartz crystals: continued useful role, 258
aids, 83
quartz crystals as frequency standards: early
radio broadcasting stations, total, 1922, U.S., 13
calibration by Radio Section, 248
total, 1941, U.S., 19
quartz crystal technology: NBS meets a problem in
temperature control, 257 total, AM and FM, 1978, U.S., 20
radio broadcast receivers: operation from 60-Hz
NBS serves Department of Commerce, 249
alternating current, 15
quartz crystal technology study: reported in TNB,
1926, 257 Radio Broadcast Service Section, 292
quartz plates: electrical parameters measured, 339 Radio Building, Boulder, 704, 705, 706, 708, 710, 711,
Quebec Center, 609 713, 715, 716, 719, 722, 723, 725, 726, 727, 728, 732,
Quebec Center station, 609n 735, 735n, 737

831
Radio Building, Boulder: cornerstone, 723n Radio Measurements and Standards Group, Radio
plantings, 719 Section, 1945, 345, 367

Radio Building: new quarters, 1918, 47 Radio Measurements and Standards Project, Radio
Radio Central: RCA operated, 12 Section, 1945, 345, 372, 381

radio circuits: methods of tuning, 7 radio meteorographs (see radiosondes)

Radio Communication and Systems Division, 496n, radio meteorology, 512, 514, 517
555n, 613n Radio Meteorology Section, 517, 521, 523, 545
Radio Communications Committee, Defense radiometer, 598n, 599, 600
Communications Board, 648 "radio music box", 12
Radio Communication Section, 71 radio navigation, 2
radio compass: development for Bureau of radio navigation of airplanes, 93
Lighthouses, 140 radio navigation system: directional coil antenna
patents, 145, 145n adapted to shipboard use, 139
spinoffs, 145 radio navigation systems, 555
testswith lighthouse tender Tulip, 140 radio noise, 513, 555, 597
widely adapted for shipboard use, 145 radio noise, atmospheric, 598n
radio compass, Kolster, 643 radio noise, cosmic, 595
radio component measurements: 25 to 200 MHz, radio noise: effect of on radio reception, 555
WW II period, 112 from planet Jupiter, 21
radio control between spacecraft: Gemini 10 and mobile recording unit, 559, 562
Agena, 24 radio noise measurement: at Minuteman missile
Radio Coordination, a division of NDRC, 317 sites, 562
Radio Corporation of America (RCA), 12, 15, 16, 17, radio noise outbursts, 602
18, 19 Radio Noise Section, 559n, 561, 562
Radio Corporation of America: incorporated, 12 Radio Physics Division, 292, 354
radio detectors: Austin's interest, 31 radio plasmas, 624
study at NBS, 31 Radio Plasma Section, 627
Radio Development Section, 71 radio probing of magnetized and bounded plasma, 624
radio direction finder: pioneer development, 10 Radio Propagation Activity Report: a monthly
portable type, "universal," 146 paper, 416
radio direction finders, 139n radio propagation at VHF over irregular terrain, 534
radio distress calls: at sea, 10 Radio Propagation Course, 696
Radio Disturbance Analysis project, 450 radio propagation engineering: NBS objective, 578
Radio Disturbance Warning Service, 451n Radio Propagation Engineering Division, 477, 516, 543,
Radio Division, Aeronautics Branch, Department of 545, 555n, 614
Commerce, 644 Radio Propagation Engineering Journal Club, 698n
Radio Electrical Coordination Committee, American Radio Propagation Executive Council (of CRPL), 414,
Standards Association, 653 415, 432, 525, 703
radio emission, 605, 605n, 606 Radio Propagation Executive Council (of CRPL):
radio emission: from interstellar space, 595 Aug. 13, 1946 meeting, 704
radio emission from Sun studies: site on Gunbarrel first meeting, 416, 704
Hill, 721 Radio Propagation Field Station, Anchorage,
Radio File, 29n Alaska, 453
radio fog signalling, 643 Radio Propagation Handbook, 1943, 556, 579
radio fog signalling (see radio compass) Radio Propagation Physics Division, 477, 499
radiofrequency radiation by a plasma, 627 Radio Propagation Physics Journal Club, 698n
Radio Geodetic Research project, 540n radio propagation predictions: IRPL-D series, 408
radio horizon, 514 Radio Propagation Problems: a section within
radio information: a reference file, 88 NDRC, 316
"Radio Information Clearing House," 88 radio proximity fuse (nonrotating type): an NBS
radio inspectors, Bureau of Navigation, 105, 643, 644 development, 316, 319
radio interference, 644 radio-ray refraction, 522
radio interferometer, 577, 604n, 605n radio-ray refraction angle, 522
radio interferometer, phase sweeping, 603 radio receiver: pocket type, 82n
radio interferometer, Ryle-type, 603 Radio Receivers Committee, IRE, 652
Radio Laboratory, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 85, 101, 102, 104, radio receivers for airways, 155
107, 244 radio reception in Government hospitals, 83
Radio Laboratory: ac operation of amplifiers, 85 radio refractive index, 517, 518, 520, 525
condensers, Bureau of Standards type, 100 radio refractive index: variability of, 520
formulas for inductance, 101 radio-refractive-index climatology, 523
growth of, 47 Radio Refractive Index Data Center, 521, 545
reorganized, Feb. 1921, 71 radio refractive index inhomogeneities, 519
Radio Laboratory Fund Campaign, 712 radio refractive index profiles, 521
Radio Laboratory Section (also Radio Section): radio refractive index structure, 522
formation, 43 radio relay: railroad signal device, 84n
radio landing of airplanes, 93 radio relay system, 20
Radio Measurements and Standards Commission, Radio Research and Testing Section, 71
URSI, 678 Radio Science, 675

832
radio science: commentary, Dellinger Address, radio standardization programs: NBS participation, 82
1961, 230n Radio Standards Division, 292, 349, 352, 353, 354,
Radio Science Bulletin, 89 375, 399
Radio Section, 43, 69, 71, 78, 80, 81, 88, 90, 91, 92, 173, Radio Standards Division Research Seminar, 698n
182, 183, 186, 188, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195, 198, 198n, Radio Standards Engineering Division: meets new
201, 202, 204, 207, 208, 211, 215, 216, 217, 220, 221, financial problems, 356
222, 224, 225, 227, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, Radio Standards Engineering Division (later,
237, 240n, 241, 262, 263, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 323, Electromagnetic Division), 345, 388
327, 328, 329, 334, 335, 339, 340, 342, 343, 345, 369, Radio Standards Laboratory, 343, 345, 349, 351, 356, 358,
384, 403, 407, 407n, 408, 409, 409n, 410, 410n, 411, 369, 391, 392, 398, 400, 698
411n, 412, 412n, 415, 420, 421, 422, 422n, 424, 426, Radio Standards Laboratory: organizational
428, 433, 439, 440n, 449, 450n, 451, 462n, 465, 470, growth, 419
470n, 512, 563, 571, 578, 643, 644, 645, 648, 649, 650, planning a 5-year program, 355
651, 651n, 652, 653, 654, 657, 658, 659, 661, 663, 665, planning a new building, 356
666, 668, 671, 674, 680, 680n, 681, 694, 703, 704 provides for special Proc. IRE issue, 358
Radio Section: a source of radio information on radio Radio Standards Laboratory building, 719
receiving sets, 80 Radio Standards Physics Division (later, Radio Physics
development of aids for air navigation, 153 Division), 292, 345
development of antennas and radio systems, 110 Radio Standards Research Seminar, 698
doldrums period of measurements, 110 radio stars, 607n
employment, low in 1924, 74 radio-star scintillations, 603n
field facilities at College Park, Md„ 153 Radio Star Scintillations project, 499n
meeting, 75n
first staff Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA),
information on radio for public, 88 576, 576n, 650, 650n
initiation date, 43n Radio Technical Commission for Marine Services, State
inventions, 96 Department, 650
reorganization, 1918, 65 Radio Technical Committee for Aeronautics, Bureau of
signal intensity measurements, 111 Air Commerce, 650
sound measurements, 109 radio telemetry, 2
space problems in WW
II, 340 Radio Telephone Transmitter and Receiver
standard inductor developments, 102 Terminology Subcommittee, IRE, 652
study and measurement of modulation, 110 radio telephony becomes established, 88
technical assistance to Department of Commerce on radio telescope, 595, 598, 599, 600, 603n, 604
radio problems, 95 radio telescope: Effelsberg, 24
use of condenser antenna, 118 largest equatorially mounted, 24
visitorsduring the 1920's, 90 largest fixed-type transit, 23
Radio Section reorganized, Aug. 1919, 71 largest movable, 23
Radio Service Bulletin Bureau of Navigation,
: largest steerable, 22
Department of Commerce, 260 radio telescopes, 596n, 606n
Radio Service (division), Bureau of Navigation, 644 Radio Tracking Accuracy project, 540n
Radio Ship Act of 1910, 11 Radio Transmission Handbook, 403, 695
Radio Ship Act of 1911, 42 Radio Transmission Handbook, Frequencies 1000 to

radio signals over Atlantic, 1935-40, anomalies, 201, 30,000 KC, 317

807, 808
Radio Warning Services Section, 451, 455, 616
radiosonde: "an epoch landmark in meteorological
Radio Wave Direction Committee, URSI, 668
history," 132 radio wave field intensity observations: during

a serviceable product, 128 WW II, 409

a technical breakthrough in development, 126 radio-wave probing of dense plasma, 625

attains technical stature, 131 radio wave propagation: Dellinger Address, 1961, 171

cloud height and thickness observations, 128 prediction, 735

earliest development by NBS studies by Austin, 172

(1935), 122
earliest developments, 122n Radio Wave Propagation Commission, URSI, 672
early development by Radio Section, 122 Radio Wave Propagation Committee, IRE, 652
early method of determining wind conditions, 126 Radio Wave Transmisstion Phenomena Committee,
first publication by Radio Section, 128 American Section, URSI, 668
flight testing, 128 "radio weather", 316
humidity observation by electric hygrometer, 126, 128
radio work at NBS: an early need, 40n
investigations of electric hygrometers, 124, 126, 131 RAMALEY, David, 395, 396
observation by audiofrequency modulation, 124 RANDALL, Dwight L., 512, 514
operation at UHF, with pulse modulation, 131 RASMUSSEN, Alvin L., 391, 392, 393, 394, 633

origin of name, 122n ratio, electromagnetic to electrostatic unit, 99

service in Navy Department, 128 ray bending, 514
service to Government agencies, 128 Rayleigh distribution: definition, 534n
temperature sensor, electrolytic resistor, 124 REBER, Grote, 219, 595, 596n, 598, 598n, 599, 600, 602,
transistor operation, 132 603, 603n, 607n

ultraviolet light measurement, 124, 124n receiver: 10-meter type developed, 120

Radio Spectrum Conservation: JTAC publication, 584 receiver noise, 613n

Radio Spectrum Utilization: JTAC publication, 585 Receiving Sets Subcommittee, IRE, 652
Radio Standardization Conference, Jan. 1923, 82, 92 recording microwave refractometer, 389, 518

833
recording microwave refractometer: an interesting ROBERTS, Walter Orr, 451n, 708, 708n, 712n
application, 391 ROENTGEN, Wilhelm Conrad, 6
REES, Manfred H., 469 ROGERS, J. Harris, 59
REEVE, Gerome R., 385 "Romance of Measurement", 342
"References to the Current Radio Periodical "Romance of Measurement": a viewpoint, 342
Literature" (see "Radio Information Clearing ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. (President), 17, 316
House"), 89 ROOSEVELT, Franklin D.: first U.S. president to be
reflection coefficient at grazing angles, over irregular televised, 18
terrain, 534 ROOSEVELT, Theodore (President), 646
refraction angle, calculation of, 522 ROPER, Nathaniel J., 501, 501n
refraction in an exponential atmosphere, 522 ROSA, Edward B., 32, 40, 47, 69, 99, 100, 643, 695
refractive index, 512 ROSENSHOLD, Munk Af., 3n
refractive index: of ionosphere, 605 rotary-vane attenuators: study of, 366
refractive index, surface, 514 rotational period, Jupiter, 606
refractive-index gradient, 537 round-the-world broadcast, first, 16
refractive index of atmosphere: calculation by rubidium clock: portable, development of, 306
computers, 588 ruby laser, high-powered, 639
refractive-index profile characteristics, 538 ruby laser, pulsed, 631
refractive-index profiles, 523 RUEGER, Lauren J., 259, 298
refractive-index structure, 522, 523 RUSSELL, David H., 364, 365, 366, 389
refractive index variations, 519 RUSSELL, S. (Airborne Instruments Laboratory), 505n
refractometer, 520 RYAN, William E., 112, 345
refractometer, "absolute", 519
refractometers: microwave, 519
regenerative circuit: inventor recognized, 17 S
U.S. patent, Armstrong, 11
U.S. patent, deForest, 11 Sacramento Peak Observatory, 623n
REGGIA, Frank, 345, 367, 367n,374 Safety at Sea, Interdepartmental Radio Committee, 139
Regular Propagation Services Section, 725 Safety at Sea, International Conference on, 1913, 139
REICH, Francis W., 709n, 711, 726n Sagittarius, 595, 595n, 597
relating useful frequencies of transmission to vertical SALAZAR, Henry F„ 301, 309
incidence measurements, 237 SALZBERG, Calvin D„ 458
relay recorder (see remote control by radio) SANGSTER, Raymond C, 356, 356n
remote control by radio, 84 San Nicolas, California Coast tropospheric propagation
RENSE, William A., 624 measurements, 537
requests for information and services, 100 SARNOFF, David, 12
RESA: Boulder Branch, 699, 700 satellite communication relays, 614n
National organization, 699 SAVITT, Jacob, 219
RESA Boulder Scientist Award, 700 SAWYER, Charles (Secretary of Commerce), 293, 309,
research projects abandoned: late 1920, 73 705, 705n, 706, 709, 710, 711n, 723
resistance: standards (resistors) for radio scanning disk: mechanical, 5
frequencies, 102 scatter F: an IGY study, 425
resistance measurement: four methods at RF, 102 scattering, incoherent, 437
resonant circuits: inductively coupled, capacitative scattering by a turbulent atmsphere, 551
tuning, famous Marconi patent, 8 scattering of electromagnetic energy in a randomly
resonant frequency: equation, 243 inhomogeneous atmosphere, 551
REYMER, Stephen E., 191, 217, 227, 236, 238n, 412 measurements near the radio horizon, 552
scatter
RF ammeter: first calibration of, 43 SCHAFER, George E., 297n, 354n, 366, 366n, 389, 621,
study of, 43 654, 654n, 687, 697, 699, 700
RF ammeters, 43n, 380 SCHAWLOW, A. L. and TOWNES, Charles H., 22
RF current: basic principle of measurement, 103 SCHIFFMACHER, Edward R., 503n, 605, 608
RF voltmeter calibration console, 380 SCHMID, Charles W., 503
RICE, Philip L„ 515, 516, 522, 581, 585 SCHMIDT, Leonard B„ 394, 634
RICHARDSON, John M., 297, 297n, 307, 349, 349n, 620, SCHNEIBLE, Dennis E., 219
620n, 621, 625, 688, 689, 699, 700 SCHOCKLEY, William, BARDEEN, John and
RICHARDSON, O. W., 10 BRATTAIN, Walter Houser, 21
RICHARDSON, R. S., 223 SCHOCKLEY, William, PEARSON, G. L. and
RIES, Francis X„ 357, 380 HAYNES, J. R., 21
RIGGS, Lowell P., 522 SCHOTTKY, Walter, 12
riometer, 608, 609, 609n, 610n, 61 In, 616 SCHULKIN, Morris, 512, 513, 514, 522
riometer: defined, 608n Scientific Program Committee: dedication, Boulder
explained, 442n Laboratories, 726n
RISHBETH, H. (consultant to CRPL), 428n Scientific Research Society of America (see RESA)
RISLEY, Allan S., 309, 394 Scientific Staff Meetings, NBS, 696
ROACH, Franklin E., 466, 468, 468n, 469, 469n, 484, scintillation of radio stars, 603, 605
485, 674 SCOLNIK, Reuben, 339
road names: Nobel Prize winners, 719 SCOTT, Winston W., 380, 381
suggestion by Swinerton, 719n SCOVIL, H. E. D., FEHER, G. and SEIDEL, S., 21
ROBERTS, Richard W., 309n screen-grid tubes: improved design, 15

834
SCROGGIE, M. G., 3 SILBERSTEIN, Richard, 405n, 412, 436, 441n, 458,
SEAC (NBS Eastern Automatic Computer), 586, 586n 499n, 576
sea-level refractivity, 524 silicon detector, 10
sea-level refractivity: annual cycle of, 524 development by Austin, 31
silicon detector:
second: atomic, 307 SILSBEE, Francis
B., 695n

definition by atomic transition, 24 SIMMONDS, Michael B., 367

definition by transition frequency of cesium, SIMMONS, William R., 634
1967, 307 SIMPSON, Philip A., 260
definition by transition frequency of cesium, single-sideband radio telephony: demonstrated, 14
tentative, 1964, 307 Site Selection Board, 709, 709n, 710n, 723
ephemeris, definition, 307 Site Selection Board: site requirements, 709
in terms of rotation of Earth on axis, 307 skip-distance calculation: a service to the radio
Second International Polar Year, 674 amateur, 233
Second International Polar Year: ionosphere sky-wave field intensity calculation: from observed
observations by Radio Section, 1932-1934, 220 quantities, 409
reported by NBS at General Assembly of URSI, SLABY, Adolph K. H., 6
1934, 220 SLUTZ, Ralph J., 465n, 498n, 586n, 587, 724
Second National Radio Conference, 245 SMITH, Dean, 546
Secretary of Commerce, 78, 94 SMITH, Ernest K. Jr., 421n, 424, 424n, 425, 428n, 448,
Secretary of Commerce and Labor, 644 483, 483n, 517, 609n, 615n, 700
seismology, 735 SMITH, Newbern, 201, 217, 218, 224, 227, 229, 233, 234,
SELBY, Myron C, 339, 345, 358, 359, 377, 377n, 378, 379, 236, 237, 238, 238n, 239, 240, 241, 317, 403n, 405n,
380, 654, 698 406, 406n, 409n, 412, 412n, 414, 416, 416n, 424n, 426,
SELLERY, Harry G., 482 426n, 436, 441n, 449, 462n, 465, 486n, 556n, 591n,
semiconductor research: Nobel Prize in Physics, 597, 648, 659, 660, 662, 668, 672, 683n, 709, 709n,
1956, 21 723, 724n, 727n
semiconductors, 3 SMITH, Stephen J., 630n
semiconductors: properties of, 31 SMITH, Walter L., 397
SEN, Hari K„ 457, 600n SMITH, Walter L., Bronze award, 397n
Senate Advisory Committee on Color Television, 590, SMITH-ROSE, R. L. (National Physical
591, 591n Laboratory), 340
Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory: cooperative
Commerce, 59 In effort with NBS, 306
SERA, Frederick, 282, 285, 285n Smith-Weintraub equation, 520, 524
service area of airborne TV transmitter, 582 Smith- Weintraub equation: defined, 518n
service area of radio transmitters: early SNIDER, Charles S., 301
measurements, 579 SNIDER, JACK B., 301
improved method of measurement, 581 SNYDER, James J., 631
tropospheric propagation, 580 SNYDER, Wilbert F., 326, 330, 336, 338, 351, 354,
service to Government: 1915 Annual Report, 44 354n, 700
service to the Armed Forces: early, beginning 1917, 648 solar activity, 598, 601
sferics: properties of, that produce whistlers, 479 solar activity: studies by Austin, 36
spectrum analysis, 481 Solar Atmospheric Studies program: objectives, 622
study of characteristics, 480 solar bursts, 600, 600n
SHAFER, John F., 701 solar cosmic radiation, 616, 616n
SHAPLEY, Alan H., 443n, 450, 450n, 451, 455, 482, 484, solar cosmic-ray fluxes, 616n
484n, 485, 502n, 664, 665, 669, 674 solar cosmic rays, 615, 616n
SHAULL, John M„ 258, 258n, 269, 334, 345 solar disturbances, 607n
SHERWOOD, Jesse E., 299 solar emanations, 610n
shielding: after 1946, 65 solar event, 1959, 602
WW I period, 64 solar flare, 602
shielding of ignition noise: aircraft engines, 156 solar flare activity, 601n
SHOAF, John H., 258, 259, 275n, 309 solar flares, 600, 602, 607n, 608n, 615
shock-wave effects in hot plasma, 627 Solar Geophysical Data, 601n
shock waves from exploding wires, 626 solar-magnetic storms, 608
SHORT, Pius J., 581 solar noise, 597, 598, 598n, 599n, 601n, 607n
short-term fading characteristics, 538 solar noise bursts, 600
short-wave radio: importance, 13 solar patrol, 601
short-wave transmission across Atlantic, 1921, 13 solar patrol, CRPL, 60 In
shot effect, 12 solar physics, 735
SHULTZ, Edna L., 412, 441n, 557 solar-proton events (SPE), 494
SID sudden ionosphere disturbance)
(see solar radiation, 598, 598n, 600
Signal Corps Radio Laboratory, 244 Solar Radio Astronomy, a paper, 603n
Signal Corps Radio Laboratory: "wire wireless", 45n solar radio noise, 597, 597n, 598, 598n, 599, 600n
signal intensity: measurement by auditory method, 109 solar radio noise bursts, 600
measurement by instrumental methods, 109 solar radio noise intensity, 601
Signalling for Safety at Sea Committee, Science solar radio waves, 597n, 607n
Advisory Board, 653 Solar-Terrestrial Physics Division, Environmental Data
and Information Service, NOAA, 737

835
solar wind, 607n spectrum analyzer, 588n
SOLOW, Max, 380, 381, 384 Spectrum Engineering The Key — to Progress. CRPL
SOMMERFELD, A.: paper on attenuation of radio contribution, 586
waves, 112 speed of electromagnetic radiation: by Rosa and
sonometer: described, 247n Dorsey, 99n
use, 246 speed of EM waves: measurement of, 576
SOPKA, John J., 587 speed of light, 99
SORROWS, Howard E.. 112, 330, 345, 368, 653 speed of light: 1972 determination, 25, 25n
sounding the ionosphere: automatic continuous by NBS and University of Colorado, 1972, 99n
recorder with transmitter installed at Beltsville recent determination by NBS, 587n
field station, 1932, 208 studies of, 632
automatic continuous recording of height, by speed of light measurement, 634, 637
Gilliland, 1931, 208 sporadic E: a long-period study by NBS, 420
continuous height recorder installed at Tufts College, a survey paper, 425
by Gilliland and Kenrick, 1931, 208 compilation of papers, a monograph, 425
cooperation of Naval Research Laboratory with early observations by Gilliland, 421
NBS, 204 early studies by E. K. Smith, 424
cooperative program with Tufts College, 206 monthly information on, 422n
cooperative work with Carnegie Institution of no variation with sunspot numbers, 425
Washington, 1925, 202 number of published papers, 420n
development of Model A ionosphere recorder observations by Kirby and Judson, 422
(ionosonde), 214 observations by Radio Section (group), 424
earliest observations by Gilliland at Kensington field prediction of transmission, 423
station, 203 reflections not related to meteor trails, a study,
early observations of ionosphere by Gilliland, 424, 462
November 1928, 203 structure concepts for reflections, 421n
early observations over long distances, 206 study of equatorial sporadic E, 425
Gilliland observes splitting of F layer, 211 study of variation, 424
Gilliland observes sporadic E layer, 212 wind shear cause, 459
multifrequency automatic ionosphere recorder, 209 sporadic-E reflection: defined by E. K. Smith, 421n
multifrequency recorder at Beltsville field station, defined by IGY, 42 In
extensive observations, 209 sporadic-E regions, 605
observations of various heights, 1930, 205 sporadic-F regions, 605
Radio Section operates its own pulse transmitter, 207 SPRAGUE, Robert C. (Sprague Electric Co.), 352
Radio Section operates on a regular sounding spread F: equatorial, 447
schedule, 1930, 204 presence on ionogram described, 503n
Radio Section reports on the ionosphere, Sputnik, October 4, 1957, 22, 349

1934-1935, 215 Sputnik I (also, see Ionosphere, upper), 604, 613, 675
studies of critical frequencies, by Radio Section Sputnik II, 604, 604n
team, 215 Sputnik III (also, see Ionosphere, upper), 604, 604n
transmission path, Beltsville to Meadows field SQUIER, George O. (Chief Signal Officer of Army), 683
station, 215 STAIR, Ralph, 124
Sound Section, 110, 246 Standard Frequency Broadcast at Very Low Frequency:
Sources of Elementary Radio Information, 89 a proposal by W. D. George, 1957, 475n
South Pole Station, 610n standardization: radio, various subjects, 82n, 651
SOUTHWORTH, George C, 53, 53n, 107, 343, 343n, 366, Standardization Committee, IRE, 652
598, 607n, 683n, 726n standardization programs, 82
SOUTHWORTH, George C. and BARROW, W. L., 17 standard musical pitch: 440 Hz, broadcast over NBS
Soviet Union, 22, 23, 24 network, 269n
Space Age, 349, 613 standards: radio, earliest reference, 48n
space communication, 613, 613n, 614 standards and measurement: a doldrums cycle, 342
space communication: CRPL publications, 585 Standards Committee, Institute of Radio Engineers,
space communications, 595n, 614n 82n, 652
space communication system, 547, 613, 614 standards for radio frequencies: establishment of, 347
space environment, 735 standards of frequency: early development by NBS, 93
space environment disturbance: forecasting, 735 standards of frequency and wavelength, 637
Space Environment Laboratory, NOAA, 737 Stanford University, 263
space exploration, 615 STANLEY, John T., 292
space flight, 614 STANS, Maurice H. (Secretary of Commerce), 736n
space program, 615 STARAS, Harold, 551, 551n
space travel, 613, 615 Starfish: 1962 nuclear explosion, 460
space vehicle, 613n Stark-cell microwave spectrograph, 298, 619
space vehicles, 613n, 615 State Department, 603, 650
spark transmitter, 104 Statement of the Central Continuing Mission of NBS,
Special Committee on Instrumentation Standardization 1960, 360
for Antenna Measurement, 649 static problem: partially solved by broadcasting
Special World Interval (SWI), 455n networks, 96
spectrometer, laser electron paramagnetic resonance successfully solved by frequency modulation, 96
(LEPR), 633

836
Station KK2XEI (later WWVB), began standard radio propagation conditions forecast for North
frequency (60 kHz) broadcasts, 276 Pacific, 275
Station WLW: high power, 17 silver anniversary observed, 287
Station WWV: act of Congress provides for new voice announcements added, 281
station, 271 Station WWVL: experimenting with 20 kHz, 287n
begins operation at Beltsville, Md., 266 operation begun at Sunset site, 277
begins operation at College Park, Md., 265 transmission curtailed, 287
call letters assigned to Bureau of Standards, 260 transmission initiated from Ft. Collins, 280
controlled by quartz oscillator, first time, 264 STEINERT, Leon A., 394
destroyed by fire, 271, 340 Sterling field station, 595, 597, 599, 599n, 600
earliest station described, 263n Sterling field station: established, 340
ends operation from Bureau grounds (Washington, Sterling Radio Propagation Laboratory, 453
D.C.), 265 Sterling, Va., field station, 557, 563, 565
First Day Signals from Ft. Collins, QST cards, 282n STEWART, Balfour, 171
format of transmitted signals, 263n STICKLER, Warren C, 354n
Ft. Collins location described, 277n STONE, John S., 8
frequencies referenced to NBS primary frequency STONEHOCKER, Garth H., 219, 460
standard at Boulder, 277 STRATTON, Samuel W., 31, 42, 69, 82n, 94, 99, 144, 644,
golden anniversary observed, 287 647, 695
installs 30-kW transmitter, Beltsville, Md., 266 STRATTON, Samuel W.: women on staff, 72
location transferred from Greenbelt to Ft. Collins, 282 STROCK, Morris S., 265
new site selected, Beltsville, Md., 271 STROCK, Morris S.: Bureau Circulars, 81n
operation at Ft. Collins, 292 STROMBOTNE, Richard L., 301
operation with automatic announcing equipment, 273 STROUD, Jack C, 538
quartz frequency standards sealed in underground STUART, D. M„ 215, 229
vault, 272 submarine antenna, 563
radio propagation disturbance warnings submarine antenna: NBS design, 58n
initiated, 273 patent litigation, 59
short-wave disturbance forecasts for North Sub-Panel on Frequency Control Devices, Joint
Atlantic, 275 Research and Development Board, 649
sitenear Ft. Collins, 722 sudden ionosphere disturbance (SID), 597, 601n
standard frequencies by single sideband sudden ionosphere disturbance: an early prediction, 221
transmission, 276 cooperative observations, 221

Stations WWV and WWVH: coded information correlation with disturbances on Sun, 223

transmitted worldwide for IGY, 277 Dellinger's explanation, 224

Geoalerts service begun for IGY, 276 early observations, 221

greatest use of standard frequencies and time signals, evidence by Mt. Wilson Observatory, 223
surveys of 1952 and 1956, 276 magnetic storm of October 1935, 222
Greenwich Mean Time changed to UTC, 287 radio transmission characteristics described, 224n

survey indicated time-of-day announcements most the "Dellinger effect" acclaimed, 222
used service, 288 the many-reported occurrences, 224
time announcements referenced to Greenwich 12 papers by Dellinger, 223

meridian, 285 SUGAR, George R., 464, 465, 465n, 498, 498n, 587n

voice announcements of time at 1-minute SULZER, Michael P., 639n

intervals, 287 SULZER, Peter G., 271-note(f), 433n, 487n

Station WWV used for reflection from Moon: (f) NBS Sun, 607n, 608
successful in Moon reflection, Cedar Rapids, la., Sun-Earth Relationship Section, 502
to Sterling, Va„ 271-note(f) Sun-Earth relationship studies, 450
unsuccessful, 269-271 Sunset field site, 722
(a) unsuccessful, reported by W. D. George, 270-note(a) Sunset field station: a new VLF facility, 473
(b) unsuccessful, experiment described, 270-note(b) sunspot activity, 598
(c) unsuccessful, pulse technique not explained, sunspot numbers: prediction of, 450
270-note(c) superheterodyne circuit: development of, 12n
(di unsuccessful, Yardley Beers comments on U.S. patent granted, 12
experiment, 270-note(d) super-refractive layer, 537

U.S. Army Signal Corps successful, 1946, 270-note(e) super-refractive layers, 537

Station WWVB: round-the-clock service begun, 287 superregenerative circuit, 13

time code broadcast by level shift of carrier, 281 surface refractivity, 524
transmission initiated from Ft. Collins, 278 surface resistivity: measurement of, 107

transmission of standard frequency and time interval SWINNERTON, John L., 719n
controlled by U.S. Frequency Standard, 281 Symposium on Communications by Scatter Techniques,

Stations WWVB and WWVL: dedication of Ft. Collins 1955, 497

facilities, 280n Symposium on High Latitude Particles and the
transmissions indicate improvement of precision of Ionsphere, Alpbach, Austria, 1964, 611
time signals, 285 Symposium on Ultra-Low Frequency Electromagnetic
Station WWVH: experimental station on Island of Fields, 1964, 699

Maui, 274 synchronization of clocks: by Loran, 574

moved to Island of Kauai, 286 synchronization of precision clocks: by satellite
new facility, Island of Kauai, 286n experiment, 289

837
synchronization of time and frequency signals: by television system: electronic, U.S. patent, 15

fixed-position satellite, 289 30-lens disc, 15

synchronization of time scales and time signals: by television transmission: color pictures over coaxial

transporting standards, 289 cable, 20

synchronization of time signals: limitations by radio television transmitter: experimental, 16

transmission, 289 temperature, ionosphere, 437
via TV transmission, 290 terrain: effects of irregularities, 513

synchronization on continuous basis: by phase-lock terrain effects, 533, 534

system, 289 terrestrial magnetic field, 607n
synchronous communication satellite, 615 TERRIEN, J., 689, 689n
synchrotron radiation, 460n TESLA, Nikola, 8
Syncom satellite, 23 testing of radio receivers: publications, 651
Syncom 615
2, testing of radio receiving sets, 81
systematic error in phase-type distance measuring thallium beam frequency standard: evaluation of
equipment, 555 performance, 305
system loss, 515 frequency measured, 305
system loss: defined, 515 THAYER, Gordon D., 517, 521, 522
Systems Analysis Section, 613n The Measurement of Lumped Parameter Impedance, a
system transmission loss, 515, 583 Metrology Guide: NBS Monograph Ul, 369
The Measurement of Noise Performance Factors, a
Metrology Guide: NBS Monograph 7^2, 382
T "The National Bureau of Standards": an address by
Astin, 1953, 342
Theoretical Astrophysics project: objectives, 623
Table Mesa antenna range, 565 theoretical astrophysics research projects, 623
Table Mountain field site, 603, 604n, 606, 606n, 722 theoreticalwork as background to standards and
Table Mountain field station, 565 measurements, 398
TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation): defined, 576n THEOTOKATOS, Thomas L., 626
investigation of, 576
The Principles Underlying Radio Communication a :

TAFF, John M., 581n

song evolves, 54n
TAGGART, Harold E., 384, 700
WW I publication, 53
TAIT, Andrew, 576 "The Radio Boom," 80n
TARY, John J., 700 thermionic vacuum tube: three-element, 10
Task Group on Fundamental Constants, Committee on two-element, 10
Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), 637 thermister bridge: for lower radio frequencies, 377
TAYLOR, A. Hoyt, 93, 176, 176n, 180, 679n THOMAS, Harold A., 349, 349n, 700
TAYLOR, A. H. and YOUNG, L. C, 13 THOMAS, J. A. (Cambridge University), 425
TAYLOR, Archer S., 201, 212, 212n, 217, 225, 226
THOMAS, J. A. (University of Queensland), 425n
TAYLOR, WILLIAM L., 477, 478, 481, 481n THOMAS, Richard N., 622, 623, 624, 628, 628n, 699
Technical Committee on Electromagnetic THOMSON, E., 5
Measurements State-of-the-Art, IEEE, 654 THOMSON, Joseph John, 7
Technical Committee on Fundamental Units and THOMPSON, Moody C. Jr., 519, 519n, 540, 540n, 542,
Measurements, IRE, 653
545, 546, 700
Technical News Bulletin (TNB): a source of radio
THOMPSON, S. P., 5
information, 90 vacuum tube, lOn
three-electrode
reports on standards inactivity, 343
tides: lunar, of D region, 457
origin, 65
lunar, of ionosphere, 457
Technical Subcommittee of the Telecommunications upper atmosphere, theoretical treatment, 457
Committee, State Department, 650 Time and Frequency Division, 292, 308, 345
telecommunications: field of, 646 Time and Frequency Services Section, 292, 308
first use of word, 16n timekeeping: by an ensemble of clocks, 308
Telecommunications and Space Disturbance Service time variations in phase over line-of-sight paths, 543
Center, 453n Tiros satellites: first, 22
telecommunication sciences, 735 Titanic disaster, 11, 41n, 657
telegraph, 1, 3 Tokamaks: data for, 630
telegraph: Morse patent, 3 Topside Sounder (see Ionosphere, upper)
telephone, 1
topside sounding: of ionosphere, 23
telephone: Bell patent, 5 total eclipse, of Sun, 600
Telephone, Telegraphy, and Radio: Subcommittee, TOWNES, Charles H., 23, 298, 299, 300, 300n, 619,
AIEE, 651 683n
620,
television, 1
TOWNES, Charles U: awarded Nobel Prize in
television: engineering standards, 20 Physics, 300n
introduction at World's Fair, 1939, 18 TOWNES, Charles H., GORDON J. P. and ZEIGLER,
predicted technology, 1908, 10 H. J„ 21
radio, demonstrated, 1927, 15 tracking systems: accuracy of, 545
two-way wire, 16 transatlantic cable: first, 4
wire, demonstrated, 1927, 15 transatlantic radio telephone service: commercial, 15
Television Allocations Study Organization (TASO), 585 transatlantic two-way wireless telegraphy
television demonstrated: radio transmission, scanning transmission, 10
disc, 15
transatlantic wireless telegraphy transmission: first, 8 transmission of standard wavelength signals: a
transient electric current: analysis, 4 proposal, 1922, 261
transistor: discovery of, 20 transmission of time signals: WWV begins voice
transmission and fading of radio signals: long-distance announcements of standard time, 275
studies in New Zealand by Berkner, 196, 197 WWV initiates 1-second pulses, 269
transmission and reception of speech: by spark WWV, WWVH operation on UT2 uniform time, 276
transmitter, 8 transmitter: 10-meter type developed, 118
transmission loss, 515, 516, 523 Transmitter Interference Committee, CCIR, 660
transmission loss: defined, 581n Transmitters and Antennas Committee, IRE, 652
defined by Norton, 581 travelling-wave tube, 19
obstacle-gain experiments, 535, 537 TREMBATH, Charles L., 288n, 383
transmission loss characteristics: a lengthy study, 581 tropical ducts, 520
transmission loss experiments, across obstacles, 536 troposphere, 511, 512
transmission loss predictions, 516 Tropospheric Analysis Section, 539
transmission of music and speech, with 80-kHz tropospheric communications, 525
alternator, 10 tropospheric ducts, 513
transmission of photographs via radio, 14 tropospheric forward scatter, 549, 550
transmission of radio waves: abundant data from tropospheric forward scatter, mathematical studies, 551
Meadows field station, 200 Tropospheric Measurements Section, 539
a geographic anomaly, 200, 807 tropospheric propagation, 511, 512, 513, 514, 516, 517,
a 1940 account of projects and problems, 202n 519, 520
a point of view by Dellinger, 1927, 193 tropospheric propagation: survey of research,
character of data from Meadows field station, 200 1948-1956, 514
correlation of field intensity with sunspot activity, tropospheric propagation experiments, 525
observations of 1927, 193 tropospheric propagation measurements, over-water
development of receiving equipment, 191 paths, 537
distance ranges of radio waves, NBS Letter Circulars, Tropospheric Propagation Measurements project, 539n
released 1932, 1940, 1941, 197, 198, 470n Tropospheric Propagation Phase Stability Studies
excessive attenuation across North Atlantic, 201 project, 539
forecasting, 236, 237 tropospheric propagation research, 512
observations, separating directional components, and tropospheric propagation research: data reduction
rotating planes of polarization, 194, 195 for, 587
Tropospheric Propagation Research Section, 512, 517,
Parkinson's observations in combinations,
518, 539, 540
summarized, 150
tropospheric radio propagation, 513
pioneer study, 1902, 9
tropospheric research, 513
prediction, 452
tropospheric transmission loss, 515
prediction service for radio amateurs, 198
the Monthly Report on Status of Work on Radio Wave tropospheric transmission loss: at VHF and UHF, 581
Troy project, at MIT, 486
Phenomena, 188
Troy project: transmission equation for forward
studied at six field stations, 190
Transmission of standard frequencies: accuracy of
scatter, 487n
WWV, WWVH stated, 1958, 276
Truman administration, 704

announcement of first broadcast by WWV, 261 TRUMAN, Harry S. (President), 20, 650, 704n, 705
two-way radio relay system, 17
Atomic Time Scale offset to agree with UT2 scale, 277
Tufts College: cooperative program with NBS, 206, 208
by Stanford University, to cover western U.S., 263
tunnel diodes, 22
by WWV, preliminary, 261
continuance of WWV
service questioned, 264
TVETEN, Lowell H, 458

for use by radio inspectors of Bureau of

Type "N" connector, 399
Navigation, 261
frequencies of WWV measured with piezo
oscillator, 265
frequency-control techniques at distance u
established, 278
Letter Circular explains, 262 U.H.F. magnetic attenuator, 367
new quartz crystals increase frequency stability, 277 ULF Symposium, 1964, 475
news release of early broadcast, 261n ULF Symposium, 1964: cosponsors, 476n
synchronization of time scales by portable quartz UNDERHILL, Anne B., 623
clock, 278 underwater reception and transmission of radio
WWV accuracy stated, 1936, 269 signals, 58
WWV and WWVH monitored at Gunbarrel Hill, 276 United States Naval Wireless Telegraphic Laboratory
WWV begins weekly schedule, 262 (also U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory), 33
WWV transmissions of 30 and 35 MHz United States Weather Bureau, 733, 735
discontinued, 275 universe, 595
WWV transmits at 2.5 MHz, 273 University of Colorado, 627, 628, 718, 723, 735
WWV transmits at 10 and 15 MHz, 266 University of Pennsylvania, 19
WWV transmits at 20, 25, 30, and 35 MHz, 273 University of Wisconsin: early broadcasting, 12
WWV transmits 440-Hz modulation, 269 upper atmosphere, 607, 608
WWV transmits 1000-Hz modulation, 269 upper atmosphere: definition, 498n

839
Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics Section, 609n, variation of electrical lengths of radio links:
611, 625, 626 measurement of, 542
Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division, 609n, Venus, planet: characteristics of, 24n
610n, 612, 616, 625 radar observations of, 439
Upper Atmosphere Research Section, 471n, 474, 587, vertical incidence, 598n
598n, 605n vertical-incidence signals: fading characteristics, 435
URSI (also, see International Scientific Radio Union) Vertical Soundings Research Section, 435, 502
URSI: American Section, 667, 668, 669 VETTER, Maurice J., 519, 519n
Ilnd Assembly, 1927, 668 VHF emissions, 607
XII Assembly, 1957, 668, 669, 670 VHF forward scatter: near geomagnetic equator, 446
U.S. National Committee, 668, 675, 676 VHF propagation: a cooperative study, 580
URSI General Assembly, Xth, 1952, 603 Vice President JOHNSON, Lyndon B., 614
U.R.S.I. Golden Jubilee Memorial, 676 VIESBICKE, Peter P., 281n, 292, 564
URSIgrams, 208, 234 Viking I spacecraft: landing on planet Mars, 25
URSIgrams: development of, 234n, 235n Viking II spacecraft: landing on planet Mars, 25
URSIgrams lalso. see American URSIgram Service) VIOLETTE, Edmond J., 460

U.S.A.F. Electrical Standards, Dayton AF Detachment, visitors on war missions: II, 340 WW
Air Force, 353 VLF emission: nature of, 479n
U.S. Air Force, 491, 492, 564, 565, 570, 573, 583, 603 VLF emissions, 609n, 611, 61 In, 612, 613n
U.S. Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, 539, 542n VLF emissions and whistlers: atlas published, 480
U.S. Air Force Manual of Standards for Tropospheric VLF noise (dawn chorus): by traveling-wave
Communication Circuits Handbook, 516 amplification in exosphere, 481
U.S. Army Air Service: request for radio aid to air VLF propagation, 480
navigation, 1920, 150 VLF propagation: attenuation, 477
U.S. Army Signal Corps, 515 calculation of complex ionospheric reflection
U.S. Army Signal Research and Development coefficient, 481
Laboratories, 260 early study by sferics, 480
U.S. astronauts: ARMSTRONG, ALDRIN, and fading, 478
COLLINS, 24 field strength vs. distance, 476
U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. exchange program, 358 phase characteristics study, 478
U.S. Bureau of Mines, 391 transmission loss concept, 476
U.S. Coast Artillery: requests radio direction finder, 146 waveguide-mode theory, 474
U.S. Congress: televised first time, 20 VLF Propagation Studies projects, 474
U.S. Frequency Standard: transition frequency of VLF Symposium, 1957, 475, 475n, 480
cesium adopted, 22 VLF Symposium, 1960, 475
U.S. Government, 704, 705, 713, 713n, 723, 724 VLF Symposium, 1963, 475
U.S. Government: installs radio range stations, 15 VOGLER, Lewis E., 522, 614, 614n, 615
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, 317, 405 voice communications: long distance, 12

U.S. Lake Survey, Army Corps of Engineers, 737n Voice of America, 603
U.S. Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, Voice of America broadcast: Jan. 12, 1949, 295
Calif., 537n voltage measurement: peak-pulse methods, 388

U.S. Naval Observatory, 273 voltage measurements: importance of, 378

U.S. Naval Radio Research Laboratory, 115 voltage standard: by use of bolometer bridge, 378

U.S. Navy, 573 volt-ammeter, Duncan type, 103

U.S. Navy: Vanguard I satellite orbited, 22 volume resistivity, 107

U.S. Signal Corps, 269

VOORHEES, L. E., 93, 177, 177n, 180

U.S. Weather Bureau, 512, 514

VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range): defined, 576n
investigation of, 576
UT2 (Universal Time): determination method, 276n
communication medium:
utilization of ionosphere as a
vortex generator: literature search, 335

an investigation for the FBI, 1935-1936, 232, 233 vortex generators: field experiments, 336
small-scale experiments, 335
UTLAUT, William F., 612

V w
Vacuum Tubes Subcommittee, IRE, 652
WACKER, Paul F., 298, 386, 388n, 620, 698
Vacuum Tubes, Theory and Use: WW I publication, 56
WADDELL, John H., 623
vacuum-tube voltmeter: RF, development by Moullin WAINWRIGHT, Arthur E„ 301, 309
(England) 1922, 378
WAIT, David F., 357
vacuum tube voltmeter: use of, 110
WAIT, James R., 427n, 428, 428n, 466, 466n, 474, 474n,
VALEGA, Jorge L., 309
475, 475n, 476, 476n, 477, 478, 478n, 479n, 481, 571,
VAN ALLEN, James A., 22
590, 675, 683n, 699, 700
Van Allen Belts, 22, 675
WAKEFIELD, John, 357, 371, 400
Van Allen radiation belts, 607, 607n
WALDSCHMITT, J. A. (Page Communications
Vanguard I, 22
Engineers, Inc.), 496n
VAN ZANDT, Thomas E., 437, 502, 502n, 503, 505, 505n, WALLACE, Henry A. (Secretary of Commerce), 315,
506, 506n
413, 413n, 414
VARIAN, Russell and Sigurd, 18

840
 WALLS, Fred L„ 309 "White Alice" project, 21
WALLS, Hoy J., 263, 263n, 265 WHITTEMORE, Laurens E., 49n, 53, 65, 71, 71n, 82, 91,
WALTERS, Lillie C, 477, 477n 150n, 180, 180n, 181, 647n, 651, 652, 681, 681n, 682
WARD, Gray D., 625 WIEDER, Bernard, 623, 625n
War Department, 347 WIESNER, Jerome B„ 549n, 550
WARNER, John C, 117, 118 WIEWARA, Edward J., 453, 455n
WARWICK, Constance S., 541 WILDHACK, William A., 691n
WARWICK, James W. (High Altitude Observatory), WILHELM, Kaiser: proposal of international radio
499n, 604n conference, 9
War Work of the Bureau of Standards WW
I, 49n, 66, 88
: WILKINS, John Walker, 3
Washington Conference on Limitation of Armaments, WILLIAMS, Walter (Undersecretary of Commerce), 352
1921-22: Technical Staff of American Delegation, 91 WILLIAMSON, Dorothy A., 515
Washington Institute of Technology, 165n WILLOUGHBY, John A., 48, 58, 58n, 59, 96, 122, 149.
Washington Provisional Frequency Board Liaison 563, 680n
Committee, 660 WILSON, Albert E., 259
Washington Section of IRE, 91 WILSON, Alvin C, 566, 567
WATERS, Donald M., 519n, 546 WILSON, Lloyd B., 691n
water-vapor laser, 634 wind shear in sporadic-E layer, 425
WATSON-WATT, Robert A., 172n wind velocity by radar technique, 133
WATT, Arthur D., 475, 475n, 478, 571, 572 wind velocity by radio determination: early
WATTERSON, Jane, 603n phase-variation method by NBS, 1938, 132
WATTS, James M., 218, 426, 426n, 427, 427n, 433n, 458n, improved NBS design, 133
471n, 473, 480, 481, 482, 489, 502, 502n, 612, 615 phase-variation method in 1943, 133
waveguide attenuator: inline-type standard, 367 wind velocity measurement, by radar method: pulse
waveguide attenuators: international comparisons, 366 repeater, development by Radio Section, 323
waveguide below-cutoff attenuator: a useful reference reflector technique development, 326

standard, 363 WINKLEMAN, James R., 461

waveguide below-cutoff attenuators: NBS development wired sonde, for low-level meteorological sounding, 138
of, 362 wireless, 1, 737n

wavemeter, 679, 680 wireless signals over Atlantic, 1910, anomalies, 807, 808
wavemeter: designed by Kolster, 244 wireless system: first U.S. patent, 4
first calibration, 1911, 243 wireless telegraphy, 643
Kolster, 41 wireless telegraphy: a Government report of 1904,
LC improved, Type R70B, 245
circuit, 646, 646n
standardization of, 38 prediction, 3

Type L, 244 problems, 643

wavemeters: early calibrations, 1914, 244 wireless telegraphy system: Braun, inductive circuits, 6
early commercial types noted, 244n first U.S. patent, 6
LC circuit, 100 "wireless" telephone: early U.S. patents, 5
Wave Propagation Committee, Combined wireless telephone system: patents, 8
Communications Board, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 648 within-the-hour fading, 539
Wave Propagation Committee, of the U.S. Joint WITTING. Edward G. (Deputy Director of Research and
Communications Board, 317, 340, 405 Development, Department of the Army), 352
Wave Propagation Laboratory, NOAA, 737 WOLFF, Frank A., 39, 57
wave suppressors, 514n WOLZIEN, Eldred C, 368, 368n, 724
W.D. George Memorial Award, 280n WOOD, Marion B., 451
WEAVER, Frank D., 351, 354n, 355n, 395, 396, 396n WOODWARD, Milton W., 445
WEBER, Ernst, 685 workshops: provided by ECC, 358
WEBSTER, Arthur G., 41 World Maps, 432
WEEKS, Sinclair (Secretary of Commerce), 728 World Maps, of January 1, 1942, 439
WEINSCHEL, Bruno O., 359 World Maps, 1943, 440
WEINTRAUB, Stanley, 517, 518, 588 World Maps, 1948, 440
WEISS, Max T., 21 World Maps, 1962, 441
WELCH, Samuel W. J., 73, 416n, 704, 704n, 709, 713, 719, world's first scheduled broadcast: by commercial
723, 724, 724n, 726n organization, 12
WELDEN, James M., 455n World Warning Agency, of International URSIgram
WELLS, Joseph S., 382, 633, 634, 634n and World Day Service (IUWDS), 455n
WELLS, Paul I., 552 World Wide Soundings Subcommittee, of IGY, 674
WENDT, Karl W., 354n World War I (also WWI)
Western Union: radio relay system, 20 World War I, 49, 104, 106, 107, 110, 315, 318, 652
WEST, Estal D„ 633 World War I: impact on Radio Section, 49
WGY (General Electric): transmitter used for fading importance of radio telegraphy and telephony, 12
tests, 183, 186 new demands for measurements, 104
WHEELER, L. P., 695n projects, phasing out period, 71
whistlers, 607, 611, 611n, 612, 613n, 625 radio communications, 11
whistlers: IGY program, preparations for, 481 relation of Radio Laboratory to military services, 52
nature 479n
of, return of commercial stations to owners, 12
WHITE, Charles E., 694n World War II (a/so, WW II)
WHITE, Marvin L„ 457

841
World War II, 315, 316, 319, 327, 330, 334, 343, 348, 377,
398, 399, 648, 653
World War II: broadcast announcements of invasion of
Poland, 18
termination announcement by President Truman, 20
WRIGHT, John W„ 425, 435, 458, 460, 502, 502n
WRIGHT, R. B„ 257
Wiirzburg radar, 599n 603n
Wurzburg (Giant) radar antenna, 599n
WWV: listing in Radio Service Bulletin, 76n
WWV: standard frequency broadcasts, 93
time-of-day announcements, available by
direct-dialing telephone, Boulder, 287
time-of-day announcements, available by telephone,
Hawaiian Islands, 287, 290
time signals by telephone, in continental United
States, 290
WWV broadcasts market reports, 78
WWV broadcasts music: spring of 1920, 76
WWV Day, July 29, 1967, 285

X
XI (iron pentacarbonyl): field experiments with
radar, 338
laboratory experiments, 337
literature survey, 337
X rays: discovered, 6

Y
YAGI, Hidetsugu, 15
YAGI, Hidetsugu, and SHINTARO, Uda, 15
Yagi antenna: comment by Dellinger, 161n
Yagi-Uda directional antenna, 15
YATES, Bill C, 369
YEAGER, James J., 712, 728n
YOUNG, L. C. and HYLAND, L. A., 13n

z
ZAHN, Charles T., 110, llOn, 156
ZAivIBOORIE, Mohammed H, 259
ZANDONINI, Elizabeth M., 73, 89, 233
ZAPF, Thomas L., 395, 396, 397
ZETA, British thermonuclear machine, 624, 625
zonal screens, 514
ZWORYKIN, Vladimir K., 14, 16

842
fr U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1986 0 -163-096